Wall Street to Main Street: Performance

Showing posts with label Performance. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tara Raye Russo

Performance art and video proposal, a request for a performance art venue to recreate the second in the series PROTEST: Stand Up in Solidarity (Farmers vs. Monsanto) No. 2

Background of the original performance

PROTEST: Stand Up in Solidarity (Farmers vs. Monsanto) No. 1 is a contained protest, a march in place, a studio practice that allows participants to feel the energy roused by protest.

In addition to being broadcasted live for Low Lives: Occupy! this performance (No. 1) was recorded so that it could then be made available to publicly recreate sequentially by a process of taking the prior recording and projecting it onto the current protest/performance, recording, so on

and so forth. This series of layering of each protest from venue to venue will increase the awareness of the matters at stake as well as the number of protesters documented. While the names of the protesters remains clear and concise what remains to be seen and is of interest to me is how the layering of recorded audio and video will develop and transform. What remains to be

seen is if the audio and video abstract and become the quintessential energy of protest, from awareness, to frustration, to anger and catharsis. Although a public call out was made for

participants to come to my studio in Newark, NJ to protest, one person was in attendance. Some questions that remain unanswered are: Outside of city centers why don’t people protest in this

country? When, why and how did Americans become so apathetic?

This protest is to show our support for farmers utilizing organic practices. Whether it is 2 people or 50 this performance is to make a stand and let the world know we are conscious citizens

aware of where our food comes from and what it entails to get it from farm to plate. The protest is to help expose the monstrosities of corporate agriculture by demanding the labeling of GMO

foods and to support sustainable practices and a local economy.

Requirements for the performance

A wall to project (original performance on) approx. 10’H x 14’W

An announcement prior to the event to ready anyone interested in Protest to wear white or very light colored clothing. People participating can bring signs or drums. The project is

experimental in nature; my direction is contingent upon how many people participate. Participants will view the projection of the prior performance before hand. The first take is played
back for evaluation the second is most likely the final cut. Runtime of performance is 6 minutes.Live Performance, Protest: Stand in Solidarity No.1 (Farmers vs. Monsanto) for Low Lives:Occupy!

PROTEST: Stand Up in Solidarity (Farmers vs. Monsanto) No. 1 performance by Tara Raye RussoLow Lives: Occupy! March 3, 2012. program starts at 6pm.
My performance is scheduled for 9:28pm. Stand Up!
http://www.occupywithart.com/llo-live-channel/

This protest is to show our support for farmers utilizing organic practices. Whether it is 2 people or 50 this performance is to make a stand and let the world know we are conscious citizens aware of where our food comes from and what it entails to get it from farm to plate. This protest is to help expose the monstrosities of corporate agriculture by demanding the labeling of GMO foods and to support sustainable practices and a local economy.

The concept and its future: PROTEST: Stand Up in Solidarity (Farmers vs. Monsanto) No. 1 is a contained protest, a march in place, a studio practice that allows participants to feel the energy and anger roused by protest. We stand for conscious action in our determination to fix what is wrong and make it right.

In addition to being broadcasted live for Low Lives: Occupy! This performance (No. 1) will be recorded and made available to the public to sequentially recreate and to build upon in strength by numbers. This will be accomplished by a process of taking the prior recording and projecting it onto the current protest in a series of layering of each protest.

This material is copyrighted and may not be reproduced without prior consent from the artist.

About Low Lives: Low Lives: Occupy! will be in partnership with Occupy With Art and The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics.

Low Lives: Occupy! Is an international platform designed to enable artists, audiences, and presenters in alliance with the Occupy movement to support the occupation, will transmit live performances, actions, and happenings online as they occur in real time around the world. The Occupy protests, and the myriad of perspectives and experiences related to this unique moment, will be amplified, explored, and experimented with, through Low Lives’ internet-based creative platform. Low Lives: Occupy! recognizes the powerful opportunity that is the presentation of performances from around the world, and invites artists to open eyes and minds by presenting a radical re-imagining of possible ways of existing and relating.

