“10K Matchbook Portraits” is a mobile street art project in which strangers become subjects and turn into collectors within 1 minute of engagement. Each portrait, penned on the inside of a matchbook, is serially numbered, signed and dated and given away to the subject upon completion. 0H10M1ke has completed over 9,500 matchbooks and will attempt to reach his goal of 10,000 at FIGMENT!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art0h10m1ke
FIGMENT attendees are invited to share their life story in 5 minutes at "The 5-Minute Autobiography". The storyteller may share his/her story with an audience of 1 (me); a group of friends, a crowd of strangers. What do we choose to recount in five minutes? Does the time fly or does five minutes seem like forever? What is highlighted? What is omitted? Do we concentrate on our victories and accomplishments or less celebrated moments? On family life or on careers? On a pivotal childhood anecdote or what happened today? It is always a surprise, especially for the storyteller.
Echoing from childhood imagination and wonder, Patsy Chen and Sophie Leung have created a soft and colorful environment filled with an array of odd creatures and natural acoustics that engages your senses and delves you into the world of possibility. Come visit their quaint little tent and be transported into the world of bi-morphed animals, mythical creatures, and tantalizing vegetable monsters.
Sugar, spice and some things not so nice come together in a merry-go-round of fun, surprises and often hilarity. This adventure features crowd-pleasing tunes the audience will recognize from favorite childhood cartoons, commercials and movies. With fairy-tales, love stories, bullfighters and women in Viking horns – there is something for everyone... adults, too. This interactive performance of the greatest operatic hits starring a cast of NYC’s most talented up-and-coming artists (and a few unsuspecting audience members) will send the audience home humming favorite melodies which they never realized were from that thing called “opera”!
The installation involves all the senses, as participants are offered a real gum ball of their choice of flavor. One person can enter at a time through the machines “dispenser” which opens with a zipper sewn into the sculpture.
Music
Accelerando: An Improvisational & Interactive Musical Experience
Samples and sound banks will be twisted into music by the members of MAKr. Visitors are encouraged to manipulate their sounds and add to the musical “layers” as the performance evolves. The musicians and participants channel their surroundings into their own audible reflection.
This piece challenges the set roles of performer and audience and questions the social boundaries of theater. Who is in charge of initiating the show? Do the performers instigate movement or do the performers react to the audience? Who is accompanying whom? Some of the audience is given tambourines. The rest of the audience can either use their voices or clap to instigate our dancing. The space will be transformed into one massive performance with the audience creating the music and the dancers responding. Choreography: Jessie Feller and Julia Sabangan. Dancers: Jessie Feller, Julia Sabangan, Kristin Licata, Erica Frankel.
Aches and the Pains are a musical duo made up of singer/songwriters Anthony Kapfer (otherwise known as AK), and Ricky Wells. They have a new morbid kid's album for adults called SONGS FOR CHILDREN TO CRY TO. Their live show consists of AK singing, playing guitar, and playing percussion with his legs all at once, and Ricky Wells playing lead guitar, and singing.
Airport Seven is an experimental post punk trio that blurs the line between improvisation and song form. Bass, drums and guitar are supplemented with acoustic and electronic elements creating a richly textured sonic landscape. Veterans of the 80’s Lower East Side music scene – John Terhorst, Steve DiBenedetto and Kevin Jones continue to work in the DIY tradition.
Our Centipede was inching along Division Road one day late spring, when it passed a Minigolf Course which was under construction at the time. Pausing to observe, he found an enormous beach towel and decided to take a nap. He barely finished untying all 100 of his shoes when he fell into a deep sleep and it doesn’t look like he’ll be awakening until mid-fall. That’s how he became hole #8.
A musical performance hybrid combining electronic dance, hip hop rapping, and folk story-telling roots. Synthesizers, drums, vintage Casio keyboards, guitars, rainbow glockenspiels, and live beat boxers. Songs about giving birth to keyboards, going back in time to visit ancestors, and encountering new friends that arrive via spaceship. Might make you question, laugh, think, and even dance! Come join the FUN.
AMAZING! Fifty-six year old femme performs feats of flowing flexibility few folks at any age can achieve! Amazing Amy’s skills are as inspirational as they are entertaining. Her uniquely, spectacular movement talent is guaranteed to WOW the crowd! Winner of first prize in the July 31, 2010 Coney Island talent show, Circus Freaks And Side Show Geeks category.
Dance theater company Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama presents “The Grass is Always Greener...,” exploring the themes of immigration, roots, and memory. A Latina artist from Argentina, Anabella Lenzu invites you to relive the struggles and successes of generations of immigrants coming to the United States in search of a better life. Against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty, Lenzu and her dancers bring the immigrant story to life by hearkening back to the great waves of immigrants that passed through Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century. Join them in answering questions about homeland, identity, and belonging.
Analog Fire are a dance based experimental and electronic group taking styles from both Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye, and mixing them with Phoenix, Delorean and Miike Snow styles. They have played as DJs in clubs, or with a full band in venues, playing all original music and using a vast array of instrumental set ups to keep the night moving.
In a dense urban environment buildings come and go and changes happen in what appears to be a chaotic manner. Are our patterns really so chaotic? If put between glass, would a system of organic order emerge from the seeming randomness? We ask these questions and ask our visitors to engage in a moment of whimsy and curiosity. We also nod to the late Milton Levine for encouraging generations of children to engage with the natural world and look a bit closer.
"The Anywhere Organ" is a giant, mobile, electronic pipe organ built out of recycled parts from discarded church organs. It's composed of boxes, each containing seven organ pipes, electronic valves, and a blower. These boxes are networked together through MIDI and can be accessed via a keyboard, a laptop, a cell phone, or a passive network of sensors.
Are you a Super Villain or Super Hero? "Aqua Attack!!" is Back! The imaginary Japanese game show where you dress up and battle in kiddie pools with super soaked plush toys and guest game show hosts. Plus a new surprise!
“Articulations” is a collection of collaborative, experiential, and interactive projects aiming to explore aspects of the urban experience. Projects include: “Shelter and Sound” – small sculptural structures allow participants to separate themselves from their immediate surroundings and observe sounds transported from the city and nature. “Vantage” – visitors construct a small scale urban environment, that suits their perspective and preference. “Network” – visitors build a network of cords and fibers that connect multiple points of the installation. “Identity” – visitors depict their identities through a series of art making and performance activities.
