artists meeting - whitney highline building

7/29/2019 Artists Meeting - Whitney Highline Building

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Artistsmeeting

Whitney Highline Proposal

Leesa and Nicole Abahuni, Daniel Blochwitz, Chris Borkowski, Eliza Fernbach, G.H. Hovagimyan, BillDolson, Thomas Hutchinson, Jerome Joy, Lara Star Martini, Alan W. Moore, Maria Joao Salema, Paul

Sangster, Raphaele Shirley, Nsumi, Lee Wells

2007


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Index

INDEX/tbd

Intro.2Proposals...3Bios........45What is Artistsmeeting by Artistsmeeting........48Contact..........50


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PROPOSALS

CodexChris Borkowksi

HD & SD video/ Jitter/ mac mini/ 24 Flat Screen

Codex is a clearing house of video clips, audio sound bytes and textual pieces created but never finishedsince I moved to NYC in 2003. Through the use of a semi-random algorithm the narrative body flowsthrough sorted sets and grouping of ideas, images and sounds that deal with fictional and non-fictionalmini-narratives. The mini-narratives range from subjects concerning geography, technology, capitalism,socialism, political history, spiritualism, the occult, multiplicity, and direct observations of urban life onboth broad and micro levels. Its a movie that is never complete, never ending and never the same twice.Its about me, you and everything around us past present and future. Call it artful dodging by

computational power, call it laziness, call it a hopeless but beautiful mess because who has time to sortout interrelated ideas, who has time for anything longer than 30 seconds? I dont, but the codex or ratheralgorithm does and can neatly sort it all out for us.


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Uninhabitable StructureBill Dolson

Proposal for the Future Site of the New Whitney Museum

Prelude

Relational Aesthetics has merely served as an excuse to legitimize the incestuous and parasitic social

structures which seem to adorn and encircle the art world like baroque friezes. Collaborative and artistgroup models only serve to finally propel the art-making process into the industrial revolution,corporatizing art production, removing it from the realm of the inspired individual and making it justanother collective endeavor, not dependent on a single, unreliable individual, but rather making it like anyother corporate production activity. This guarantees the distribution process uninterrupted production, arequirement for stable markets.

Proposal Uninhabitable Structure

The structure at 820 Washington Street and 555 West Street is to be sealed and flooded with nitrogengas. This inert, invisible gas will displace all of the air in the building, thus depriving it of oxygen andmaking occupancy lethal. Any person walking into the building would be asphyxiated. The building

would be prominently placarded warning against entry and all entryways would have 24 hour securitypersonnel to prevent entry. The duration of the piece would be determined by how long it would take fora breathable air mixture to diffuse back into the space.

The technique of replacing air with the inert gas nitrogen is routinely used by utilities to displace moistureand prevent oxidation in underground tunnels and chase-ways which carry cables. Sadly, every so oftena utility worker is killed by inadvertently entering such a space before the nitrogen has been purged.While they are still able to breath normally, their breath carries no oxygen, and they asphyxiate.

For this piece the structure would be as near as possible hermetically sealed. All the doors, windows,and exterior openings taped or otherwise closed. The nitrogen would be introduced into the structurefrom above. Being heavier than air, nitrogen sinks to the bottom of any containing space. Oxygen

monitors would be installed in the building to determine when the nitrogen had dissipated sufficiently toallow normal breathing and reentry. A rough estimate of the duration of the piece is a week.

The effect of the piece is to make the structure uninhabitable except by someone wearing a breathingapparatus. The artist would very much like to effect such entry during the course of the piece, donning afiremans breathing gear and traversing the interior of the building from a ground level entrance up to thetop of the building. No other person, except someone similarly equipped, would be able to enter thebuilding. Any possibility of constructive, social use of the space would be impossible.


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Proposal for a multimedia Installation of Sunken City by Raphaele Shirley Sunken City 2007 mixedmedia (sound, stobe lights, laser lights, spots, smoke machine, sequencers. Infrared motion sensors,Mylar, silicone, Styrofoam) Scale variable As a sequel to the Artists meeting performance in Dumbo arts

festival 2007. I propose this site-specific installation, which is interactive and immersive. Sunken City isan imaginary world and metaphor for an architectural environment of the future. Composed of multiplelights and atmospheric effects the piece cycles through its elements with the use of timers and motionsensors, which pick up the presence of the audience and microphones, which pick up and distort ambientsurrounding sounds. These are transformed into signals and impulses, which trigger atmospherictemperaments within the piece, referring to a sort of fictive microclimate and adding to the impression ofenvironment and space. The sounds and lights alternate between peaceful zones to more turbulentmoments cousin to a bad thunderstorm or a hurricane, passing through different moods this way. Thesculptural element of the piece Styrofoam structures covered with silicone or wax refer to fictionalarchitectures all reminding of future or past constructions, temples and mega structures created by manthroughout the ages.


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LEGO Robotics Highline GraffitiLeesa and Nicole Abahuni

Materials: LEGO NXT / RCX robots, mirror tiles, platform, markers, video camera

Abstract:

Community based initiative focusing on artists and artwork in an homage to the New York graffiti artfound in the Highline. The local community and artists are invited to draw and graffiti using LegoRobotics, markers and mirrored tiles, in an effort to reflect and connect the street art found on thehighline to the new artistic developments through collaborative drawings.

Project Proposal:

Initiated by artists Leesa and Nicole Abahuni, who have been creating installations and performing withmechanical counterparts since 2000 in New York and abroad in Copenhagen, London, Tokyo, andSharjah, UAE.

We wish to invite each team involved to use a LEGO robot which they have built. The LEGO robots areequipped with a remote control to modify direction and movement. Attached to the robot chassis aremarkers or spray cans which can enable the LEGO robots to draw. The robots are placed on a platformcovered with numerous 1'x1' tiles of mirrors. It is on this reconfigurable canvas that each team can directthe LEGO robot and create drawings/graffiti simultaneously on a series of mirrors. The process ofgraffiting, drawing, and rearranging pixel tiles can be documented with an overhead camera, thenarchived and made available as a video download.

The participants can walk away with a mirrored pixel tile of this collaborative artistic endeavor createdbetween artists, the public and LEGO robots. We wish to foster an exchange between the localcommunity and artists using accessible technology and interactive art as a vehicle of communication.


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DeadMaria Joao Salema

Is to be really dead and/or dead in the media the same?

The question keeps coming back to me, if you are not 'here', I don't see you, I don't hear you, you don't

exist.

Examples in History are many were absence is an equivalent of death.

Absence in physical presence of a person,

- in ancient Greece and Rome was given the choice of death sentence or exile, Socrates chose dead.

Colonialism, revolutions, religious turnarounds, resort to elimination of the history and culture mediarecords of a People is to destroy the People itself, for it to became a group of persons ready toappropriate.

- In Ancient Egypt, Akhenaten / Amenhotep IV implemented monotheism, and after is death, it wasattempted to erase is existence and legacy, by destroying written and images records of him.

- Catholic priests destroyed all written documents of Pre-Colombian cultures.

- Soviet politic purges would implied fascinating photographic erasing of people, Trotsky disappearedfrom all group photos.

In our over-saturated media times would that be possible, is the power in the people, would the peoplewith it's weakness for mob behavior be inclined for media termination.

I have questions, not answers, and would like to somewhat develop this idea with the artists meeting

group. It seems to me that maybe it could be integrated with other projects, that it can be taken bydifferent approaches, also, I'm not visualizing a physical from for this question-of-an-idea, maybe a moreimmaterial, conceptual approach, or maybe not.

I'm not sure how to go on, on the absence, power, communication thing to an art form, and I like it likethat.


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Ghosts of Gansvoort StreetBy G.H. Hovagimyan

AbstractIn 1975 Gordon Matta-Clark cut apart the Gansvoort Street Pier to create a large project called DaysEnd. I propose for the 555 West Street site, the future home of the Whitney Highline building, to wrap thebuilding in construction scaffold and hang scrim from the surrounding armature this creates. I propose toproject images of the opening party of the work onto the scrim. The images are of a group of artistswalking around in the huge structure.ProposalI was one of the artists who worked with Matta-Clark cutting apart the Gansvoort street pier. It was aspecial time in my life. The pier has been torn down and the actual events recede in time and history. Allthats left are memories of that day and some photographs taken of the event by a photographer. WithWest Chelsea becoming a focal point for development and Gansvoort street being the home of a futureWhitney Museum Site, I think it is fitting to pay a tribute to Matta-Clark and also the time I spent with himon Gansvoort Street.