Over the past 4 years Low Lives has developed a platform that invites and enables artists, audiences, and presenting venues to "plug in and participate" from anywhere an internet connection exists. This technological platform brings a history of supporting artists’ full creative freedom to imagine new worlds and is now offered to artists interested to present work in solidarity with #OWS. Online documentation of the live event will allow Low Lives: Occupy! to inspire online audiences far into the future.

video stills

Monday, February 6, 2012

Gilbert Gambucci, Music Lesson/Performance

A music teach-in and performance of participants:

1/ Morning hour piano lesson: A first piano lesson class (or classes) for beginners of any age. We'll learn to play Paul Strein's Occupy Wall Street Song at the piano. (It's a very easy straight forward piece of music).

2/ Afternoon session: Learning the words and how to sing the same piece, The Occupy Wall Street Song.

3/ Any evening: a performance of this song (by the participants) at the piano (4 hands) together with the vocals, and possible audience joining in.

www.ConsciousnessConcerts.com

Friday, February 3, 2012

Akenshai Towns, U Arts Philadelphia

I propose an idea of a visual exhibition that comes to life.   As I child I think one of the greatest influences on me to become an artist was the movie FAME. It was based on a performing arts school where the students always used their talent to express themselves the world enjoy this because it was passion with a purpose.
            I attend The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA this is a very unique place because we are a visual and performing arts school. I found that the best way to get a reaction out of people is to give them action. Dennis Ferrer sings a song titled “Change the World”. I propose to have our music department play this song while our dance and drama department preform it live. I propose that our visual arts programs allow student to make work around the theme of "together we can". These will not only produce art that supporters see visually but also it will give them a chance to be apart of the art itself and experience it.
            This type of exhibition works on many levels because not only is it themed about togetherness. It is only possible if we work together. No one man can put on this show no matter how vast his talents just as no one man or entity should occupy Wall Street.

http://youtu.be/P3nk0-AZFGA

Matt Plummer, Music

Arts and Culture! Occupennial!
You may have heard me mention a group I've been involved a bit with --
the Musicians Solidarity Council -- an autonomous group in affinity
with OWS. Heretofore we've mainly been concerned with supporting a
number of OWS and labor actions, but now we're doing some events of
our own.

MUSICIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
on NYC's music economy

Sunday, Jan. 29, 1:30pm at Washington Square Park, the Arch
Part of Occupy Town Square (a mobile occupation,
https://www.facebook.com/occupytownsq)

Is this what we want?
Has it always been like this?
Are we entrepreneurs, artists, workers or volunteers?
What's holding us back?
Who's making the money?
What are we planning?
Do we deserve a minimum wage?
What are you doing on May Day?

--
Website: http://www.mussc.org/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Musicians-Solidarity-Council/175677319204363
FB invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/229755287108371/

Michael Harris, Music

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Michael Harris, Deep River, Connecticut (aka, Ernest Song) proposes The Ecology of Happiness exhibit.

Visual/Spoken Word Display (http://pecha-kucha.org/what)

The Ecology of Happiness is a combination visual/spoken word piece based on the Japanese presentation format of ‘Pecha-Kucha’ - 20 slides for 20 seconds. The topic delves into a holistic exploration of ‘happiness’; if and how it is even possible at this time in history, how it relates to the fuller experience of our aliveness, and how it is ultimately a limited, individualized aspect of a much larger experience of relationship.

The display features 20 white poster boards arranged in a 4x5 grid and each containing words and phrases. Each slide is accompanied by written text representing the twenty-second spoken-word presentation for that slide. The display can be self-toured, as a stand alone piece, and will also be accompanied by live presentation during a variety of events within the exhibit time frame.

Musical Element (http://www.myspace.com/ernestsongcombo/radio)

The Ernest Song project features original music relating to the message in The Ecology of Happiness. It is proposed that local musicians will be recruited to perform the seven songs featured on the Ernest Song CD, Petrified, If Not for You at a variety of events.