Friday:
1:00pm to 1:05pm, 2:30pm to 2:35pm, 4:00pm to 4:05pm,
Saturday:
1:00pm to 1:05pm, 2:30pm to 2:35pm, 4:00pm to 4:05pm,
Sunday:
1:00pm to 1:05pm, 2:30pm to 2:35pm, 4:00pm to 4:05pm,
Two sisters fight until one kills the other with a poisoned frock. A man seduces a woman who tries to kill him so he poisons her with an apple. Two warriors are suspicious of each other, but their fighting is futile, so they agree to stop. And perhaps to share a meal. The parts will be played by the same two actor/dancers and the dramas will unfold through dance/physical theater. The costumes will be placed along three different performance locations on the island. The 30 minute performances will take place once an hour.
Music
Audio ~WaVeS~ by Bass Master DJs curated by the Tsunami Bass Experierence
Looking for music? Then wobble on over to the waterfront to the 18ft ~WaVe~ (Ver. 4.0) installation! In addition to Tsunami Bass Experience's Morphous & ShiZaru, and the debut of Neo Tokyo Bass Endless and Crash, all the way from Tokyo, TBE is hosting an amazing line-up of the best local, domestic & international bass culture talent including the familar residents & guests u love, and new to the ~WaVe~ bass masters including; Joro Boro, Lion Dub, Papa Skunk, Wala, Dave Gee, Hellfire Machina, Jen Wyse, Barney Iller (Brilla), Shakey, Breakbomb, Space Jesus, Mikey Likes It & more TBA. ~"Come on in, the BASS is fine, and we be swimmin' in it"~
BALL TODAY (READING) is a workshop reading of the "screenplay" for the film BALL TODAY (2010), a short documentary about pick-up basketball in New York City. This will involve a small group of actors performing variations on the script in front of the public. There will not be a final or official performance during the festival: the process of working through it, making mistakes and discoveries along the way, is the work itself, including opportunities for viewers to participate in the reading process, in a kind of "pick-up theater."
Saturday:
11:00am to 11:30am, 12:00pm to 12:30pm, 1:00pm to 1:30pm,
Sunday:
11:00am to 11:30am, 12:00pm to 12:30pm, 1:00pm to 1:30pm,
Immerse yourself in the adventure and struggle of a group of young castaways marooned on an island. Inspired by the writings of William Golding, this performance installation will explore the deconstruction of order into chaos as the castaways fight the beast within. This physical theater piece will come to life around and through the viewing spectators. Audience members will enable the full immersive experience by listening to a sound installation as they watch. Created by Trusty Sidekick, a theater company dedicated to creating bold and sophisticated work for young audiences. Direction: Adrienne Kapstein and Jonathan Shmidt, Sound Design: Chris Gabriel.
Visitors to the Sculpture Garden can relax, dream, reflect and watch the world go by while suspended in "Becky’s Dream Catcher" on an oversized hammock. The hammock will be suspended within an 18′ diameter geodesic sphere made of oak struts and aluminum hubs. The installation is a showcase of durability and structural integrity.
Have you ever seen the frustration of a professional golfer stuck in a sand trap, pathetically trying to hit his ball back into play?! If you ever had Bed Bugs, you certainly know how he feels! With this tribute to that pit of sandy menace, we present "Bed Bug Hazard"! Spend a frustrating afternoon ridding your bed of this tenacious vermin! "Bed Bug Hazard" will be sure to disappoint and confound those who are frantically caught in its overwhelming annoyance! Just when you thought the ball was back in play, guess again and take another look into "Bed Bug Hazard"!
This minigolf hole draws whimsical inspiration from a bee-friendly garden on a summer afternoon. Utilizing available re-purposed materials from Build It Green NYC and Materials for the Arts, "Bee-ware" ’s Par 3 will leave you buzzing.
At last year's FIGMENT, Najla took visitors on a tour of Egypt with her show and lesson "Belly Dance on the Island." This year she pumps up the drama with a Belly Dance "Prop-tacular," where visitors will be delighted and mesmerized by dances with wings, veils, swords, canes, zils and candles. They will be invited on stage during the show to participate, and will learn dance moves after the stage show. A display for visitors allows them to scan a QR code that corresponds to each prop, to access a blog entry that tells them more about their selection.
“Big Exit” is a theatrical love letter to human beings who work-work-work and dream of flight. Created by Sara Zimmerman in collaboration with Eliza Ladd, this amalgam of physical theater, dance, and clown, celebrates how imagination and fantasy offer escape from the mundane.
Kitchen Sink Arts invites you to Move! Paint! Sculpt!
In this piece the participants are their sculptures, painters, and dancers. Come dance inside a sac creating a living sculpture or capture the beauty of the moving sacs by painting on their cubes.
Summer is meant for blowing: blowing bubbles, blowing balloons, blowing out citronella candles, blowing carnival face paint dry, blowing cool air, blowing bugs away. Our dance troupe will blow away FIGMENT attendees with a directed group dance improvisation utilizing bubbles, balloons, and face paint. Together, for this improvisation, we seek to explore the depth of the human breath and how it is specific to each season.
"BnDL" is an improvisation based music group that utilizes the element of context to form sonic landscapes. The three person band enlists a variety of electronic and traditional musical devices to form "noise" that utilizes the direction and variables of existing sounds to suggest narrative forms generated by "place." If the word "noise" sounds harsh, the bi-line is quite musical as it can drift from "ambient dreamy" to "hardly detectable" to multi-textural and poly-rhythmic. All dependent on the arrangement of what "it" is responding to.
"Bottle Cap Shaker" is a giant, colorful musical shaker of found plastic bottle caps. Visitors can play the shaker by pulling a rope attached to the bottom of the instrument, allowing the shaker to bounce and thousands of caps to hit against each other. Visitors to Governors Island consume thousands of water and soda bottles over the summer. The caps from those bottles will be collected in labeled buckets located at garbage stations. The artist will rework those caps into the shaker with the help of volunteers and visitors, doubling its size over the course of the summer.
“Brooklyn Aerodrome Fly Cart” has an ambulatory aerodrome from which Breck Baldwin flies his planes, offers buddy box sessions and videos FIGMENT from the sky.
"Burble Bup" by Bittertang is a secret hideout that lures people into its soft and magical interior using a colorfully inflatable roof. Here they are enticed to relax, lounge, and mingle within "Burble Bup" ’s earthen walls, underneath constantly shifting colored light and upon plush soil tubes. The pavilion isn’t a space of circulation, but of rest and social interaction. "Burble Bup" is sustainable: Bittertang anticipates reusing the inflatables as floating toys at NYC pools and the materials used for the soil tubes will be recycled. All materials were chosen for their ability to enhance our surroundings post pavilion usage.