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Whitney Hide/RevealBy G.H. Hovagimyan

AbstractFor the future site of the Whitney Highline Building I propose to wrap the location in constructionscaffolding and attached scrim panels of alternating blue and white stripes. The scrim panels willalternately obscure and reveal the buildings behind. The overall stripe design will make the site look likea giant gift that is wrapped and ready to be unwrapped.


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Global GPS/Workers Treasure Hunt and Time Capsule non-site Homage to G. M-C.G.H. Hovagimyan

The Buildings of 820 Washington Street and 555 West Street are the future site of the Whitney MuseumHighline. The buildings are now old warehouses. The buildings will go through atransformation/renovation in two years. I propose to bury or hide or implant objects/ art works that will bediscovered by construction workers when they begin their demolition of the interior walls in two years. Iwill use a GPS device to locate where the works are hidden. I will take notes and photographs of thelocations where I put the objects/ art works and of the objects themselves. I will compile a notebook or

CD of the photographs and GPS locations. I may also take videotape as documentary evidence of theprocess. Part of the work is about exploring the physical location. When one looks for a hiding placeones perceptions become focused and sharp. Its about paying attention to the site. There is a questionabout what one sees when one is looking at a place that has been abandoned or is in a state of disuse.What one notices or doesnt notice is based upon the mystery of the last activity that occurred in thespace.

It is implied that there will be a treasure map of sorts created by the documentation process but theworkers will not have the map nor should they be alerted to look for buried artworks in the wall. It isimportant that they simply come across the objects during the course of their daily labor. They may thenlook at a discovered work and wonder what it is and why its there. This is the recovery of the original artexperience.

The artwork or art experience is one of discovery and wonder. It is not an experience of greed but ratherof sharing. One does not have to be educated in art to have this experience. The trouble often ariseswhen something is called art. This creates a false dynamic and a class conflict. I.E. those who are well todo and educated understand and appreciate art, those who are manual laborers dont care about art theyare busy earning a living. This conflict is actually a root problem for America because of the emphasis onmass entertainment on the one hand and the commodity/art market matrix on the other. Workers needentertainment and the wealthy need status objects to purchase. Although aesthetics and art play a rolethey are not the main emphasis for these art-like endeavors. My intention for this artwork is to focus onthe art process both for the artists and the viewer. This is a process of realization and discovery. TheFrench verbs se cacher (to hide) and se retrouver (find again) are very apt and poetic descriptions for theart process. Artists are always saving the aesthetic experience of art in art. The viewers then find it

again.

The notion of a non-site is a rather interesting one that was first posed by Robert Smithson. Simplystated, a gallery gives aesthetic credentials to something that is exhibited there although the site of art isnot necessarily in a gallery, it can be anyplace. In the case of the Whitney Highline, the real artsupposedly doesnt begin until the buildings have undergone a transformation from warehouse tomuseum. This creates a non-site in the pre-demolition buildings. One may describe the aesthetic state ofthe buildings as a state of nunc-stanz or non-existence. Nunc-stanz is often described as the momentbetween day and night. The use of the buildings for art activities that are not in the main program of themuseum nor part of the curatorial schedule presents some intriguing possibilities. The current Utopianmoment in the art world talks about open systems and networks that are loose and rhizomatic. One mayrecall a utopian essay by Hakim Bye called TAZ (temporary autonomous zone). The essay describes a

sort of pirate utopia in the Caribbean Islands during the colonial period; the actual word Utopia translatesto no-place. Going back to the issue of site/non-site part of the idea of a shift is that by shiftingperception or use one can create art. In this case a displacement of objects or a cache can create anaesthetic experience.

There are two different physical markers for this work. One is the hidden object discovered by the worker.The other is the documentation of the process. The worker doesnt experience the whole process justone result. The other resulting object / documentation are useful for the art market mechanism but in afitting gesture, the market is denied the sensation of discovery and wonder. In this case it is an exampleof rendering unto Caesar what is his.


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Stock & TradeG.H. Hovagimyan

Playing on the idea of stock certificates I propose that each artist from (Artists Meeting) provides 3images to be enlarged to 20X 30 or larger as chromogenic prints mounted on Plexiglas.The imageswould have a number on the front as well as a logo or stamp that says Artists Meeting. These would behung in a grid pattern as one continuous piece on the wall of the storefront.

The numbers given to each artist to determine their placement on the grid would be picked at random out

of a hat. The actual size of each certificate would be determined by the size of the display wall and theamount of money in the fund (Artists Meeting Fund) available for printouts.

Exploded CinemaG.H. Hovagimyan

Exploded Cinema is an extension of the notion of Expanded Cinema, first proposed by Gene Youngbloodin 1970 in his book of the same name. This proposal is to create a media arts festival that investigatesthe ideas and structures of cinema, and goes beyond the form into the area of media arts. Suchquestions as; what is cinema? What is video? What is interactive TV? What is the broadcast model?What are the limits of the screen? What have digital editing tools done to the experience of cinema?

What is a narrative? What is a projection? What is live video? What does multi-media mean? These areall questions posed and potential areas for Exploded Cinema.

The exhibitions intention is to expand the discussion and focus on separate elements of the cinematicproduction process. For example; the conceptual development of a film or film script or a narrative mightbe the focus of some of the artists pieces. Another aspect might be the editing of material into a form bycutting and splicing. Still another might be the characterization and media image of the actor. The actof projection is also an aspect of cinema. So too is the sound track both the dialog and the music.

Jean Baudrillard the French Philosopher, recently stated that with the advent of digital tools all media,photography, sound, film, video etc can be performed. Therefore performance and the idea ofperformance can be expanded beyond the simple idea of acting and also acting out.

The exhibition/installation revolves around the idea of performing media or using media in a performativemanner. In some sense this means that media becomes an active participant or perhaps the performerpresents media as the subject of a performance.


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Re-Staging/ Re-enactments/ Re-doG.H. Hovagimyan

Since the early nineties an ever increasing number of artworks have been created on the basis of pre-existing works; more and more artists interpret, reproduce, re-exhibit, or use works made by others oravailable cultural products. From Postproduction by Nicolas Bourriaud,

One of my first net art projects in 1994 was a web site called Faux Conceptual Art< http://artnetweb.com/projects/fauxcon/home.html>. The site was a proposal and a theoreticaldiscussion. It also involved the re-staging of conceptual art works.

Part of the overall project was a boxed set of proposal boards that were sketches for various stylisticfake conceptual art pieces. The boxed set was another manifestation of the project. There are also anumber of pieces I built while others that remain unmade. Recently, I have returned to thisproject/archive and begun to make new pieces. I have also engaged in theoretical musings about thework on my blog There is a fluidity to media art that calls for the re-examination of works made in the form of information and media. This might be called a re-versioning oran upgrade.

My proposal is to use the Whitney site as a home site for the re-examination and production of new FauxConceptual Art works. I propose to construct a number of full-scale Faux pieces that were simplyproposals in my original work.

Along with that I would invite/ curate a group of artists who are engaged in the practice of re-doing orremaking art works from the recent past. The idea would be to create a situation that deals with themediated image of an artwork. The forms would be multiple and include performance, film, video,installation art etc.. The notion is to extend the process of de-construction and appropriation beyondcurrent the current intellectual property debate to a new area of media remix. I had began to articulatethis in a piece I wrote for post.thing.net

< http://post.thing.net/node/1474>


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Unmade - proposals for artworksG.H. Hovagimyan

The group Artist Meeting, having such an incredible pool of first-rate talented artists has decided topresent a series of lecture/demos by each artist in the group, of work that is either in progress, or inproposal format. This is to reveal to the general public the process behind the creative process that isthe process of proposal to a committee or curatorial board or grant panel to create something.

There are a number of reasons for doing this. One is to highlight and recognize that the preparation of a

proposal, the organization of information into a coherent theme and the packaging of the proposal is anart form in and of itself. By viewing this series of proposals the public will see art works that may neverbe built or may be presented a year or two from the time of their presentation as a proposal. By viewingthese proposals the public has a first look, a preview of the future of art.