Inter-Active Symposium (http://www.awakeningthedreamer.org/)

An inter-active Awakening the Dreamer/Changing the Dream symposium is proposed for the exhibit time frame. The symposium is a 3-hour transformative mixed media experience presented by trained facilitators. I am a facilitator, and propose working with one or two other, local facilitators to present the symposium. The goal of the Awakening the Dreamer/Changing the Dream symposium is to help bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on this planet.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Low Lives Occupy!, Jorge Rojas, Recorded Performances/Webcast

Recorded Version of March 3rd, 2012 performance/webcast. Low Lives: Occupy! is an international platform designed to enable artists, audiences, and presenters in alliance with the Occupy movement to support the occupation, will transmit live performances, actions, and happenings online as they occur in real time around the world. Participating artists, artist collectives, Occupy groups, and presenters worldwide will expand the reach and visibility of the Occupy protests by broadcasting to an international community and audiences. The Occupy protests, and the myriad of perspectives and experiences related to this unique moment, will be amplified, explored, and experimented with, through Low Lives’ internet-based creative platform. Low Lives: Occupy! recognizes the powerful opportunity that is the presentation of performances from around the world, and invites artists to open eyes and minds by presenting a radical re-imagining of possible ways of existing and relating.

Low Lives: Occupy! seeks projects including, but not limited to, performance art, public actions and interventions, happenings, acts of protest and civil disobedience, taking place in both real and virtual spaces.

www.LowLives.net

Dwayne Grannum, Music

"We Can Make it Together"

-DJ newDay - newDay Creative Communications

This proposal seeks to address the following stated objectives of the Wall Street to Main Street Project.

(i.e. (a) exploring art as a way to understand the issues of the Occupy Movement with opportunities for education, communication, and a showcase of wildly creative artistic expressions and (b) exploring ideas in art works that call attention to real-world economic problems, fundamental democratic processes, and an urgent need for systemic reform.)

This proposal is centered around a piece of original music entitled "We Can Make it Together"

In broad strokes, I would like to engage students from one private and one public/charter high school in Philadelphia to write lyrics to and re-record verses in this song and using digital SLR HD cameras to create and edit music videos under my supervision. I am in the process of calculating the projected costs for this project and will supplement this submission accordingly within 48 hours.

The work would appear as an audio and video recording. In addition to the finished song, the video would contain documentary excerpts of the process by which the young people created the work. This could be looped or complied with other film/documentary projects being presented in Catskill.

Here is a link to a copy of one incarnation of the song for your review. http://soundcloud.com/dj_newday/we-can-make-it-together

My bio is as follows:

Dwayne M. Grannum, Esquire, was reared in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of Guyanese parents. Inheriting his mother’s love of classical music and sharing the fondness his father, a Protestant minister, felt for the music of the church, Dwayne studied piano and sung in choirs from the age of six. As an undergraduate at the University of Rochester, Dwayne seized the opportunity to continue vocal study at the Eastman School of Music. Thereafter, he completed a law degree at Harvard Law School and practiced in the field of civil litigation for five years before the music called him back.

While directing a youth choir at his parent’s church, Dwayne was struck by the fundamental deficiencies in the education some of his young charges received in Philadelphia public schools. These deficiencies were not only in fine arts curricula but in general and vocational subjects as well. In 1999, Dwayne opened the small recording studio he had built in his home to members of his choir who demonstrated an interest in the musical and technological aspects of music production. He found that the creative process was a wonderful vehicle to take a multi-disciplinary approach to assessing educational needs and developing strategies to address them.

In addition to writing and producing music and experimental inspirational musical theatre of his own under the name DJ newDay, Dwayne is developing an innovative cross-disciplinary arts education model that seeks to help students “find their voices,” and use all available tools to celebrate their true selves while providing them access to the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to pursue their artistic dreams.

Dave Lippman, Live Music

Glad to hear of your art project. If you are having an opening event or something like it, I can offer singsongs related to OWS - see/hear at http://www.davelippman.com/mp3s.html - note Sgt Pepper, You Get What You Need, and others. One about to come online: All we are saying (Is end corporate greed) - don't worry it's more interesting than that.