“CARDHENGE” is about simplicity and regeneration. It’s about how anything can be a monument, a focal point in the landscape, and about how temporary a monument really is. Made of corrugated cardboard, it makes a comment on the fluting found in ionic columns. Each “CARDHENGE” column is a dynamic spiral. The spirals graduate from 6 ft to 1 ft., a commentary on scale from overwhelming to underwhelming in 4 steps. You may see a few artificial monkeys scattered around. They are there for a personal reason and a public one –to make you think of Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
Capoeira Angola is a Brazilian dance and martial art played by Angoleiros with musical accompaniment. Group members sing and play traditional instruments while chanting traditional Brazilian music. Two Angoleiros play capoeira in the center of the group, cycling through multiple games shared by all players. Artists include: Francisco Custodio, Cory Snyder, Genevieve Morente, James Wilson, Arianys Wilson, Lorie Caval, Jimmie Underwood, Prince Xrnah, Audrey Rivera, Brett Turner, Alberto Planco.
"Chalk waves" is a large collaborative chalk work in 250 pounds of powdered chalk and chalk sticks. As in Harry Spitz’ past chalk on tarmac works, this one will aim at evoking the spirit of Earth, Sky and Water – but this time he turns the area into a grid and invites FIGMENT participants to each fill in a square with the dry-line marker and colored chalk sticks. “Chalk waves” is a combined effort of event participants which evokes the spirit of FIGMENT.
This workshop on how to make compost using chickens as compost workers is held at the Earth Matter compost learning center at Picnic Point on Governors Island.
“Child's Play (work in progress)” aims to explore the difference in the movement of children versus the movement of adults. The project stems from the idea that it is possible that significant dance training can actually limit the range of movement qualities that a person can access in their older and more "sophisticated" dancing years and that children have the right idea with their untouched and natural movement qualities.
Join the Children's Museum of Art over FIGMENT Weekend from 11am to 3pm. CMA Teaching Artists will lead a slate of programs on Governors Island’s Nolan Park. Join them for Calligraphy Draw with brushes and branches using black ink and watery paint (Building 14) and making feathered puppets, including chickens, dodos and hippogriffs (Our Lady of the Sea Chapel)! CMA's programming runs every Friday through Sunday from May 27 – Sept 25, 2011 (11am-3pm).
"Circus Yoga" blends the consciousness of yoga with the communal celebration of circus. Here we foster connection, play, trust and skill building through a wide range of experiences, including group games, flying partner yoga, partner acrobatics, Thai massage, circus skills (juggling, diabolo, poi, etc.) and more. We invite parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents to participate with their kids, and welcome anyone aged 7 and up. This includes adults without kids.
Manhattan is an island shaped by millions of dreams. "City Blocks" is an interactive installation that gives everyone the opportunity to rebuild the fabled island using building blocks made from reclaimed wood, shaped to show the many architectures of the city.
This durational performance piece and installation is a constructed ground based circular earth work. The artist creates a pattern in this circle by cutting away the existing grass; the exposed earth underneath shapes the image. The resulting outline is based on regional American Indian floral designs, determined by the artist during the performance in response to conditions, visitors and site location. The work remains on Governors Island for the duration of the summer until the pattern fades from exposure to the natural elements and the grass grows back. The piece expands on themes of displacement, connection to land, and heritage.
“Come and play in my art!” “Cocoon Playground” is a fully-enclosed sheer, stretchy fabric creation with a zipper designed for playing inside. A collection of them together, for pairs or small groups, create the interactive “Cocoon Playground.” Each one is different in its size, opacity, subtle texture and smells (essential oils.) Most importantly, the performance is about the visitor’s experience inside and how it releases your imagination and allows you to react with your body. Movement is a part of the design and creation of the piece, as each person’s interaction makes the “Cocoon Playground” a living, morphing entity.
Collidascope- an interactive series of short plays, written by professional playwrights starring the audience. Ever wonder what it would be like to be on stage? Come take a site specific tour lead by a rotating group of New York directors who will cast and direct you in a play. All ages and character types welcome! Pro headshot photographer Anna Flores will take actors headshots. Brought to you by Floating Train Productions in collaboration with The New York Theater Review.
The multitudinous microorganisms and itty bitty critter friends all over and around us can also process our food waste. They help make nutritious soil for food deliciousness. This golf hole is a 3 step compost system for soil building and food growing. The cycle is powered by the likes of such characters as beneficial microbes, fungi, worms, bees, lady bugs and the snail, a mollusk, which helps aggregate the soil. These workers help turn organic waste into the best fertilizer for free! Together with bugs and microbes, we are rebuilding our topsoil, making soil richer and our food tastier.
Artists and visitors paint on a wall built of reclaimed wood and flat materials using spray and recycled/oops paint. Each mural or piece of is subject to being covered by more wood or more paint as the wall evolves. In front of this backdrop all manner of fun and internal art take place. DJs will play, while Yoga, T'ai Chi, Bodywork like Shiatsu and Thai Massage, Dance, Sack-lining all happen in lesson and freestyle form. Conscious Cycle video the whole lot and make a time lapse piece with soundtrack.
Create a "Crazy Hat" suitable to wear while enjoying your day at FIGMENT! Use the provided recycled materials or bring your own to create a toilet paper roll top hat, a soda can cap or a bottle cap bonnet!
“Creature Y” is a constructed being based on the history of what people think they see and assumptions derived from that, as well as emotions involved with dissecting something we don't understand. The artists encourage visitors to go inside and touch, smell, listen and enjoy it as long as they would like. A structure that, at first, may seem dark and weird, can end up being a place of solace and reflection.
DJ Friar Tuck is a Brooklyn based DJ who wants you to DANCE! Come shake your butt on the dance floor to the groovy rhythms of baile funk and balkan beat influenced house, breaks and electro.
Dagorhir is a medieval style martial arts game where the players battle one another with safe padded weapons. Using their innate skill and honor, warriors of all kinds are given the chance to release their inner fighter and challenge others. It’s a great exercise and a tremendous outlet for the violent urges we must all normally repress. All participation is consensual and supervised.