Another reason to do this series is to investigate a part of the corporate art system that is the supportstructure for art by looking at how artists engage that system. Does the system influence the type of artthat is presented? Does the system choose art based on some specific criteria?

After all, a proposal to do an artwork is essentially a marketing campaign. The artist is trying to gain acommission. A very clever artist who knows their way around the proposal system can make a verycomfortable living. Oftentimes artists and artworks that win commissions or grants or artist-in-residence

are vetted by art professionals, a jury of peers if you will. The public if they are aware of or engaged inthe process at all are alerted after the works have been executed. This is usually in the form of a negativearticle or piece in the media by a right wing news source that is outraged at the misuse of public money.

Which brings us to a larger question; should the general public judge who wins in an open proposalcompetition? The technique of an open call for designs for the re-building of the World Trade Center inNew York and the open voting and discussions by the community seems to have produced the bestdesign being picked for the site. Logically, it follows that the general public and art audience would bebetter informed if they were to view proposals for artworks.

This can take the form of a lecture/demo. The set-up is simple - A data-projector, a computer, an audiomixer, a microphone and 2 powered loudspeakers. I already have all the equipment.


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The Locuststream ProjectBy Locus Sonus (Jerome Joy)

In the fall of 2005 the lab started work on a group project aiming involve the various different members ofthe group in a way, enough to not stifle individual creativity, while still providing a basis for communalexperimentation and exploration. Locus Sonus is inherently nomadic in nature, shared betweeninstitutions separated by several hundred kms (cole Nationale Suprieure dArt de Nice Villa Arson andcole Suprieure dArt dAixen-Provence), we travel regularly to meet and work together from differentlocations.It was decided to set up some live audio streams, basically open microphones which upload a givensoundscape or sound environment continuously to a server and from there available from anywhere theWWW. Our intention was to provide a permanent (and somewhat emblematic) resource to tap into asraw material for our artistic experimentation.

After setting a first permanent stream (outside Cap15 an artists studio complex in Marseille) we startedby using the stream performance/improvisation type mode using the, now standard, laptop and MIDIcontroller with homemade patches to reinterpret stream in real time. This proved to be somewhatproblematic often nothing in particular would be happening on the stream given time when we wereintending to work with it. This led us various leads:The first was to develop a stream which using a denoiser and sampler continuously renewed a databaseof the best of current sound events or objects. Although this made the stream much listenable to (andusable as musical material ) it did pose some conceptual problems in that the sound was, pre-composedat source and with the development of the project it has now disappeared to be replaced with theunadulterated open mike again. using a mixture of sounds gleaned from the stream and those localenvironment, simultaneously an idealized projection of remote site and a reflection on the schizophonic*aspects of whole project.


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Our main efforts have gone into the development of a spatial proposing a suitable interpretation of thestreams in the local environment. The first attempts involved using resonating wires piano wires strungfrom wall to wall were set into vibration using transducers at one end the resulting modified sound beingcaptured at the other end using guitar pickups. This set up allowed a (Lydwine Van der hulst) to play thestreams by touching the wires and thus modifying their resonant qualities. Using a I/O we increased theeffect by detecting when a specific wire was and increasing the amplitude of the audio signal in that wire.time we had three streams up and running (Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Chicago) in this first versionwe used the wires out the virtual network, pointing the wire in the direction corresponding to itsprovenance with an angle that represented relative distance.

A discussion that followed this presentation led us to believe was necessary to define the protocol (soundcapture/network/ form) that we were employing more precisely. One of our problems was the choice ofthe stream emplacement - should this be made relation to geographical location or sound quality or somekind political or social situation... The decision was made to leave to other people, a partly practical andpartly ideological choice. point we tidied up our PureData streaming patch so that other could implementit without too much difficulty, boosted the number streams which could be accepted simultaneously byour server, started stripping down our ideas for installations, confident that worldwide audio artcommunity (with a little help from our friends) would respond to our call, which they did. website nowoffers an animated map which shows the location of all the streams and indicates those which arecurrently active with a blinking light. By clicking on a chosen location one can listen directly using anOGG Vorbis plugin in any browser.Whats nextSeveral interesting things have happened through the act of opening up the streaming project to otherpeople. Apart from the fact that we have found ourselves with audio environments which we wouldnt


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have considered (a kitchen in Iceland, a noisy transformer in California), certain streamers have startedto use the material themselves as part of their own artistic production. Inviting Jason Geistweidt fromSARC in Belfast to perform we were surprised and delighted to find that some of the samples that hesusing have been gleaned from the streams. We are urging to meet the community of streamers who havego involved in this project which leads us to consider organizing some kind of event or festival toaccommodate different versions or interpretations of the project.

As the project grows and more people join in we are rapidly running out of bandwidth however acharitable soul has recently offered to accommodate an unlimited number of streams, so that is no longeran issue. We are currently working on a wireless streaming box which could be placed anywhere within

the range of a wifi router and stream continuously, increasing the range of sound capture and enablingstreamers to get rid of their computers.


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Nsumi

Nsumis proposals for the Whitney Highline are collaborative and intended formultiple groups and collectives to undertake together.

Some proposals involve forming new groups or networks. In others, one or moregroups become nested within other groups. Some involve mutating one kind ofgroup into another kind of group, or the overlapping of networks. Still othersinvolve groups disappearing.

These art works can be understood as regenerative life forms with offshoots,imaging systems, or invisible earthworks. They output art, self-correct, and learnas a part of an autopoietic program.


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The appearance of secondary images

a false image on a television screen; the formation of such images

to haunt

to move silently

to sail quietly in light winds

an artifact manifested as a weak, ghost-like secondary image, offset (in thedirection of the scan) with respect to the position of the primary image

the illusion of a demon or spirit

a returning or haunting memory or image

a slight or faint trace: a ghost of a smile

A faint, false image, as:a secondary image on a television or radar screen caused by reflected

waves.

a displaced image in a photograph caused by the optical system of thecamera

moving noiselessly


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Proposal abstracts

Project Name Media

Mass Smiling Experiments (new group / performance series / installation)Nsumi will organize a series of mood warping public performances with dozens of synchronized smilers. Smiling iscoded through the use of flexible scripts, which modulate the speed, repeat-rate, duration and quality of smiles; acorresponding installation at the Whitney Highline will showcase smile castings, smiling wallpaper, documentaryartwork, and objects.Project / Duration: smile performances / 6 months; installation / 3 monthsOffshoots / Duration: ongoing beaming actions and new tribes / duration unknownTrace objects: wallpaper, documentary footage of performances, smiling scripts, objects, beaming process booklet

Lets Paint TV Self Replicating Caf/Juice Bar (TV show-installation / business plan)Nsumi will collaborate with Lets Paint TV, an experimental Los Angeles public access TV program that involvessimultaneous exercising, painting instruction, live music, live guests, and phone-in callers; we will transpose the showand its host John Kilduff into the Whitney Highline for live tapings; we will create a spin-off self-replicating cafprototype based on the show, and activate a nationwide network of independent caf baristas for related experiments.Project / Duration: installation / 2 months; prototyping / 4 months; barista organizing / 3 monthsOffshoots / Duration: replicating caf / 30 yearsTrace objects: fragments of TV show set, paintings, office paperwork

Maze Makers (new group / architectural intervention)Nsumi will spawn a collective that transforms loft buildings into giant walk-through catacomb mazes; the group willoptimize a 3500 sq/ft chunk of the Whitney Highline building into a 3-dimentional maze, within which the public isinvited to make mini-maze models, drawings, and doodles.Project / Duration: installation / 12 monthsOffshoots / Duration: maze-makers continue to function after the show; evolving and spreading / duration unknownTrace objects: maze models and drawings

Monster Bicycle (performance-object)Nsumi will collaborate with biking enthusiasts, mechanical engineers and event organizers to make an enormousperformance-bicycle; the bicycle will take up the full span of a city street, ignite raves and electronica festivals, launchhot air balloons, and filter automobile traffic through its belly via a mechanical draw-bridge; we will display the bike ona rotating platform.Project / Duration: display of object / 3 months; riding and actions / 3 monthsOffshoots / Duration: after the show Monster Bicycle will be given to a new collective / duration unknown