Danny Bryck, One Man Play

I'm creating a documentary play about Occupy Boston entitled "No Room
for Wishing." It is a one-man show written using only exact words
culled from roughly 90-100 interviews with people at or involved with
Occupy Boston in some way, telling the story of the individuals
involved in the movement, and the sequence of events during the time
Dewey Square was occupied, through a series of monologues. The piece
moves more or less forward through time, from a week into the
occupation, through its various legal battles, encounters with police,
etc., to a week after its eviction by the city of Boston. The
narrative bounces around between different people's perspectives, from
a variety of ages, races, political views and economic backgrounds,
from a homeless woman to a left-of-center bank employee to an
anarchist organizer to a protest chaplain. The play attempts to paint
a complex, multifaceted portrait of this time and place, viewed
through the lens of one actor interpreting a broad spectrum of real
characters.

The interviews include mostly off-the-cuff conversations but also
public speeches, recordings of general assemblies and other meetings,
civil disobedience trainings, interviews with news media, performances
of songs and poems about the movement, and more, providing a wide
array of angles. Currently I'm in the process of transcribing and
cutting together the interviews into a script, and discussing
possibilities for performance with local producers in Boston. I will
be performing an abridged version of the play with my theatre company,
Whistler in the Dark, on March 12, with other performances to be
determined.

The goal is to bring the play to multiple venues and to perform it in
conjunction with other performances and pieces of art arising out of
the Occupy movement, in order to raise awareness and inspire
connection and dialogue between the activist and artistic communities
as well as the greater community in the Boston area and beyond.

I would love to bring the piece to "Wall Street to Main Street."

www.whistlerinthedark.com

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.

Maraya Lopez and Arthur Polendo, Mulit-Media Installation

Proposal for Wall Street to Main Street

Artists: Maraya Lopez and Arthur Polendo

We request that our artwork, 2012 Space Transparency, be included in the upcoming art project, Wall Street to Main Street. The proposed artwork would ideally be housed in a large room with frontal windows. This work would be a multimedia, site-specific installation focusing on the central structure of a 15 by 10 foot translucent tent (floor area), which will house two seated figures (See figures 1 through 4). The ideal room floor area would be 21 feet by 16 feet. The minimum height of the ceiling would be 10 feet. Electricity would be necessary and although the tent structure is designed to be freestanding, the permissibility to place several small screws in the ceiling would be highly valued. A statement about the work would be placed on a wall of the interior space as well as on the front glass paneled window.

The tent will be closed except for two small openings for viewers to look into. Text of various colors associated with economic and social concerns will be silk-screened on the interior walls of the tent. Additionally, sound, light and video will be emitted from the interior of the tent. Some of the audio to be transmitted will include recorded sounds from the Catskill area along with other sources including musical instruments and crowds of human voices. The tent will be illuminated from the inside, creating a different experience as the daylight subsides. The installation would be visible from the outside the storefront window and the interior of the room. The window(s) would have an opaque covering in the daytime, except for a 6-inch tall opening across the width of the glass. This would aid in keeping the room interior dark in the daytime and would be removed at night for a fuller experience when viewed from the outside. The experience of the public would vary dependent on if viewed during the day or night, whether they view the piece from the interior or exterior of the building and whether or not they approach the openings of the tent wall, revealing the interior.

Upon looking within the interior of the tent, there will be a dichotomy between the printed text pointing out various issues and the two seated figures facing different continents of the world clasping colored threads. These threads connect to opposite walls within the interior of the tent demarcating a multiple of key cities and points of occupation throughout the world. Interior wall text, sound, light and various shadows and projected video imagery would also be visible when situated on the outside of the tent, as the walls are translucent. Sound on the exterior of the building via small mounted speakers provide individuals on the sidewalk with the audio from inside the tent along with the ambient sounds of Main Street.

2012 Space Transparency calls attention to social concerns previously addressed by various Occupy protests at locations throughout the globe, but by no means are these resolved issues. Like the Buddha who sits and meditates, the seated figures contemplate the anticipated actions to be taken in the immediate future. The tent is a metaphor for the myriad of issues that are housed in the present minds that previous and present occupiers face. This temporal artwork will provide an opportunity for viewers to raise their awareness of social issues while simultaneously engaging in a multi-sensorial aesthetic experience in a setting along side other art included in Wall Street to Main Street.