Come by the tabernacle and commission your own personal dance. Spark(edIt) Dance Collective will give you all of tools you need to describe your ideal dance. With their “commission a dance” worksheet you can get as specific or abstract as you would like when describing your vision. You will be given the opportunity to choose from a variety of dancers, character choreographers, costumes, props, and topics, and TAA DAA! – in fifteen minutes their group of expert dancers, musicians, and designers will create your dance piece! Photograph by Elliot Negron with costumes by Malca BK.
"The Dinner Party" is an interactive table in which participants are invited to explore the depths of not only the over-sized table, but their imaginations. The table exceeds the notions of normality as it stretches towards the sky, leaving just the right amount of space for the viewer to find a parted table cloth to crawl though. This rabbit-hole-like experience is unlike anything you've encountered in your adult life. Rather, it's like an exaggerated childhood memory of what lies beneath seemingly ordinary objects.
Environment, sculptures and sound by Disorient. Sculptures, shade structures, DJ set-up, chill area, more sculptures. Disorient makes people dance. One of their main interests is the art of the dancefloor.
Driven by the raw power of the bucket drum, William B. Johnson’s clever fusion of woodwind, stirring brass, traditional, contemporary, and unorthodox drum styles, “Drumadics”, delivers a distinct sound that captivates audiences of all ages. With African, Latin, Pop, Hip-Hop and Soul highlights, this musical explosion of culture and rhythm unite in symphony to define the sound that is indeed? New York! “Drumadics” will take you on a musical journey that will keep you dancing every step of the way! ... Witness the “Experience”!
“EPIPHANY” is designed to unfold like a mystery. An unsuspecting passer-by happens upon four speakers. In the middle of this “aural arena” is a bevy of revelers that are curiously moving and exploring “EPIPHANY” to a sound track whose origin is unknown. The inquisitive spectator senses that the orchestration is synchronized with the participants. Once the participant realizes that he is the one controlling the sound, a “director” invites him to take control. The accessible technology allows the newly appointed “operator” to create a sound track to the action he is witnessing in the arena.
Emcee Christopher presents “ElectricBubbleBus” – a brightly colored mobile-sound-art-visual-roving platform. A virtual roaming dance party, chill space and random Taxi. With a superior lighting, sound and PA system MC Christopher will do what he does best: engage the crowds, creating impromptu dance parties, introduce and highlight others performances, serve up random runway shows. The all-electric vehicle is an artistically altered golf cart that will become the mobile focal point at FIGMENT.
Raphael + karaoke = Raphaoke --- Raphaoke + MEGAPHONES = MEGARAPHAOKE --- MEGARAPHAOKE + FIGMENT = "FIGMEGARAPHAOKE!" Participants are expected to engage in antics. Air-guitar/drums/gong/etc., dancing, miming lyrics, acrobatics... While solos and duets are not discouraged, general group sing-alongs are usually the name of the game. No grumbling if someone else starts singing along to "your song". Nobody will be scorned for knowing the tune or being able to hold a note, but we prefer you to sing off-key and out of tune... with gusto! Traditionally each bout of Raphaoke ends with a rousing rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
The Gypsy Collective distributes "FREE ADVICE" in every possible location and to all in attendance. In addition, they will create and maintain a positive cultural identity amongst the other artists and participants. Also, they will be trading goods, services, and experiences for all that are interested, and especially for those who are not.
"Field Of Voices" is a collaborative, interactive, social art installation embedded with audio commentary from invited sources. Using Augmented Reality this installation exists in virtual space and can be accessed using Layar, a free application available for smartphones. Just load the Layar app and search for "Field of Voices". Participate by calling 866 780 0582 and expressing your creativity. Your message embedded in the field will influence the direction of the piece, creating "Field of Voices" as an organic collaborative artwork.
Friday:
12:00pm to 12:30pm, 1:30pm to 2:00pm, 3:00pm to 3:30pm,
Saturday:
12:00pm to 12:30pm, 1:30pm to 2:00pm, 3:00pm to 3:30pm,
“Fight or Flight Response: Grounded” is a ground/aerial performance by Autumn Horne and Fight or Flight Response. It is a movement piece rooted in the earliest forms of story communication; gesture, dance, music, theater. Fight or Flight Response's modern folktales are multi-culturally based and many deal with feminist interpretations of characters traditionally seen as male and often involve fighting techniques, ground and aerial choreography, and clowning. We perform, masked or unmasked, on the earth, on each other, and in the trees and sky.
"Flaming Cactus" creates something of beauty out of everyday items. ANIMUS transforms three of Governors Island’s lampposts or signposts – by nature cold and utilitarian – into something colorful, whimsical, and artistic, by wrapping them in brightly colored cable ties. Because of the way that they are linked, the ‘tails’ of the cable ties stick out, creating the effect of ‘cactus needles’ protruding from the ‘trunk’ of the lamppost. Our hope is to show that adding art to a community or space doesn’t require a lot of resources, formal education, or even money. Creativity is something we’re all capable of.
Season Long Minigolf
Flea Circuity Circus
Maggie Ens, Ian Klapper, Marc Sloan, the City & Country School
"Flea Circuity Circus" players maneuver their golf ball through a maze of motherboard obstacles and spinning binary code inspired by Alexander Calder’s legendary found object circus made for the young at heart. "Flea Circuity Circus" visually and physically promotes biosensitivity as well as expresses the inherent bugginess of technology.
"Flexible Contract" welcomes visitors to an interactive installation of a corridor of doorways. The corridor consists of five doors on each side facing each other. Each door is covered in a stretch fabric. Visitors are invited to press their faces, arms, legs, bodies and objects against the fabric, finding new communication, barriers and elastic reduction in the search for contact with one another. The corridor between the doors is another area of passage in the flexible structure creating a negative space of contract.
New Yorkers are an alienated and isolated breed in one of the most densely populated places in the world. The idea that we are a community is somewhat of a paradox, especially in our everyday encounters. To stop and, unknowingly, write a fortune for someone else, a fortune that is unexpected and emerges spontaneously, is a way to overcome the isolation. To give another the gift of words, that seem to wash up in their hands, reminds people of how beautiful it is to connect – in the briefest of ways. What the future holds is for us to create.
Come play in "The FunHaus"! It's full of all your favorite circus freaks. Dance to your favorite DJ's! Play with face paint, make some crafts, and join the circus. This interactive dance tent provides lots of visual stimulation and exciting laughs for all those looking for something a little wacky. Look for us in the circus tents!