Trace objects: bicycle grease prints, loose parts, sketches, video documentation

Doodle Marathons (installation)Nsumi will host a series of endurance doodling marathons; we will digitize hundreds of the resulting doodles to projectwithin a nested installation at the Whitney Highline; some of the projections will be calibrated to strobe intenselyenough to induce brain spasms in those who stare at them.Project / Duration: sequence of marathons / 6 months; installation / 3 monthsOffshoots / Duration: doodle marathons continue after the show / 4 yearsTrace objects: video, images, doodle drawings

Partylab (new group / installation)


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Nsumi will launch a collective whose mission is to reinvent the contemporary party; the collective will create a largeparticipatory party-test platform environment within the Whitney Highline including a stage, suspension bridge,spherical design shed, workstations, hand-made carpeting, and large multi-person pillows.Project / Duration: installation / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: partylab yearly gathering / 5-10 years; new party types deploy and take root / semi-permanentTrace objects: drawings, images, video, pillows, carpet swaths

Nsumi Games (installation)Nsumi will create an interventionist board game series that prompts new collectives and networks to form as the games

are played; we will construct an indoor topological waveform within the Whitney Highline where the games can betested and enjoyed; the games will hatch new languages, spawn families, modulate social networks, and tease secretsocieties into being.Project / Duration: installation / 3 months; prototyping phase / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: numbered game editions / semi-permanent; ongoing intense interactive gaming / semi-permanentTrace objects: drawings, sculpted game pieces

Bench Factory (factory)Nsumi will build a bench factory within the Whitney Highline. The factory will manufacture 1000 benches to distributearound the city where benches are needed most; we will create a road show and materials to teach others how tolaunch their own bench factories, thereby spreading the work in unknown directions.Project / Duration: factory in operation / 6 months; shopkeeper-community negotiations / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: 1000 benches added to city fabric / semi-permanentTrace objects: road show elements, wood-chip sculpturettes

Curricula Machine* (phantom institution)Nsumi will create a phantom art school that includes (a) an indoor art installation in the Whitney Highline with theworlds largest whiteboard system and open classrooms; (b) a network of participant educators who haunt targetschools, melt into their social fabric and teach unsanctioned classes; (c) research pods that facilitate domesticresearch and neighborhood experiments; (d) floating dorm galleries that harvest and transform ambient sexual desireinto curatorial action; (e) an artist-run home school system; and (f) a book of artists syllabi.Project / Duration: project operational / 18 months; student-educator negotiations / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: whiteboards given to upstart collectives / semi-permanent; transmitted knowledge and wisdom via

learning experiences / permanent- pending further transmission; educator network continues tofunction after show / semi-permanent; research pods are distributed to select communities / semi-permanent; floating dorm galleries continue and spread / semi-permanent; home school systembecomes non-profit organization / duration unknown; book is published via publisher with possible

future editions / semi-permanentTrace objects: images, lesson plans, drawings, objects* The six elements of Curricula Machine can be broken-up, rearranged and combined as needed.

The Beast Turns in on Itself (performance / installation)Nsumi will collaborate with experimental religious groups to make an unusual sort of performance art in which thegroups blend, combine, interact, and change their thought-reform processes; for the Whitney Highline we will create a40 seat lime green sectional couch system in the shape of an infinity sign for socials, banquets, design-jams, andcelebrations.Project / Duration: installation / 3 months; intra-group negotiations / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: object archive / semi-permanent; couch sections are given to participant groups / semi-permanent;

religious sub-groups form / duration unknownTrace objects: drawings, images, schematics, digital audio files

Afterlife (installation / maquette)Nsumi will design and launch an artist-run funerary system and community archive that prompts posthumousperformances, art, actions, interventions and happenings; for the Whitney Highline we will organize three funerals andbuild a large black maquette of the system and its physical structures; we will organize a conference featuring non-profit funeral parlors and memorial associations.Project / Duration: installation + maquette / 3 months; funeral planning / 3 months; conference planning / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: object archive, including records and inventory sheets / semi-permanent; institution prototype / semi-

permanent; offsite conference / 2 daysTrace objects: drawings, images, funeral planning documents


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Weathersect (new cluster-group / architectural installation / events)Nsumi will collaborate with dozens of outer borough art collectives and groups to build an indoor city with multipleintersecting spaces and creative zones, a full-scale river, rabbit colonies, pods, flora, animals, and workstations; wewill start a tracking scroll that will continually map the social relationships formed as a result of the city; the scroll willbe developed for 50 years and returned to the Whitney Museum in 2058.Project / Duration: city operational / 6-12 monthsOffshoots / Duration: scroll / permanent; new groups /semi-permanentTrace objects: archive ofthousands of objects, drawings and images; documentations of the ongoing scroll

Air Rights (new group / installation / organization prototype)Nsumi will form a non-profit real estate development collective that designs visionary art studios to float above existing

buildings; for the Whitney Highline we will install our office, made up of mud-bail/slab and straw; the office will projectdesign concepts through the mud and onto an opaque glass curtain wall adjacent to 10

thavenue.

Project / Duration: office installation / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: temporary group mutates into formal organization / duration unknownTrace objects: drawings, designs, mud slabs

Lightning Chasers (new group / installation)Nsumi will help launch a small group of lightning survivors who convene during storms to make small abstractlightning models; the models will be displayed at the Whitney Highline in a shiny minimalist jewel case next to a real-time lightning wall; lightning walls omit electronic flashes as lightning bolts discharge around the world.Project / Duration: wall installation / 3 months; storm gatherings / 2 consecutive summersOffshoots / Duration: the chasers continue to spread as a group / duration unknown; lightning models, case / semi-

permanentTrace objects: images, drawings

Puff (object-installation / events)Nsumi will exhibit an enormous bed for groups to use; the bed will have hidden pockets, slips, and folds, encouragingintimate whispering and collective dreaming.Project / Duration: display ofbed including multi-collective sleep-overs / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: custom quilts, pillow-slips / semi-permanent; bed given to new collective space / duration unknownTrace objects: design sketches

Group Scarves (objects / installation)Nsumi will exhibit a series of ninety foot scarves suitable for collectives; the scarves will double as beds, chairs,security blankets and sculptures.Project / Duration: display of scarves / 3 months

Offshoots / Duration: scarves given away to groups / semi-permanent; groups document how scarves are used / 9 yearsTrace objects: images, video, design drawings

Reuse Kiosks (objects)Nsumi will design, deploy and exhibit a series of small re-use kiosks for individual buildings and towns; reuse kiosksare micro-reuse centers with sculptural content and interactive social functionality.Project / Duration: display of kiosks / 3 monthsOffshoots / Duration: kiosks given away to 20 buildings in NYC, where they will remain active / semi-permanentTrace objects: drawings, designs, images, archive of reused objects

3x3 (performance / installation)Nsumi will arrange for three sets of triplets to stand on the corners of a large painted triangle in the Whitney Highline;the triplets will stare silently and persistently at visitors as they enter and exit the space.

Project / Duration: performance / 4 consecutive weekendsOffshoots / Duration: NATrace objects: painted triangular amulets

Data Tents (performance-objects)Nsumi will invent, test, and patent a type of sound-muffling canvas tent that creates quiet spaces within freneticunderground parties; we will exhibit three tent models in the Whitney Highline along with documentary footage of thetents in action.Project / Duration: display of tents / 3 months; party actions / 4 monthsOffshoots / Duration: tents given away to research-based collectives / duration unknownTrace objects: drawings, sketches, images, recorded interviews with people inside the tents


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Taxi Service (installation-service)Nsumi will organize an alternative transportation network that operates via word of mouth for those who know thecombination of secret signals; the service will shuttle people and objects around the city in exchange for art, money, orreferrals; for the Whitney Highline we will build a full service garage, dispatch system, and online tracking bot.Project / Duration: taxies and garage operational / 6 monthsOffshoots / Duration: fleet is made permanent pending successful test-runs / semi-permanentTrace objects: images, video, devices

Bus to Nowhere (video installation)Bus to nowhere is a potential new MTA bus line that glides around the city with no starting or ending points, no

schedule, no planned stops and no route; the drivers drive wherever their whims lead them; for the Whitney Highlinewe will project a video that simulates a full shift of a B2N bus going through its route; we will issue publicpronouncements and lobby city officials to support and launch the new bus line during the show.Project / Duration: video installation /3 monthsOffshoots / Duration: new bus route added to the NYC transportation system / permanentTrace objects: interviews with bus drivers, images, persuasive visual documents and tools

Kettle Hoppers (installation with projections / actions)Kettle hoppers is an ad-hoc group of people who wait by dangerous intersections and offer help to little old ladies andgrandpas who need assistance crossing the street; this act is done in a reserved, straightforward and courtly manner;for the Whitney Highline we will project silent black & white films of the Kettle Hoppers in action, within a felt cocoon.Project / Duration: intersection actions / 6 months; installation / 3 monthsOffshoots / Duration: Kettle Hoppers spread and growTrace objects: sketches


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Mass Smiling

ExperimentsMood is defined as a conscious state of mind or predominant emotion (as feeling), a prevailing attitude(as disposition), a receptive state of mind predisposing to action, or a distinctive atmosphere or context;

mood is usually considered a byproduct of something else_a secondary element. By smiling (and

revealing teeth), pursing the lips, grimacing, or keeping the lips clenched, a person can set the mood for

a social situation. Identifiable in briefly exposed faces at three hundred feet, smiles project an intense

emotional beam that can attract, repulse, excite, and horrify an observer.

