Friday, October 31, 2008

Meaning Cleaning October 11 performance stills

Some more pictures recently received from the October 18 performance:



Saturday, October 25, 2008

Another realization

I also realized today
that our work is our work
not to get swept up (no pun intended) by the activity or publicity, but to focus on what our intention is, and why it is that we do what we do.

It's helpful to hear from colleagues and collaborators to be vigilant, to constantly re-evaluate the ramifications of one's actions, and to remember one's motivation and responsibility. What is one doing anyway?

I don't want to get caught in the "cool" scene
I have to think about this, and consider why we chose Wall Street as our next location to clean.
Do we change with our context?
Or is our concept of cleaning in public spaces strong enough to have the same quality wherever we are?
It's interesting to notice when I felt thrown off.
Why does it matter if our work is being documented?
Why does it matter if participants were late?
Who are we doing this work for?
Are we getting carried away by the brief flash of recognition for "good work"?
Why does it matter to me what people think about my work?
Am I compromising myself?
Are we moving too quickly with this?
Are we considering things too much or not enough?
What if no one shows up to participate on the 8th? And does that matter?

Cart before the horse

Hello again,
After re-reading the call for participation on November 8, some concerns arose:
Please note that Meaning Cleaning's performances are to clean public spaces.

The method of documentation on the 8th happens to be video, but the purpose of the cleaning is to sweep the streets, not to shoot a video.
The choice of sweeping on Wall Street carries with it bold associations with finance and politics, which are in flux and which will be impacted by the upcoming election.
Who knows what the tone of the city will be the weekend after Election Day?
Who knows if sweeping on Wall Street itself will be appropriate?

Our intention is to clean public spaces; let me clarify that to re-direct the emphasis on what it is we are actually doing.
The call for participation still stands, but I hope this email provides a better understand about our intention and purpose of our work.

Please contact me or Hayley with any questions or concerns.
Looking forward to the next Meaning Cleaning!
Angela Rose

Meaning Cleaning: Wall Street Video Shoot November 8, 2008



Meaning Cleaning is pleased to share their success from the Art In Odd Places performances on 14th street. All three collaborative efforts were very well received; a big thank you to all who participated! We are now in the process of editing all our documentation from October’s events, which will be on our website shortly.

This is our second call for participation to sweep Wall Street November 8! Meaning Cleaning is looking for volunteers who want to participate in a video shoot of a collaborative cleaning performance.
• We plan to sweep a portion of Wall Street on November 8, the weekend after Election Day. Meaning Cleaning participants would be dressed professionally and would sweep in a line formation working next to one another on one block of Wall Street. Exact location and time to be determined soon…
• Supplied with simple push brooms and rubber kitchen gloves, our aim would be to document a large group of people sweeping in formation. We plan to document the activity from waist – height down, focusing on the action of the work rather than on the identities of the sweepers.
• Duration to last one hour.

To sign up: please email either artist via email below for more information:
Hayley Severns: hrseverns@gmail.com
Angela Rose Voulgarelis Illgen: consciousobject@yahoo.com

Please forward this to others who would want to participate in our November performance and help spread the word!
Thank you in advance,

Meaning Cleaning/ Hayley and Angela Rose
meaningcleaning.com

Meaning Cleaning is the artistic collaboration organized between Hayley Severns and Angela Rose Voulgarelis Illgen. The two independent artists began working together in 2005 and have since collectively cleaned public spaces in Europe and in the US.
Collaborating and performing together is a way for both artists to document the process of activating public spaces, taking responsibility for shared environments, cleansing spaces of past experiences, and bringing notions of domestic work into the public sphere.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Friday, October 17, 2008

Promoting Growth... looking forward


Columbia Spectator article

What a pleasant surprise to find this article about AIOP online today.
I remember the reporter - so sweet:
Columbia Spectator

Walking in an Urban Wonderland
BY YIN YIN LU
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 17, 2008

Noah Buckley / Columbia Daily Spectator
As I meandered up and down 14th Street last Saturday afternoon, I wondered if I was in the right place. I was there to see the fourth annual Art in Odd Places festival and its presentation of “Pedestrian”—a public display of 31 artists’ eccentric projects that will continue throughout October.

But there were no booths and no exhibits scattered along the road. There was nothing. At least, nothing at first.
Then, an unexpected aureate glint suddenly caught my eye. As I stepped closer, I realized that it was a fire hydrant, painted bright gold. And then, a few blocks down, I spotted a golden door right next to its normally maroon counterpart. There was also a bicycle leaning against something that looked like a golden table, and a strange miniature-tower-shaped golden structure that I could not even name.

These objects constitute Kenny Komer and Boris Rasin’s Midas. As its name suggests, the artists basically just coated everyday, usually unnoticed items along the street with a glittering metallic sheen.
That was when I finally realized that the art “displays” were not supposed to be protrusive. The entire point of “Pedestrian” is to highlight various aspects of the cityscape, aspects that pedestrians would normally overlook or not consider visually appealing. “I thought it was nice how they made it really subtle and incorporated it into the everyday scenery of the city,” Vivian Feig, SEAS ’12, said. “It made me not just pay attention to the art, but notice all the actual details of my surroundings.”