GLOCKABELLE is a pocket keyboard and glockenspiel virtuoso from New York City. She began her career as a classical pianist in Paris, where she studied at the Ecole Normale de Musique. In a Parisian thrift shop she found her first twelve-inch Casio and became obsessed. Her second signature instrument, the glockenspiel, would arrive in the mail a few weeks later in an enormous cardboard box. GLOCKABELLE creates sounds which are both rhythmic and whimsical. “[We] have never seen a glockenspiel played in this manner: not with sticks, but with thimbles on fingertips. That can make for more simultaneous notes.” (NYTimes)
10 teenage girls collaborated with Eyebeam fellows Kaho Abe + Nova Jiang to create "GRRRRRRRRR!!!!," a living room that comes to life with crazy sounds as visitors interact with it. Everyday domestic objects (lamps, pillows, chairs, phones and books generously donated by Build it Green NY) were hacked and redesigned during a 2-day workshop that introduced girls to design and technology. Additional interactive sound pieces were created by other artists at Eyebeam.
Kat and Matt were engaged in 2005. They broke up in 2007 a month before they were supposed to get married. They have not seem each other in 3 1/2 years. They would like to see each other and discuss their broken relationship using the relics of our past.
"Ignore your instincts
and follow your heart,
Please feel free
to step on the art."
An explorable cityscape made of cardboard. Embrace your inner Giant.
"Gift From the Sea" is an interactive craft table full of iconographic and kitschy seaside and sea inspired objects. FIGMENT visitors are invited to build their own gifts of the sea using sand, sea shells, snails, drift wood, paints, seaweed, and algae. Share your visions of the sea with FIGMENT! Visitors are also invited to bring their own gifts of the sea to share.
"The Golf Channel" is not on TV. It’s at Governors Island, mixing current themes of perception and choice into a challenging mini golf hole. One of the three holes in the TV will lead you through the outlet plug to a hole-in-one, the other two holes will leave you in overgrown turf, fighting your way to the final hole.
Following last year's FIGMENT installation "Vox Populi," artist James Foehrenbach presents participants with the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the use of color in graffiti by providing them with black and white copies of elaborate graffiti and the paint necessary to let their imagination run wild.
Sunday:
2:00pm to 2:10pm, 3:00pm to 3:10pm, 4:00pm to 4:10pm,
Presented by Bex Burton's Graffiti Circus, “HELLO!” is a choreographed spontaneous dance for an infinite number of Hoop Dancers. FIGMENT audiences will witness the beauty and bliss of contemporary hoop dance as performed by the rich New York City Hooping community.
We live in a world that seems to be peaceful, while actually some people are suffering for various reasons. "He Can't, But You Can" is a project about finding out who on earth is in need of help and inspiring the audience to contribute some help for those people.
Did you ever want to enjoy not just the movements of African dance and drum but also its healing properties? Without knowing the purpose behind the movements, dances and rhythms, you cannot truly access their benefits to your mental, spiritual, and physical well being. Amina and members of her company Ballet International Africans present: Healing African dance. The class honors the earth and forces that be through movement, calming/healing stress or womb discomfort, as well as songs to accompany the dances. Dances taught are from Guinea, Senegal, and Mali, West Africa. Live drummers from BIA!
Saturday:
10:30am to 10:35am, 11:45am to 11:50am, 1:00pm to 1:05pm,
Sunday:
10:30am to 10:35am, 11:45am to 11:50am, 1:00pm to 1:05pm,
“The Hero's Journey” is a roaming, interactive performance starring an "unprepared" child participant as the Hero of an Epic Adventure. (Know a young hero age 10-16? Contact us for submissions/information: arts.animus@gmail.com.) Influenced by Joseph Campbell's “Monomyth” – the archetypal "One Quest" -- the show will immerse the Hero in a fantastical odyssey. He or she will pull a sword from its cursed magical scabbard, win the favor of supernatural beings, free the royal princess from her dungeon bonds, and lead an army of 50 (foam) sword-wielding participants in a battle against the evil wizard. With snacks and punch to follow.
“Hit The Mat!” uses the physical vocabulary of the grappling arts (wrestling, jiu jitsu, judo, etc.) as a performance medium. At FIGMENT, Captain Zorikh presents a performance that incorporates the grappling and theatrical arts, followed by workshops in which attendees will learn grappling moves and use them to create short scenes with each other. All action will be cooperative (no actual fighting, only staged movements!). Mats are provided, and Captain Zorikh carefully leads and monitors the activity for safety.
Chickinman returns to Governors Island and Figment for his fourth year in a row. Rolando Vega, the Chickinman, has been performing and creating things for the past 40 years in the New York City area all for free in parades, fairs, Mars Bar and many other venues, none of which have been a repeat show. His performances involve dancing, games, and laughs - so come on down and enjoy this festival of love, love, love, love, love!
Have fun with hoops! Professional hoop dance instructor Ted will get your hips, hands and heart moving in no time. Bring a fun attitude. Plenty of hoops will be available, or bring your own! Appropriate for all levels.
The shape of Governors Island very closely relates to that of an ice cream cone, so why not make it into one? Participants will work together to draw the world’s largest ice cream cone using GPS devices. By the end of the weekend many different cones and flavors will be created by the participation. Want sprinkles? Just walk that path to add your favorite topping. After participants finish their ice cream locative performance, drawings can be printed out from the participants’ data and emailed for sharing on social media sites.
Come reset your pleasure index at “Imaginary Picnic”, the Push Pops’ second official performative installation on Governors Island. A Victorian themed outdoor tea time with liberal helpings of drama, magic and Dyonisian madness in a participatory emotional “outward bound” nestled under a big friendly sky. Food is love and imagination is contagious. “Imaginary Picnic” is a cathartic spectacle in which Mistresses Minty, Pinky and Frosty guide visitors to indulge in invisible delicacies and let their personality armor melt away.
Through the manipulation of silly putty, “In-formation” examines the relationship of images in daily newspapers. Silly putty has the unique ability of accepting newspaper ink, and it possesses a pigment similar to skin tone. The artist is inviting participants to help with the creation of a large-scale silly putty piece. Directions: Take a newspaper. Rip out something that stands out to you. Place it on the putty. Rub using a small amount of pressure for a minute. Lift the edge and check to make sure that your image has transferred clearly.