Synchronized Smiling Involves sculpting moods in public sites where smilers have been coordinated anddeployed. Smilers in this context are people with amazingly refreshing, natural and delightful smiles, who

roam throughout the city in small packs, and who have learned to synchronize their infectious smiles like

laser beams. Smilers cluster in tight, corporate spaces, such as retail

shops, sidewalks and restaurants, where they warp out the moods

found in these spaces.

Beaming

In beaming, smiling is coded through the use of flexible scripts. Scripts help to modulate the speed,repeat-rate, duration and quality of smiles. By constraining the natural flow of smiles inserted into a

space, coding encourages a subtle, yet distinctive, sculpting of mood.

Beaming is about teasing and playing with mood; about suspending the viewers perception of reality by

re-working a space and the objects and actions that take place (or that are expected to take place) within

a space, resulting in psychologically rich atmospheres. Spaces are augmented and elasticized; patterns

of behavior are dissolved and reconstituted; objects are changed (enhanced) or introduced, sounds are

modified (subtly, invisibly); motion is accelerated and delayed. Beaming flips foreground and background,focusing on communicational pathways, social atmosphere, and the fundamentally emotional nature of

human spaces. Such a strategy is participatory (the producer/viewer divide is fluid) and based in part on

the circle, or feedback loop.

For the Whitney Highline we will conduct smiling castings, seminars, and training sessions in a purpose-

built installation. The installation will feature silent film projections, schematic drawings, and smiling


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wallpaper. The installation will be designed by the smilers and will embody the ethos and aesthetic of

mass smiling.We will help form temporary beaming tribes to fan out into lower Manhattan for

synchronized smiling experiments.

Lets Paint TV Self Replicating

Caf/Juice Bar (Prototype)

Lets Paint TV is a hybrid Los Angeles public access TV show and Internet phenomenon. The show

features host John Kilduff teaching viewers how to paint through live demonstrations, exercising on a

treadmill, hosting special guests (who play music or pose for his painting), mixing blended drinks, and

taking live calls from audience members. The bizarre sight of an artist

simultaneously jogging, painting, blending drinks and chatting to

guests and painting live models has led some to speculate that the

whole show is an ironic piece of performance art. Kilduff denies this

and states that he is completely sincere in

trying to encourage people to do something

creative. (Wikipedia) Nsumi will collaborate

with John to creative-direct several Lets Paint

episodes. Nsumi will act as an agent recruiting

collectives or negotiating their formation via

the show and will provide talent (guests) and ideas for types of guests

such as triplets, cross-eyed models, animal trainers, and sad poets.

Nsumi will locate especially quirky & gifted art students to be interviewed on the show, tying in with our

art school research work. The art students will create artwork for or during the show and/or guest co-

creative-direct some episodes. Nsumi may also create video material and other sorts of artwork including

designs, graphics, & sounds, to enfold into the program as product placements. We may also cast

smilers on the show for synchronized smiling experiments.

For the Whitney Highline we will project videos of Lets Paint TV within a replica

of the shows studio-set including actual props and costumes. Next to this we

will install an unusual tri-level juice bar/caf, which will be accessible from an

entrance along 10th Avenue. The aesthetics and programming of the caf will

mirror the messages and methods of the Lets Paint TV program.

After the show, the caf will transfer into the city as a permanent, apparently conventional business. Its

business plan however will call for it to mutate, grow, and operate in unusual ways. Staff meetings will


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include performances and perceptual experiments. Events taking place in the caf, its hours, staffing,

and interior design will change and flow in mysterious ways. A support network of caf baristas from 500

cafes will extend from coast to coast like an enormous spiders web.

Maze MakersMaze Makers are an experimental collective who transform industrial artist lofts into complex maze

spaces and catacombs. Puncturing through walls, floors and rooftops, the maze-makers spin buildings

into livable sculptures with deep coves and hiding places, secret rooms, trap doors, platforms, revolving

walls and gang-planks. Individual living units of the affected buildings are dissolved. A loft building that

once contained 8 units of 3000 sq/ft each transforms into a much larger labyrinth with dozens of nooks,

turns, shoots, tunnels, doors, skylights, and collaborative spaces.

For the Whitney Highline Nsumi will initiate a maze-maker collective. The Maze-Makers will rework a

section of the Whitney Highline space into a massive catacomb structure, within which people can crawl

around, explore, hang out, or make things.

Model-making supplies will be provided so those inspired to do so can make mini-maze models within the

larger maze. A nearby tool-shed will enable construction workers to alter the structure in collaboration

with the maze-makers and interested guests.

A video will be made of the process, the after-process, the resulting mazes, as well as process drawings,

spin-off objects and scale models.


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Monster Bicycle

Nsumi will

collaborate withbiking enthusiasts,

engineers, acrobats,

welders, Freecycle

organizers, and designers

from Transportation

Alternatives to build a 26 person

monster bicycle.

At 35 feet high, 80 feet long,

45 feet wide, and with 18 wheels, Monster Bicycle can only

be used on roads at least 4 lanes wide, such as freeways,

boulevards, main drags, runways, and open plains.

Monster Bicycle will be composed of bicycles and bike parts, flashing lights,

flags, noisemakers, hardware, and mechanical devices. Hand-cut metallic tape

will encircle the bikes frame causing lightshows at night.

Monster Bicycle will include a drawbridge-like gate to allow cars to pass through its belly at the

discretion of its riders. Additional telescoping devices will shoot up into the air and sideways to make the

bike appear larger than it really is. With modifications Monster Bicycle will double as a hot air balloon

launcher and as a structural frame for elaborate electronic equipment set-ups for flash festivals, raves,

and large-scale rituals.


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For the Whitney Highline Nsumi will display Monster Bicycle on a special slow-motion rotating platform

with theatrical lighting system, scented gels, and exit ramp. We will organize rides around the city in

relation to current events and happenings.

Doodle Marathons

Nsumi will organize several public doodle marathons bringing together the citys oddballs,

artists, characters, loners, do-gooders, and doodle-geeks. Modeled after the classic American

depression-era dance marathons of the 1920s and 30s, doodle-marathons will be hyped and

promoted widely, raising awareness about drawing, and the social value of collaborative

doodling.

For the Whitney Highline we will organize a series doodle marathons, which will be documented.

We will collect doodles from these events for exhibition in a special reflective tank in the museumspace. The tank will include several powerful projectors, drawing stations, and a doodle intake

box.

We will make fast moving animations based on the collected doodles to be projected from the

reflective tank onto the surrounding gallery walls. The Images will flash at the precise intervals as

the pakka-pakka flashing lights that induced seizure in thousands in Japanese citizens on

December, 1997, at 6:30pm, during a broadcast of the Dennou Senshi Porigon (Computer Warrior

Polygon) Pokmon episode.

In this episode, Pikachu and its human friends Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi, have an adventure

that leads inside a computer. About twenty minutes into the program, the gang encounters a

fighter named Polygon. A battle ensues, during which Pikachu uses his electricity powers to stop

a "virus bomb." The animators depict Pikachu's electric attack with a series of intense flashes...

At about 6:51, the flashing lights filled the screens. By 7:30, according to the Fire-Defense

agency, 618 children had been taken to hospitals complaining of various symptoms.