Figure 1. Illuminated Tent in Darkened Room Interior

Figure 2. Tent Interior Viewed Through Small Opening

Figure 3. Overhead Diagram View of Room Interior

Figure 4. Storefront Building Exterior

Akenshai Towns, Performance

I have emailed this artist to ask how the work would be shared with Catskill audiences. Live performance? Web feed? Recorded? FP

I attend The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA this is a very unique place because we are a visual and performing arts school. I found that the best way to get a reaction out of people is to give them action. Dennis Ferrer sings a song titled “Change the World”. I propose to have our music department play this song while our dance and drama department perform it live. I propose that our visual arts programs allow student to make work around the theme of together we can. These will not only produce art that supporters see visually but also it will give them a chance to be apart of the art itself and experience it.

This type of exhibition works on many levels because not only is it themed about togetherness. It is only possible if we work together. No one man can put on this show no matter how vast his talents just as no one man or entity should occupy Wall Street.

http://youtu.be/P3nk0-AZFGA

Adbusters May Day Event

Wall Street to Main Street may want to acknowledge this event or come up with our own May 1 event(s).

ADBUSTERS TACTICAL BRIEFING #25

Hey you redeemers, rebels and radicals out there,

Against the backdrop of a global uprising that is simmering in dozens of countries and thousands of cities and towns, the G8 and NATO will hold a rare simultaneous summit in Chicago this May. The world’s military and political elites, heads of state, 7,500 officials from 80 nations, and more than 2,500 journalists will be there.

And so will we.

On May 1, 50,000 people from all over the world will flock to Chicago, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month. With a bit of luck, we’ll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen.

And this time around we’re not going to put up with the kind of police repression that happened during the Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago, 1968 … nor will we abide by any phony restrictions the City of Chicago may want to impose on our first amendment rights. We’ll go there with our heads held high and assemble for a month-long people’s summit … we’ll march and chant and sing and shout and exercise our right to tell our elected representatives what we want … the constitution will be our guide.

And when the G8 and NATO meet behind closed doors on May 19, we’ll be ready with our demands: a Robin Hood Tax … a ban on high frequency ‘flash’ trading … a binding climate change accord … a three strikes and you’re out law for corporate criminals … an all out initiative for a nuclear-free Middle East … whatever we decide in our general assemblies and in our global internet brainstorm – we the people will set the agenda for the next few years and demand our leaders carry it out.

And if they don’t listen … if they ignore us and put our demands on the back burner like they’ve done so many times before … then, with Gandhian ferocity, we’ll flashmob the streets, shut down stock exchanges, campuses, corporate headquarters and cities across the globe … we’ll make the price of doing business as usual too much to bear.

Jammers, pack your tents, muster up your courage and prepare for a big bang in Chicago this Spring. If we don’t stand up now and fight now for a different kind of future we may not have much of a future … so let’s live without dead time for a month in May and see what happens …

for the wild,

Culture Jammers HQ

Adbusters issue #100 is hitting doorsteps and newsstands in a couple of weeks. Go online or call Nicole at 1-800-663-1243 to make sure you don’t miss it!

abcdefgCORPS, Ariel Abrahams, Interactive Performance

The artwork that I would like to present is in the form of a group that I formed called the abcdefgCORPS. We have a website that acts as a menu of free activities

(http://cargocollective.com/abcdefgCORPS ).

For the WALL STREET TO MAIN STREET the abcdefgCORPS would like to set up shop in a space of any kind and invite people in the area to browse and use our services. We will make house calls. We will welcome walk-ins.

Let me tell you about the abcdefgCORPS:

who we are:

the abcdefgCORPS

*is a group dedicated to providing free, collective interaction to anyone willing to play along.

*believes in social justice, generative communication and free, critical thought.

*believes in the power of Athletic Abstraction.

*will come visit you in your home.

*will take over your space and make it holy.

*will send you gifts if you send them your address.

*provides programming for all ages, ethnicities and archetypes.

*wants to learn from you and teach you things.

I am not attaching images because as of yet I have not collected images from most abcdefgCORPS excursions. My website, however, has documentation of 4 "Power Hours" and 3 "Invisible Winds." Please look at my website for reference.

www.arielabrahams.com

Thank you! Feel free to email me with questions.

I look forward to hearing from you.

http://cargocollective.com/abcdefgCORPS

arielabrahams@gmail.com