The 9 hours every day we spend watching TV and in front of the computer have dramatically impoverished our sensory experiences. We engage with sights and sounds but rarely ever attend to smells, tastes, and touches. "Invisible Sculptures" consists of odor delivery devices in each of the oak trees facing Liggett Hall. The odors are site specific olfactory sculptures that refer to Governors Island and its history. Visitors can walk from tree to tree and release odors by pulling ropes tangling from the trees, inspiring them to pay attention to odors everywhere on Governors Island and beyond.
Explore the horticultural peculiarities of Governors Island with popular arborist Chorish Greene. This walk will exercise both the leg and the imagination, as we find unexpected inspiration in the lively, quirky results of hundreds of years of evolutionary isolation experienced by unique Governors Island species, among them Choorish himself -- we’re joking of course. Dress ruggedly. Wear sunscreen. Bring water. And throw out your state certified tree identification manuals as Chooorish teaches you the ropes and ladders of being your own state certified tree identifier. Please send questions to DocksmanDocksman@gmail.com.
Joshua Tennent is a Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer who has played throughout the U.S., Canada and Burning Man. His music is an eclectic mix of Spanish Classical, South American and Jazz styles that paints a colorful musical landscape that transports the listener to far off lands. His repertoire includes original compositions, unique arrangements of popular Brazilian Bossa Nova songs, as well as selections from Classical composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Agustin Barrios, Francisco Tarrega, and Jorge Morel.
KILL THE BAND is an interactive comedic performance art, mock-rock and roll band!
Combining costumes, catchy songs the audience can sing and dance to, sarcastic, satirical, "in your face with a squirting flower" lyrics, avant garde antics, and a beatboxer who adds kickin' rhythm and effects to the band's whimsical sound - KILL THE BAND pokes fun at pop culture using every genre of music with a "suspect to be surprised" attitude.
If* you were a superhero, how would your cape look? Design your own cape at FIGMENT! We will have fabric, fabric paint, brushes, spray paint, markers, glitter, bedazzlers, etc. Everyone and their cousins will be walking around with a custom cape during FIGMENT!!! Also, take a photo in our photo booth with your cape blowing in the wind!
*The word “If” was used to protect secret identities.
This summer The Culinary Institution of the Americas has commissioned Scandinavian master chef Jan KeelBjårne to bring his gastronomic art to the States. His debut will take place in Governors Island in the form of an intimate two-person-at-a-time restaurant experience. Guests will select from a menu of completely cost-free Michelan Starr™ dishes created by Jan KeelBjårne himself. Due to on-site regulations, no alcoholic beverages may be served. Logistical requirements prevent the preparation or presentation of any food as part of the project. Despite these setbacks, KeelBjårne guarantees a gastronomic experience unlike any other. Send questions to DocksmanDocksman@gmail.com.
Come sing, dance, and be transformed by the healing power of "Kirtanarama" - a 3 day world chant experience. Outdoors, under the magnificent shade trees of Governors Island, our hearts sing out in a cornucopia of global traditions, accompanied by harmoniums, drums, guitars and more. Satya Franche, Sahaja, Joelle Danant, Dennis Wing, Trudy Sita Dasi and many, many more. No stage. No sound system. All heart and soul. http://www.modernsacred.com/kirtanarama
About 21 million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide… a staggering figure. What better way to fight this ecological disaster, and at the same time acknowledge the futility of the task, than to use plastic bags as yarn to knit scarves, sweaters, and mittens for trees? Throughout the summer, the artist collects shopping bags from visitors to Governors Island, and uses them as yarn to knit protective garb for the trees of the island. Visitors are encouraged to participate by helping cut the bags, roll the strips into yarns, sort the yarns by color, and knit. Check out the Knit for Trees blog!
"Kokyangwuti Chime" is a large wind chime made from some of a loved one's possessions, and named for the Hopi Indian deity, Spider woman-at-middle-age. Its notes include those of Vince Guaraldi's "Christmastime is Here."
“LUSH VALLEY: Identity Politics” strips away the assumptions of the American Dream that we have consciously and unconsciously embraced for generations, to uncover the foundation upon which our country’s mythic ideals are based. “LUSH VALLEY: Identity Politics” is a participatory performance piece to develop a new national identity. We want you to vote. Officers for “LUSH VALLEY” will be roaming the island with ballot boxes to entice citizens to vote.
This project complements the interior of Benjamin Jones' "TreeHouse", a summer long project in Liggett Terrace. There are several parts to it, some as small as suspended bottles filling the window space and some more stand alone, such as a painting hung on the wall of the interior space. As part of the TreeHouse, visitors will be able to wander in and touch anything they see. The bottles can be moved to make sounds.
The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo spent much of her life bedridden due to complications resulting from a trolley accident in her youth. This installation represents Frida's Death Bed and will also include scheduled multi-media performances of music and video followed by an informative Q&A conducted by the artist Judy Sky, dressed as Frida.
Music
Let The Children's Laughter Remind Us How We Still Can Be
People familiar with "Greatest Love of All" recognize this project’s title as an update of a line from the song, reminding us to look back & revitalize our inner children – to dive into the joys of life with a will to LAUGH at ourselves, our situations and life in general. LAUGHTER is an element of life that always makes a situation better. Before playing, the artists mingle within FIGMENT, collecting sound-bites of LAUGHTER with samplers. While playing, they invite children to get involved in their LAUGHTER-inducing activities by joining them on the microphone with their best jokes or hearty LAUGHS.
tedWORD is showcasing "LightTag," opensource gaming. Anyone can play! You don't need a phone or a WiiMote. It will be the first ever battle of Governors Island! While people are playing the artists explain other projects that they are working on and how tedWORD built the game – so others can get involved.
Visitors speak into one end of a pipe and listen to their own voice at the other end. One's mouth is near one opening and one's ear near the other, on the same corner. Speak softly and "Listen to Yourself."
Visual Art
Loco A Train Arriving
"LOCO art factory"
Julian Zee,
Kip Potharas, Gene Ius,
and Susi Q
"Loco A Train Arriving" is an interactive photography exhibit where the spectator becomes the model. In a cross sectioned cardboard replica of an MTA subway car the passerby will be encouraged to try on a variety of cardboard costumes and pose for the camera. Audio tracks will play transit ambience with other sound effects such as announcements from the conductor, doors closing, breaks screeching, creating a cartoonish representation of one of our common settings.