News of the attacks shot through Japan, and it was the subject of media reports later that

evening. During the coverage, several stations replayed the flashing sequence,

whereupon even more children fell ill and sought medical attention. The number affected

by this "second wave" is unknown.


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Doctors said that children "went into a trance-like state, similar to hypnosis, complaining

of shortness of breath, nausea, and bad vision . . ." (Snyder 1997). According to the

Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, "Victim's families reported that children passed out during

the broadcast, went into convulsions, and vomited" (Yomiuri Shimbun 1997b).

Although experts disagree on the total number of victims involved in the incident, news accounts

stated that around 12,000 children were sickened and more than 700 had seizures and/or were

hospitalized. Today we understand this event as an important case of mass hysteria, fueled by

mainstream media news reports.

Within the installation, the computer-calibrated flashing lights will be too dangerous to approach

unprotected, and so Nsumi will provide safety goggles for visitors to wear. The goggles will hang

on pegs just outside the gallery and be made up of the melted plastic from dozens of discarded

TV sets, collected from area reuse stations.

Small Pokmon shaped peepholes will be laser-cut in the walls of the room containing the

installation, so visitors can experience the beauty of the flashing lights in safety. Those who

choose to venture inside the gallery will need to make special arrangements with Nsumi.

http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/news/pokemon.htm

http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-05/pokemon.html


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What if parties could evolve and

develop over months or even years,

occurring at numerous locations at

once with synchronized elements,

involving thousands of people?

Partylab

Partylab is a think tank and testing space for new types & forms of social revelry and ecstatic dance,

commonly known as parties.

Most contemporary parties are

formatted around antiquated modes

of social organization. People

overlay contemporary themes and

decorations onto these outdated

forms as a way to mask theirunderlying structure, yet the basic

procedures remain as they always

have: Predictable.

Partylab explores new options.

For the Whitney Highline, Nsumi will bring together

inventive, experimental and visionary party designers,

planners, artists and craft-workers to form a temporary

collective that reinvents the common house, apartment, and loft party. We will consider the aesthetics

and history of various party types including subway parties, after parties, birthday parties, office parties,

spontaneous parties, surprise parties, roof parties, pagan revelry, garden parties, dinner parties,

potlucks, raves, and so on. We will research common party forms from around the world at different

historical periods and brainstorm how parties might be, and ought to be, now and into the future.

Within the Whitney Highline we will build a large walk-in spherical shed within which Partylab will display

its schematic drawings, objects, video sketches, and other R&D materials. Next to the shed we will test

full party prototypes and party elements in a full scale stage-set with build shop, and suspension bridge.

The party prototyper will include theatrical lighting, smoke and disco machines, couches, fabrics,


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What if parties could evolve and

develop over months or even years,

occurring at numerous locations at

once with synchronized elements,

involving thousands of people?

movable wall sections, reflectors, domestic tools, mold-making station, costumes, circus props, art

supplies, decorations, paints, industrial scale kitchen, beds and bedding, hardware, noisemakers, stereo

systems, music equipment, and sound absorption panels. Surrounding the shed and prototyping space

will be a round 4000 sq/ft shag carpet topped with massive multi-person pillows.

Partylab

Partylab is a think tank and testing space for new types & forms of social revelry and ecstatic dance,

commonly known as parties.

Most contemporary parties are

formatted around antiquated modes

of social organization. People

overlay contemporary themes and

decorations onto these outdated

forms as a way to mask theirunderlying structure, yet the basic

procedures remain as they always

have: Predictable.

Partylab explores new options.

For the Whitney Highline, Nsumi will bring together

inventive, experimental and visionary party designers,

planners, artists and craft-workers to form a temporary

collective that reinvents the common house, apartment, and loft party. We will consider the aesthetics

and history of various party types including subway parties, after parties, birthday parties, office parties,

spontaneous parties, surprise parties, roof parties, pagan revelry, garden parties, dinner parties,

potlucks, raves, and so on. We will research common party forms from around the world at different

historical periods and brainstorm how parties might be, and ought to be, now and into the future.

Within the Whitney Highline we will build a large walk-in spherical shed within which Partylab will display

its schematic drawings, objects, video sketches, and other R&D materials. Next to the shed we will test

full party prototypes and party elements in a full scale stage-set with build shop, and suspension bridge.

The party prototyper will include theatrical lighting, smoke and disco machines, couches, fabrics,


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movable wall sections, reflectors, domestic tools, mold-making station, costumes, circus props, art

supplies, decorations, paints, industrial scale kitchen, beds and bedding, hardware, noisemakers, stereo

systems, music equipment, and sound absorption panels. Surrounding the shed and prototyping space

will be a round 4000 sq/ft shag carpet topped with massive multi-person pillows.

Nsumi GamesFor the Whitney Highline Nsumi will invent a suite of interventionist board games, distinguished by the

serious life-altering consequences in store for those who play them.

By Interventionist we refer to the exhibition The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere, which took

place at the MASS MOCA museum in 2004/05. According to the MASS MOCA website- interventionist

art trespasses into the everyday world (it) interrupts, and co-opts act(ing) subtlety or with riotous

fanfare Nsumi Games extend interventionist art into the domain of cooperative gaming.

The Games

Code system is a game in which art collectives develop minimalist languages and codes to use while

organizing projects. These codes can be spoken, symbolic, written, or a combination of the three. Home-

spun codes add texture to creative discussions. Each game of Code System lasts for approximately two-

years and results in the birth of a proprietary new language.

Flyerboard is a public art game involving bulletin boards and flyers of the sort commonly found in art

districts, college campuses, and small towns. Players manipulate and augment the information flowing

across the posting boards, which they will adopt. New boards will be added. Existing boards will be

refurbished or expanded. Players will organize secret associations of Flyerboard board minders.

Flyerboard focuses attention on the increasing suppression of bulletin boards and other free forms of

immediate, low-impact and community media.

Free love board game is a multi-player board game in which small intimate networks form, develop,

mutate, and drift into other networks. At advanced levels of game play, complex multi-party relationships

develop with varying degrees of intensity and longevity. Free Love Board Game melts away inhibitions

and shyness.

Key Swappers is a hybrid game and mass cooperation system. As the game is played, artists link their

lofts together to form distributed productive networks, some open, and some secret. Materials, resources

and even living spaces will be shared, swapped, rotated, and combined.


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For the Whitney Highline these games will be exhibited and played within a carpeted waveform space

that curls and bobs across the gallery. Game stations will be scattered around the waveform creating

places for gamers to explore the games while making new friends. Area art collectives who want to play

the games will be given game sets to take back to their collective spaces.

Bench Factory

Great cities are filled with places to sit and watch the world float bysuch as benches.

Benches create social opportunities. They allow for a more careful observation of street life,

provide respite for the elderly and infirm, and facilitate poetic thinking.

With these thoughts in mind, Nsumi will design and launch a bench factory to produce benches

to scatter around neighborhoods where benches are needed most.

We will negotiate with shopkeepers and building owners to place benches in front of their

properties. Other benches will simply be scattered around.

We will design and execute a road show to teach others how to organize and operate temporary

bench factories, extending the work in unknown directions.

For the Whitney Highline, we will construct a fully operational bench factory a living installation.

People can drop by to help make benches, adopt a bench for their block, or hang out with the

bench builders in the factorys elaborate, multi-level club house.


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Nsumi will collaborate with collectives, educators and students to create a phantom art school that

operates without a budget and sustains itself for 20 years.

This school will be made up of five complex interventions focused on the fine arts education industry. A

corresponding installation at the Whitney Highline will create a public interface for the work a social hubwhere educators, students and artists can come together for classes and groupwork.

The motivation to create such a school stems from Nsumis ongoing research into art schools, their

methods, programming, history, and pedagogical wanderings.

Interventions

An invisible network of educators: Nsumi will quietly embed educators within target art schools to

realize shadow majors and shadow curricula, mentoring loops, phantom-courses, and pedagogical

happenings. These programs will overlay onto existing schools creating a third pattern level of

communication beyond descriptions, analysis and pedagogy.

The teachers will have no prior affiliation with the host schools, but will

be selected and placed to compliment the existing mix of faculty at each

institution.

The teachers will not have administrative approval for this work from

their host school administrators, yet they will become, socially,

intellectually, and aesthetically intertwined with the participating studentsproducing real objects,

teaching real courses in art studios and cafes, and publishing journal articles based on the resulting

research.

