Inspired by the fencing off of public walkways last night at Occupy SF, I am brainstorming how to remount a previous project I did in Chicago called Urban Bodies. If you have any comments or ideas, please feel free to contact me!
Urban Bodies (to be re-titled ? Occupy Space ? )
Originally, this was a collaborative performance based project that I directed on the streets and buildings of Chicago. The Free School in London, which I believe has similar grounds as Occupy, took the project on. So it makes me think that the foundation themes of the project could be enjoyed within the Occupy Movement.
Demonstrating a different use of public space, engaged with the public and the architecture of the urban streets, a group of performers are dressed in working-business class clothing, and walk through the public streets in complete silence, pausing occasionally to collaboratively physically interpret or reflect the city plans and architecture. The group stacks themselves along walls, between pillars, in corners, to compliment site-specific locations of their choosing. Originally the themes of the work dedicated itself to the sculptural flexibility of the human body within the stiff framework of the familiar architecture that sits in our peripheral vision. It also comments on common disengagement of public urban space.
Interests I would like to continue or further expand:
The reinterpretation and use of public space // play in public // collaboration compared to competition // alternative entertainment //
Potentials to Add/Alter
turn it into a game so it operates organically without a director // an element of problem solving // awareness of collaborative effort // consider use of ONLY public streets, no need for permissions from buildings
1st. I was thinking first, to put a call out to people who are already comfortable using their bodies to interpret things - (ie dancers, performers, actors, the interested members of this think tank, etc) and to do a work-in-progress test run of this concept as is. A Saturday afternoon on market street/embarcadero
2nd. Chat people up for ideas of how to turn it into a game
(photographers include Mark Werle and John Sisson, and myself)