Over 250 pair-less, singular, gloves, lost on the streets of New York City in the period between 2001-2003, were photographed in a documentative, nearly technical manner. These photographs are presented in anthology type volumes and visitors are invited to write and contribute their thoughts/words after viewing them. These letters are recorded and will be made part of the installation as audible text so that the past visitors' presence becomes a part of the installation in an ongoing and open ended way. “Lost Gloves of New York City” was part of a residency exhibition at the Ludwig museum, 2003.
M.O.R.E. (Ministry Of Random Events) was started by Andrzej Liguz in Australia and is dedicated to creating interactive sculptures and events which promote the use of recycled materials. The "M.O.R.E. Drums" were created using plastic industrial drums which were formerly used for transporting shampoo. Anyone can play them and should. They are set up in a circle so that people can see one another which will help them to listen to one another and play together. To see M.O.R.E. sculptures and events check http://moreimages.net. Enjoy.
MUN is a quartet from Brooklyn, NY that evolved out of the need to experiment and expand the conventional limitations of music. They explore many genres ranging from free jazz, to hardcore techno, to trance Middle-Eastern vibes. The improvisational element of the band as well as their complete lack of fear of being in the moment is what give MUN their unique raw sound. Mentioned in the Old Testament as the miraculous cloud following the wandering tribe through the desert, MUN descends from the heavens and can become anything you desire!
Mario de Andrade's literary novel “Macunaíma” marked the Brazilian Modernist Movement of the 1920s. "Macunaíma" condenses the Brazilian cultural heterogeneity, revealing the soul of an emerging nation. Andrade focuses on the transition from the forest to the new industrialized urban setting. The protagonist displays a life of idleness, in reaction to the social demands surrounding him. At FIGMENT, visitors lying on a blank canvas contemplate a large upside down painting above, picturing the "Macunaíma" myths. Handmade card board books featuring excerpts of Andrade's writings are available for perusal. Join the collective for a cardboard book crafting workshop on Sunday 2-4PM!
"Manhole Cover Frisbee" is a series of frisbees inspired by manhole covers found all over New York City. Each frisbee recreates a manhole cover in a specific borough of NYC, drawing inspiration from the vast neighborhoods to let participants see around the perimeter of Governors Island. Manhole covers are utilitarian objects that upon closer inspection have beautiful patterns and might be seen as relief sculptures. This project invites participants to take out a manhole cover, inspect it, learn of its origin, and then engage in a leisurely game of frisbee on the vast open land Governors Island provides.
“Manuscripts Don't Burn” is a visceral romp through one writer’s overactive imagination, where devils are your hosts, cats have human appetites, and the best literary talents can’t seem to catch a break. This 80 minute roving theatrical installation is cultivated from Mikhail Bulgakov’s writings. Masks, puppets, and musicians create a world of shadow-agents and supernatural obstacles. Trapped in a bureaucratic world, our hero faces unnerving challenges that – despite their surreality – inform our perspective on the difficulties facing artists in our own culture. How do we fight an oppressive regime when the drive for censorship takes hold in our hearts?
Marc Whalen is doing live painting on large canvas on Saturday and Sunday. The canvas is about 15ft wide by 4ft high stretch and leaning on a large PVC piping stand.
A musical performance of eclectic traditional and original composition by Marc Sloan and friends. Instruments will be classical gut string guitar, cello or violin and percussion.
Unaware of the years gone by, Martin the Bullet leaves the Governors Island ammunition warehouse. The military base is abandoned and he explores the island. A walk to the water, napping in the park: Martin is fascinated by the island and by FIGMENT. Martin is a puppet made of military materials that reflect the island’s history. He’s filmed live and broadcast to screens around the island. While the puppeteer and the camera man crawl around, exploring Martin’s point of view, the filmed image shifts the visitor’s perspective of the festival and its geography.
Me&Mars are a mix of cacophonous sounds featuring tight rhythm section by two Japanese girls and velvety ambient effects by Colombian guitarist. They plan to wave you into emotional galaxy!
Masked dancers wander the island, searching for someone to guide them. Should you encounter them, they may follow you for a time, making your movements a part of their dance before your paths diverge.
An installation of glittering sexy mermaids swimming through the water protesting: "Quit fracking!", defying a fracking drill and gas vents. The whirligig is rigged to make the waves go up and down, with mermaids leaping into the air. Yemaja is a goddess represented as a mermaid, she protects people and dwells in the ocean, whereas Oshun is a goddess that dwells in rivers.
"Metamorphosis" is the process of individuation. It has no symbols or rituals. With this installation the artist hopes to bring awareness to one’s own becoming. Long strands of wide orange ribbons top the fence along water’s edge nearly 300 feet, as far as the eye can see. A large sculptural pink heart reads: YOU MATTER. PLEASE SHARE A PERSONAL MESSAGE OF YOUR METAMORPHOSIS ON AN ORANGE RIBBON.
Students from Quest 2 Learn public school, graffiti art class students at the Educational Alliance, and FIGMENT visitors build "Microtopia," a durable modular miniature city and a skateboard park to play in and build on. Graffiti mini-murals are created on the buildings; blocks and paint are available to visitors to add to the city. Workshops with educators, graffiti (and other) artists as well as environmentalists are held throughout the summer. "Microtopia" emphasizes the value of play, equal opportunity, and the sense of belonging to and caring for the city. Kids will help de-install and take home parts of the city.
An hour-long outdoor, interactive production of Shakespeare's classic rom/com with a fairy world full of hoopers, poi spinners and stilt walkers led by the mischievous Puck, who teasingly wrecks havoc on two sets of star crossed lovers and a motley crew of Rude Mechanicals by rubbing their eyes with the juice of a Cupid hit flower called "love in idleness" that makes people fall in love with the first thing they see. Oh, what fools these mortals be!
“The Mist Wave” is inspired by Under the Wave of Kanagawa of Hokusai’s print, titled “The Great Wave”. Based on its powerful tentacles, the design shows the contrast between the fragility of human life and the power of nature. Anatomically, earth represents the skeletal body of nature, and water its life’s veins. Constructed of scaffolding pipe with misters as fractals in each curved pipe representing the vascular system of a wave, “The Mist Wave” is presented as a landscape composition moving from a static ornate tranquility into a dynamic vehicle of poetic expression, through the medium of line and form.
You know those paintings on board that you see at beach resorts... the ones people stick their heads through for comedic photographs? This freestanding interactive 2-d sculpture is one of those.
