an extraordinary performance in Times Square
A strange melding of eco-art, interactive media, and the Marina Abramovic line:
Tuesday June 29 - Saturday July 3, 2010
noon - 2 pm
44th St and 7th Avenue
Six smiling performers circled Times Square for five days with very full buckets of “oil” on their heads, their clothes growing darker and darker with each passing day.
Our video crew shaped the performance into a conversation -- as audience members were invited to share their goals for the country. Using a method based on the innovative public art group Make It Happen TM, we worked together to translate large goals like ‘I want to stop America's reliance on oil’ into achievable goals like ‘I will throw a light-less party’ or ‘I will call my Senator every day for twenty days to support a carbon tax’ or ‘I will ride bikes with my daughter once a week.’ Goals were generated by audience members based on their interests and realities.
Audience responses and clips of the performance are viewable at www.youtube.com/spilloversquared.
After winding up the five days in Times Square, we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge with our buckets of oil, and then walked back across, scrubbing up anything we’d spilled.
Performers included artists Sarah Small, Colleen Wahl, Adriana Disman, Murphy Chang, Jesse Philips-Fein, Erin Siodmak, Andre Baum, Elana Jaroff, Olga El, Rosemary Ilardi-Ellis, Tara DePorte and Reina Potaznik. Sarah waited in line with me to see Marina Abramovic’s performance, and I met Adriana, Erin, Philip and Murphy in the line! Murphy contributed the idea of the Bridge walk to the project.
Marisa Holmes, Kathleen Sweeney and Bianca Gonzalez-Marra were camera crew, and Charles Inniss did an incredible job as Stage Manager. I directed and produced “SpilLover.”
The blog about the project is at www.spilloversquared.tumblr.com.