Curricula Machine

The HampshireCollege Media Yurt


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Research pods: Research pods are guerrilla social-research stations for the homedomestic data

facilitators and collectors that attach to walls and enable people to conduct sophisticated research from

their livings rooms.

Research pods facilitate independent information gathering that is more accurate, honest, and useful for

everyday people than commercial mass media news and information sources. Research pods are not

alternative media, they are instruments for directly gathering raw data, which can be distilled into

findings, data-sets, reports, and projections.

Home school system: Nsumi will launch an experimental artist-driven home school program for families

who choose to keep their children away from the mainstream education system. Nsumi will commission

artists with appropriate experience to develop modules for traditional middle and secondary school

subjects math, history, politics, and so on. For example Mathew Barney & Bjork could design thephysical education and music modules.

Floating dorm galleries: Galleries can be imagined that exist within interstitial space. Floating Dorm

galleries are living social sculptures that art students engage while living in dorms and off-campus

houses. Such galleries will be nebulous, shifting and unsanctioned. At first, students curate shows in and

around their friends dorm rooms. Later, as they transition out of the dorms, they spread the galleries off

campus. Floating dorm galleries harvest, port, and transform the ambient sexual desires of art students

into curatorial action.

Many American art schools have art houses surrounding the neighborhoods containing the schools

main campuses. Art houses are multi-unit off campus houses where art students cluster, creative cliques

form, and festivities unfold. Floating galleries will overlay onto art school dorms and off campus art

houses creating social combines that activate and amplify the art school experience.

Syllabi book: Syllabi are massings of knowledge. Nsumi will research and compile a book of the most

experimental and unique syllabi coming out of art schools. The process of traveling from school toschool, meeting and speaking with professors and collecting their syllabi will seed the larger work before

it begins.

Public installation: A 150 foot whiteboard (the worlds largest) will sprawl throughout the Whitney

Highline space, covering thousands of square feet, curling and swooping in odd directions and forming


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dozens of ad-hoc open classrooms. The whiteboard will contain calculations, schematic drawings and

graphics detailing aspects of the project, as well as information on the various classes offered.

The classrooms will be made available to any art teacher or student in the New York City metropolitan

area.

The Beast Turns in on Itself

The Beast Turns in on Itselfis a performance-campaign of perpetual influence and persuasion involving

several charismatic groups. Nsumi will make sweeping and systematic changes to the member

recruitment patterns and programming of these groups, some of which

are thought to be cultic in nature. We will do so through careful re-

calibration of the rituals and indoctrination

sequencing that occurs as a part of the thoughtreform process. Any changes made would be

subtle, exacted with delicacy and care, and

orchestrated in accordance and awareness of the

groups leadership, members, and supporters. Nsumi will take into account the

fragility of the situation. We will seek to liberate the thinking and freedom of mind

of everyone involved, while respecting the perspective of the

religious leaders whose roll is to nurture and clarify the hive mind

of each group.

Possible sequences - Nsumi may

reorient the perceptions of the recruiters

from an especially colorful group, for example Adi-da, towards a

corresponding group, prompting a small scale, non-violent religious war between the two. A pair of

quazi-cults could swap sympathizers in a kind of cultural exchange. Corporate cults and pyramid

schemes could join forces with a psychoanalytic meeting to form a collaborative

fashion design lab. The recruiters from dozens of high

growth religious groups could be focused in on the

American university Greek system, prompting dramatic

changes within fraternities and sororities nationwide.

Nsumi will bring members of several NYC area mind-reform groups together for

lively discussions and collaborations. We will meet on a giant lime green couch in the shape of the infinity


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sign in the Whitney Highline space. We will organize an archive of fashion, design, found objects and

ready-mades collected from area compounds and places of experimental worship.

Afterlife

Nsumi will develop and launch a prototype non-profit artist-run funerary system that serves creative

communities. A funerary system of this sort negates the need for traditional funeral parlor services, while

encouraging discussion on the nature and mortality, death, and creative life-cycles.

The system, called Afterlife, will consist of a large customizable rubberized box plus programming and

archives. The archives collect and store the important artifacts and documents of the participating artists.

While still living, artists can design their own funerals and surrogate

happenings, including rituals, music, speeches and actions, to be delivered

by the artists friends or community volunteers. A memorial fund will raise

money for some of the more complex afterlife requests.

The black box corresponds to the white box of the gallery as well as the

emergency black box flight recorders used on airplanes.

For the Whitney, a large scale model of the box will become the centerpiece

of an installation that includes abstract music, sample funerary scripts, and artifacts from several recently

deceased artists, including the American futurist James Daugherty*.

We will organize 3 funerals for artists who die during the course of the show.

James Daugherty mural

detail, University of

Connecticut at Stamford

Librar , Stamford Connecticut


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* Daugherty is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum.

Weathersect(Network Incubator)

Nsumi proposes a sprawling 20,000 sq/ft. temporary indoor city in the Whitney Highline space populated

by collectives, ad-hoc networks, temporary projects and curators from outer-borough art spaces. Each

invited person or group will spawn their own sub-networks within the space as a part of the show.

The city will have its own river powered by a solar current-propulsion system, a solarium, multiple

intersecting lounges, enhanced nature experiments on the roof, a rabbit colony, plants & flowers,

spaces for singing, reuse kiosks, green-walls, air scrubbers, digital workstations, letter writing desks, ashepherd for the livestock, and a small art house cinema.

Throughout the city visionary tree-houses and sprawling hand-made carpets will create a patchwork of

zones and clusters. A multicolored tube system will connect the zones. Hiding places for quiet

conversations and discussion pods, bathed in mood lighting, will be scattered around the gallery, forming

spaces nested within other spaces.

The lounges will host creative think tanks and design-jams. Seeds will be scattered throughout the 20blocks surrounding the museum in the form of a giant galaxy swirl. Subway box drummers will give

synchronized performances once a week throughout the space.

A private entrance will shoot out of the side of the building through an unmarked door.

Over time, the city will offshoot numerous collectives, networks and micro-communities as the groups

and people who meet through the show continue to hatch collective ideas, situations and collaborative

projects. These social connections will be mapped along an enormous scroll for the next 50 years andreturned to the Whitney Museum in 2058.


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Air Rights

Nsumi will launch an experimental real estate collective that develops cooperative artists housing blocks

that float above existing buildings within the unused pockets of air between the rooftops and the clouds.

Beginning with cookie-cutter, corporate, brutalist and international style structures, housing projects and

other urban slab forms, the collective will spin cobweb-like organiforms, crystalline sheaths, chill-out podsand mud towers, creating a vigorous new architecture that sprouts.

The resulting forms will combine living vegetation with digital technology. Honeycomb walls, straw-bails,

turbines, green-roofs, cybernetic workshops, medieval design, performance incubators, and illuminated

glass will overlap and play off each other.

For the Whitney Highline we will develop and launch the collective, working out of a custom designed

straw-bail/mud office behind a curtain wall of fluorescent glass. The office will be adjacent to and visiblefrom the 10th Avenue sidewalk. Digital projections of our designs in progress will project onto the

illuminated glass from behind the mud, clearly visible from the sidewalk.

Open bi-weekly potlucks for the public will blend idea-jamming, socializing, home cooking, and

discussions about the state of artist housing in New York City.


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Lightning Chasers

Nsumi will help launch a small group of lightning survivors who convene during storms to make small

abstract models. The models depict patterns observed by the Chasers within the storms. They will be

displayed in a shiny minimalist jewel case in front of a real-time lightning wall that omits electronic flashes

as lightning bolts are discharged around the world. We will organize social events and educational

forums focused on the metaphorical dimensions of lightning strike survival.

Puff

Puff is a community-scale bed can accommodate up to 60 people comfortably. The bed is round, 150

feet across at its widest point, and made with extremely soft materials. It has an extra sleeping area

below the main level forming a cushy tunnel system, which is padded on all sides. Puff is not meant to

encourage promiscuity, however emotional intimacy and experimentation are welcomed. A system ofadjustable quilted pockets creates mini spaces and coves throughout the bed.

Group Scarves

Nsumi will knit a series of beautiful 90 foot long fuzzy wool, silk and mohair scarves. Each scarf will besuitable to use by an entire art collective or micro-community at the same time. We will display the

scarves in loose plumes around the Whitney space. The scarves will double as beds, chairs, security

blankets and temporary sculptures.