Some displays, though, were a bit anticlimactic. A flyer described a project entitled Stoop Sale, by Ethan Crenson, as a presentation of “functional objects, displaced objects, objects refusing definition, glaringly physical objects, neutral objects, indifferent objects, validated objects, and private objects.” But it turned out to be a small collection of regular household items—including a portable toilet, a stool, a snow shovel, a Mona Lisa mouse pad, a wheel, a tissue, a row of coat hooks, a framed picture of a snowy landscape, and a strange wooden contraption—positioned on a square blanket that was no bigger than six square feet. It was definitely interesting, but not incredibly attention-grabbing (which, I suppose, was part of the point).
What did catch my eye, though, was L. Mylott Manning’s Road Kill Stuffed Animals. Yes, that’s right. Road kill stuffed animals. Or, to be more precise, stuffed animals that had been horribly massacred, drenched in dirty water, drizzled with “blood,” and tossed along the edge of the road closest to the pavement. I almost shed a tear or two for those poor fuzzy souls, especially the decapitated dog.

Unfortunately, those were the only visual projects that I managed to discover. As vigorously as I strained my eyes, I simply could not find the others I had been hoping to see, including projects like Eric Doeringer’s Free Books—boxes of novels that had been deprived of their last few pages—and Aakash Nihalani’s Landscrapers—bright tape delineating rectangular shapes on buildings. Either I was not looking hard enough, or they had indeed melted into the landscape.

But there were also artistic performances, two of which I did witness. The first, Cultural Crossing Guard, was enacted by Sara Holwerda and Nick Tobier. Clad in bright orange uniforms, they were standing at the corner of 14th Street and Eighth Avenue, arbitrarily arresting people at the edge of the sidewalk and adjusting their clothes or posture. “We’re trying to make sure people look their best as they cross the street,” Holwerda explained. “We’re making New Yorkers more aware of their appearance.”

On my way back to the subway station, I also happened to pass by two ladies—Angela Rose Voulgarelis Illgen and Hayley Severns—dressed in formal black clothes, scrubbing the brick walls of a derelict building that was originally a Macy’s department store. According to Illgen, the purpose of their performance, Meaning Cleaning, was to take “responsibility for a shared environment by bringing more domestic work out of the private sector into the public.”
Before hitting the festival, it is helpful to pick up a map of display locations at Otto’s Shrunken Head, Rags-a-GoGo, Rolco Labs, 14th Street Framing Gallery, or PrintByPOP. And though it was not what I expected, “Art in Odd Places: Pedestrian” was definitely an eye-opening experience.

“Art in Odd Places” will continue throughout the month of October.
--
Upcoming Performance Projects
* Log Roll 2008—Saturday, Oct. 25 and Sunday, Oct. 26 (9 a.m.-9 p.m.). Beginning at 14th Street and Avenue D. A large sequined log is rolled down 14th Street.
* Chairwalk—Saturday, Oct. 25 (3-5 p.m.). Beginning at 14th Street and Avenue D. Matthew Blair walks down 14th Street with a chair tied to his left foot.
* Alegrias-Performance 02 & 03—Saturday, Oct. 18 and Saturday, Oct. 25 (12-2 p.m.). 14th Street between First and Eighth avenues. Arielle Falk removes many layers of ski masks that cover her face.
* Tales of the Clogged and Perpendicular—Saturday, Oct. 18 and Saturday, Oct. 25 (12 p.m.). North side of 14th Street and Avenue C. South side of 14th Street at Ninth Avenue and Hudson (1 p.m.). Performers, clothed as an 18th-century Dutch peasant and a 19th-century Victorian dandy, perform a symbolic ritual as they walk down 14th Street.
* The Pedestrian Project—Saturday, Oct. 25 (2-6 p.m.). 14th Street between First and Ninth avenues. Performers wear black costumes that look like road sign graphics.
* Christmas Is Coming—Saturday, Oct. 25 (10 a.m.-3 p.m.). 14th Street beginning at Avenue D. Ken James drags a log across 14th Street, leaving a line behind him because of erosion.
* Artarchy—Friday-Sunday, Oct. 17-19 and Friday-Sunday, Oct. 24-26 (6-8 p.m.). 412 E. 14th St. A stop motion film projected onto a wall mimics the markings of spray paint.
* Dance With Death—Saturday, Oct. 18 and Saturday Oct. 25 (2-4 p.m.). 14th Street between Union Square and Second Avenue. Yoonhye Park, wearing a white Korean funeral dress, strolls down 14th Street with a skeleton.
* White Trash—Saturday, Oct. 18 and Saturday, Oct. 25 (2-5 p.m.). All of 14th Street beginning at Avenue D. Edith Raw makes random movements and gestures on the sidewalk in a costume made from garbage.
* Camouflage Promenade—Sunday, Oct. 19 and Sunday, Oct. 26 (1-2 p.m.). All of 14th Street beginning at Avenue D. Two performers, wearing 1868-era full-skirted day dresses, wander down 14th Street.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Part One, per ARVI -11 October 2008

Meaning Cleaning, October 11, 2008
Notes from Angela Rose

Hayley and I met on Friday to discuss our project, recap the previous sweeping performance, and to discuss our intentions and interest in the vestibule cleaning. We met over tea and coffee cake; in my opinion, this casual encounter is what was crucial to the success of the cleaning - being in the same space together, breaking bread as it were, and grounding ourselves in our work. I think we should continue this with future cleaning projects.

