Brett Messenger, Performance/Installation

I am a recent graduate of School of Visual Arts in new york and a current graduate student at the San Francisco Art Institute, working towards an MFA in New Genres as well as an MA in Contemporary Art History and Theory. I live and work in new york city during the year and participated in the last round of Masters on Main Street. In the last round of Masters on Main Street, I showed three different pieces that were influenced by notions of space, energy and theatricality. I am interested in moving forward in work that explores theater in art. The piece I would like to put forward for your consideration for this show is A Production of Sisyphus for Catskill. 

I would place  an advertisement  in the local paper for one days work. The work would consist of moving a pile of rocks from one location to another, one by one. I am open to the idea of either having two store fronts or two public locations to stage this piece. If, and when someone applies for the days work, I would hire them to move the rocks and then place a new ad in the paper to have them moved back to their original location. The two sites for the rocks would have a black wooden frame in the position that the rocks would be placed any participant that is hired to move the rocks would be able to configure them however they wish within the frame. By paralleling the Greek myth of Sisyphus to the current state of the economy and jobs I hope To highlight the desperation many qualified and ablebodied individuals face in their search for work and the frustration many people face in work situations where their individual efforts can seem repetitive and meaningless. By using stone, I reference classical sculpture and architecture which brings the current issues into a broader discourse surrounding the worker throughout history, from slaves moving the massive rocks to build the Pyramids to the current state of the worker. This piece also highlights the fact that often credit for work by an individual is lost to the ‘higher ups’ or brand, in this case the artist. By offering the equivalent of one days minimum wage, it also calls attention to this wage for peoples consideration. The theatrical nature of the piece invites the public to engage in the piece that illustrates a big picture issue in our society while offering a small amount of actual work into the local economy. Even if the ad never receives a response, and the rocks never move from one location to the next this piece invites the public into the discourse through the physical piece, and by bringing it into homes through the advertisement In the paper. A minimum time period for this piece would be two weeks but I am open to having it run through the course of this round of masters on main street. I can budget $600 for this piece to cover the advertisement costs, moving supplies for the rocks to be provided to one that might apply to move them, pay for the worker that may apply to move the rocks and miscellaneous costs that may occur. 

I am very excited about this collaboration between Masters on Main Street and Occupy Wall Street and I think that many exciting projects could help shed lights on the many facets of the movement.