Reuse Kiosks


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Reuse kiosks are small customizable units for collecting and redistributing unwanted stuff consumer

reusables. They are like tiny reuse centers, scaled for use in individual buildings and small towns. Social

events and happenings will occur around the kiosks, which will be outfitted with pull down seats, mini-

tables and other amenities. For the Whitney Highline we will display several kiosk models in conjunction

with Freecycle NYC.

3 x 3

Nsumi will paint a huge triangle on the floor of the Whitney Highline with soft ovals at the points. On the

ovals will stand three sets of triplets, each group identically dressed. The nine triplets will stare in silence

at the museum visitors as they enter (and then quickly leave) the triangle.

Data Tents

Data tents are portable fabric sheds you can bring to underground loft parties to use for discussions and

interviews in the midst of the chaos. The sheds will be soundproofed. They will create ruptures in the

experience of the party for those who use them. For the Whitney Highline we will design and display

three Data Tents. We will also display photographs taken in and around the tents in action at several

parties.4

Taxi-Service

Taxi Service is an alternative transportation network that shuttles people and large objects to destinations

in exchange for art, a small fee, or referral information (it runs through word of mouth). It can also

function as an underground bus route, stopping for those who learn the secret wave or wear the correct

pin for collective transportation on a path determined by anything from unusual sites to art destinations.

This Taxi Service acts in parallel with a web platform, mobilizing nomadic, temporary occupants


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alongside a growing network of online documentation and community tracing. The fleet of unusual taxis is

housed at the Whitney Highline with a computer for uploading information on the growing word of

mouth/referral network.

B2N: Bus to Nowhere

Bus to Nowhere is an installation that imagines a new MTA bus line that drives around the city without a

route, schedule, or any planned stops. Every ride is unique and different. The drivers drive wherever their

whims lead them and passengers enter and depart the buses wherever they choose. Bus to Nowhere is

envisioned as a permanent Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus line, with one bus assigned to each

borough, although busses may drift from borough to borough. Bus to Nowhere would operate 24 hours a

day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Anyone with a valid Metrocard would be able to access the line.

Bus to Nowhere busses would look the same as other MTA buses except for their unique B2N route

number.

For the Whitney Highline we will project a digital video that depicts a full shift of a Bus to Nowhere bus in

real time, on the side of a customized (junked) MTA bus. The videos point of view will oscillate from the

drivers perspective to rooftop views of the bus rounding corners, pulling into and out of stops, and

zooming here and there throughout the city.

Nsumi will negotiate with MTA executives and city officials for the run of the show, seeking to launch a 2-

week beta test of the line so as to gage public interest.

Kettle Hoppers

Kettle hoppers wait by dangerous intersections and offer help to little old ladies and grandpas who need

assistance in crossing the street. This action is undertaken in a reserved, straightforward and courtlymanner. For the Whitney Highline we will project silent B&W films of the Kettle Hoppers in action within a

purple felt cocoon. We will bring elderly neighborhood folk into the space to talk about traffic intersection

safety and related concepts.


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Lee Wells / IFACNovember 20, 2007

Whitney HighlineProposal #1The United Nations of Brooklyn

Abstract

Curate a multi-media exhibition that would include 192 artists representing eachof the Member States of the United Nations. Each artist must be a resident ofBrooklyn for at least one year and have a direct ancestry to the representing

country. By organizing such an exhibition it would positively raise attention to thediverse international creative identity of Brooklyn and help define and enrich theimportant 21st century artistic heritage of this community.

Whitney HighlineProposal #2Dealers are Artists Too

Abstract

Curate a multi-media exhibition and historical survey of artworks created by NewYork City art dealers, curators, critics, advisors and museum professionals. This

exhibition will create insight into the community of arts professionals that definewhat we see publicly through the massive infrastructure of institutional andcommercial establishments that represent the driving forces behind theinternational art world in the United States.

Whitney HighlineProposal #3Open Collaborative Art Exchange

Abstract

Curate a collaborative exhibition where Artists will be invited to submit finished

artworks (based on a predetermined size), which then would be assigned,through a random process, to other artists exhibiting to be reworked multipletimes across the period of the exhibition. The process would be documentedprofessionally through photography and would become part of the work. Thisexhibition would call into question authorship and ego. After a predeterminedtime the finished artworks will be exhibited and auctioned off with all moniesbeing donated to a qualified arts related charity.


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Documenting one day a yearDaniel Blochwitz

In 1960, the East German author Christa Wolf followed an open call to authors around the globe by a

Soviet newspaper to describe the day September 27th. She did so for over 40 years and recentlypublished A Day a Year: 1960-2000.

I would like to propose a show as an archive of peoples documentation of their one day by whatevermeans they deem appropriate, e.g. video, writing, photography, audio recording, and drawing. The daycould be September 27th, in direct reference to Christa Wolf, or any other chosen day. The consequentexhibition of gathered recorded materials would display individual experiences of every-day life. At thesame time, the fact that the one day was chosen collectively elevates the personal onto a broader, asocial level somewhat an imitation of the workings in any given society. The sum of personalexperiences and decisions make up the dynamic of society. Also, the heightened self awareness, theliving of the moment through the need to report about it, contains a utopian element, one of empathy,hope and reflection.

Ideally, this project should be repeated every year thereafter. A good place to archive this in the long-runwould be the web.

Contributing to an imagined worldDaniel Blochwitz

This project would call upon all people willing to contribute to a vision of a decidedly non-capitalist societyin which human relations are truly emancipated and the economy socially and ecologically sustainable.Rather than relying on one "author" to propose a theory for a future economy, political system andsociety, we call on experts and amateurs of all fields of inquiry to contribute their visions, ideas, problem

solutions, theories, proposals, research results, etcetera. This should be a truly multidisciplinary projectwith equal access, preferably in a wiki-site-like online environment. Users can add and edit content freelyaccording to the project objectives. It would be constantly open to peer-review. Contributors understandthat there is no personal gain to be made from this project other than the merit of working collectively onan "utopia" - a new vision for a better, sustainable, non-violent and just world.

This project could be kicked off with an exhibition by a large group of artists and non-artists providing afirst glimpse into what they imagine a better world would look like. This can take any form of visual andwritten material and should be edited/curated into an effective presentation.


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A CRASH PAD IN NEW YORKConcept: Alan MooreCoordinator of painting: Neil Bender

Web cast: thing.netHospitality: American Youth Hostels

To commemorate the time of the hippies, when hospitality was freely offered in major cities nationwide toa generation of nomadic young people a working image of this moment is devised.

A matrix of single bed mattresses laid beside one another -- at least five by five, 15 by 30 feet. Eachmattress is painted (covered) with an image of hospitality. A web camera is mounted above, framing theentire matrix. When people are sleeping on it, a painting is invisible, covered by a body and bedding.When they are not, it may be seen.


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Multimedia Performance/Exhibition Space

Thomas Hutchison

As a continuation of my previous installation, Resource Distribution Center/Economic Research Room(Long Island City 2007), I propose this site-specific environment with several alterations to be composedon a more grandiose scale. To begin, the skeletal wooden structure will be modified from its original form,so it fills an entire building as opposed to a portion of a room. The structure will be contingent with theshape of a softly-sloping earthen mound, able to be traversed on top of as well as entered into andexplored via an opening in the exterior top portion of the structure. The canvas exterior utilized in theprevious installation will be replaced with a mud-like mixture composed of sand and earth, acting as anorganic shell exterior to the wooden infrastructure. As the viewer comes through the exterior buildingentrance way, the exhibition space will appear to be filled with a soft upwardly-sloping mound of dirt thatflattens at the top and extends to the back of the space. As the viewer climbs over the peak of themound, they will encounter an entrance to a cavernous space below. Housed within the earthen structureare a multitude of rooms and open spaces accessible only through the aforementioned entrance at thetop exterior of the mound. Once inside the interior is to possess a cavern-like feel, offering the viewer anexhibition space nesting within another. The cavern is to be broken up into a number of interconnectedrooms instead of one singular room-like space depicted in the previous installation. The interior will beused to house a multi-media exhibition involving sculpture, performance, lighting/sound environments,video elements and photography. The video will b

artists meeting - whitney highline building

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