The next morning, we met to pick up supplies to bring on site.
We arrived on site at 11:30AM.



Immediately I felt connected to what we were doing, and was focused.
Then out of nowhere Rita arrived and threaded our eyebrows!



Once we started, we addressed the aroma emanating from the corners of the vestibule.
We were able to apprehend water from the Starbucks next door - all the hot water we wanted, all day long.
Armed with respirators, we doused the floor with Simple Green solution, then got to work on the roll down doors (cleaning and polishing)



More to come as photos from Ian and Carla arrive through the ether...

This just in

The Meaning Cleaning yesterday was a huge success.
Before my morning coffee, though, I found this email, below, in my inbox. Hooray!

Dear Angela and Hayley,

It is with great pleasure that I inform you that your work has been selected for inclusion in NY Studio Gallery's 3rd Annual MISC Video & Performance exhibition.

We would like to have you do a performance of Meaning Cleaning on Wednesday December 10. If you are interested and available please contact me and let me know.

Best wishes,
Zeina Assaft

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Our challenge



Vestibule of original Macy's building, at 56 West 14th street.
12-2 pm today.

Monday, October 6, 2008







From the Director


Dear Artists,

If you were there you know, if you were not-we missed you. The opening reception of Pedestrian was an enormous success. Otto's Shrunken Head was packed and there were lots of great exchanges between artists, family, friends, and pedestrians. Thanks to the artists who shared their work at the event.

Art in Odd Places 2008 is off to an amazing start. I heard some captivating stories from artists and performers about their experiences during opening weekend. Remember that Art in Odd Places is an on-going experiment about art and communication in public space. Your observations about what works and what doesn't work concerning placement, performance, public reactions, and other issues are essential. Please post your images, video links, and stories on Art Log to share as soon as possible.

Thanks so much to all of you for your participation in this year's Art in Odd Places event, Pedestrian. It was a pleasure to meet many of you at the opening. If we haven't met, I look forward to meeting in the near future. Be sure to distribute maps and invites around the city. More maps are available at 14th Street Framing Gallery @ 225 W 14th Street and Rags A Go Go @ 218 W 14th Street both between 7th and 8th Avenues. And once again remember to post on Art Log.

I will keep you updated throughout October.

All the best,
E

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Meaning Cleaning performance stills
October 4, 2008 - 14th street, Manhattan
New York City






Thanks Adie!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Cleaning October 4, 2008

Email to Hayley

Sent today, October 4, 2008 9:58 pm

Ciao Hayley,
I thought today's cleaning went really well!
Would love to talk to you about it tomorrow at brunch, or at least some time soon - maybe at the opening reception tomorrow afternoon.

After leaving Union Square, some things came to mind:

Intentionality
As my group started to form, I felt I was at a loss about clarifying the intention of our cleaning pieces.
I would like to have been more direct with what I hoped the tone of the cleaning would be.

For our next sweeping performance, I would like to write to participants ahead of time to communicate more clearly what our intention is and to loosely suggest the roles of the participants.
For example, is Meaning Cleaning a silent meditation for the duration of one city block, or interactive over many blocks with pedestrian traffic?
Is the focus on the present moment, and if so, how can we communicate that better?

I'd like to discuss that with you and hear what your thoughts are and what the atmosphere was like in your group today.

Time/Duration
I suggest a shorter time period for the next group cleaning.
My group lost steam after 1.5 hours.

Distance
I suggest we limit the span of our cleaning performances to one or two city blocks, and give that distance our complete attention.
It could add to our intention, and could act as a physical parameter of the performance...
Quality, not quantity.
What are your thoughts on this?

Group size
I would like to work as a larger group, not two groups moving towards each other.
I missed you today, and feel we are a stronger team when we work side by side...
Also, without hundreds of people sweeping with us, I think one larger group of 10 people is more of a powerful statement than two smaller ones in the context of 14th street...

What to say to pedestrians
I'd like to write to participants to give them a general list of what is it we think Meaning Cleaning stands for/represents, and what they can say to passersby to support our intention of the piece itself...

Overheard today along 14th street

"What did you do wrong that you have this penance?"
"What is this, sweeping school?!"
"Thank you so much!"
"Is this community service?"
"Are you guys in jail?"

Thursday, October 2, 2008

2 groups
10 or 11 brooms
10 or 11 pairs of yellow kitchen gloves
intention
dedication
meaning
cleaning
x