Season Long Sculpture Garden
Mood Lighting
Kristina Wilson, Jason Jeunnette, and Mark Jeunnette
Inspired by Ray Bradbury’s story "All summer in a day" – about Venusian children who see the sun for the first time – "Mood Lighting" invites people to remember the value, joy and wonder of the sun through 4 mounted boxes. Each box has cutouts of specific elements of the face: hair, eyes, nose and mouth, and three design options (smile, frown and buck teeth). When all 4 boxes are rotated and aligned with the sun correctly the shadow on the grass becomes a face. Participants are invited to mix and match elements to make all of the possible 81 faces.
In Morning Fugues a vocalist stands in a public space in the early morning hours with a projection screen and a table with a laptop upon it in her immediate vicinity. In the course of the performance, she will sing various parts of a four part vocal piece while the other parts are simultaneously played through the sound system. With the use of the program, MAX/MSP, each voice within the score will trigger a corresponding silent film that follows a character in their private morning ritual and tracks their thoughts during this ritual with subtitles. Morning Fugues is meant to capture the internal, yet collective, space that we share as we all shift from our private to our public personas. This shift is a process that everyone goes through on a daily basis and it is at times joyful and at others painful. Oddly, we often perceive our daily efforts to “self present” as an individual journey, yet, people around us are often experiencing the same thing at the same time.
As the title cleverly suggests, “Much Ado About Nothing” is a play about how people blow things way out of proportion. One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, it laughs at what people do when they are too proud to admit they are in love.
Formed in January of 2006 Florence has worked hard to become one of New York City's top original acts. Its members attribute their success to a combination of musical talent, a focused work ethic, and fun attitude. Florence’s sound is a blend of rock and blues with a pop flair. Joe Moseley and Ike Howler's thoughtful songwriting allows the other band members to inject their individual artistry. James Wolfe's solid bass playing combined with Adriane Palikats’ thunderous precision drumming create a solid back for Joe's powerful voice and Ike's rocking guitar. Florence is working on an album and seeking management.
“Noise Machines” is an interactive sound installation. Electronic oscillators are used to produce a variety of noises that can be manipulated via 2 or 3 “control panels” featuring switches, knobs, light sensors, touch sensors, foot pedals, etc., to create endless patterns of noise. Participants are encouraged to experiment as they wish, without any unneeded interference. All controls are meant to be explored by participants. Essentially, anyone passing by can become a performer. In order to maximize interactivity, multiple separate control panels are used so that many people can participate at the same time.
OASIS is a public installation at Governors Island that explores
communal learning in an open environment. Inspired by the ancient
Greek Agora, a place where people gathered to freely discuss ideas and
concerns, OASIS prompts audiences to read aloud and share excerpts
from the Golden Rule. The moral and ethical codes (rules) of conduct
from various cultures around the world are written on large cards that
can be shared among the visitors.
"Office Frenemies: The ongoing tale of Paper Cut-Out Matt Damon and Robot Pencil Sharpener" is a photography and stop motion story-telling project featuring the various characters in Office 134 and their struggle for domination. The project takes place over each of the 28 days of February and is shown as a chronological photography project going around the walls of a room with descriptions below. Viewers can set up their own scenes to be added to the on-going project.
"Open Music Circle" is a gathering place for acoustic improv musicians, vocalists, and dancers. There is no musical or other agenda. This is a deep-listening, improvisational gathering for music and movement. It starts in silence, someone begins, then everyone plays, vocalizes or moves as they feel appropriate, and finally it ends with silence. The FIGMENT presentation will be split into shorter time segments so participants can fully experience the gathering, beginning and ending. Dancers and musicians interact with and respond freely to each other. The structure is simple, but its takes us to a deep place.
This project is going to be a colorful, free form expression of optimism. Crocheted chains running from tree to tree across the sidewalk, trees covered in recycled fabrics, hanging relics and charms inspiring everyone who walks beside and under.
A roving cyborg bard, “Orthodontia Orchestra” is an ambulatory sound installation. Strings run from the performer's orthodontia (braces) to other attachment points on the body. Plucking or bowing the strings resonates and produces eerie music by this living stringed instrument. As the performer walks, tension builds on and releases from the strings, changing their pitch. Strings limit the performer's mobility as they enable different choreographic elements and lines. The oral cavity resonates with the music of the human voice, rendered barely human in this awkward contraption. Passersby are invited to participate as listeners and even as players.
“Our Dreamscape” is a movement and storytelling performance exploring the universal experiences of sleep, dreams, and waking. Dreams are composed of figments of our very active imaginations as we sleep, and they are influenced by our waking life, anxieties and hopes. In dreams, many artists make discoveries about their creative process and find inspiration for their work. This project combines the ensemble’s remembered and examined dreams and impressions of sleep with opportunities for the audience and the performers to build a shared playing space for the exploration of our dreams.
"Out to Dry" is a site-specific temporary art installation which proposes to suspend striped shirts and white socks on a wire adjacent to the historic Castle Williams. The shirts are striped black and white to recall the structures past use as a Civil War and military prison from the 1860's through 1965.
“Outback Nexus”, a TAZ oriented around a sound system, features live and DJed underground, abstract, and alternative music, mostly electronic. “Outback Nexus” will present a visually stimulating sound system installation where music will be performed, created, and mixed live provoking dance and more meditative, cerebral experiences. The “Outback Nexus” goal is to expose participants to music defying easy categorization, accentuating sound intended to shatter confines of genre and popular style. Outback members and friends have worked toward this end in and around New York for many years, and have participated in many border-dissolving events, including previous FIGMENTs.
Peace Museum NY in conjunction with Where Peace Lives and MePeace.Org will host “PEACE CAFÉ”. They invite children, families, and kids of all ages to engage in conversations/discussions on the topic of PEACE and then create their own vision of peace using recycled postcards, markers, crayons, color pencils, stickers and other crafty materials. The peace art will be a part of a collaborative display. Additionally, to provide inspiration, they will display peace murals from the Where Peace Lives’ Kids International Peace Mural Exchange Project (www.wherepeacelives.org) and Peace Cards (created at Figment 2010) from Peace Museum NY (www.peacemuseumnewyork.org).
“PHWG-Great Wall of Music” is a 6 piece progressive rock band (guitar, cello, violin, percussion (tabla), drums, and bass). The electric guitar is at the heart of composer Pontus Gunve’s mostly instrumental music, and he craftily combines elements of progressive rock, electronic, and Western and Indian classical music. Music that drifts, moves, turns, and takes the listener on a journey.
Joey Kilrain is bringing his socks back for you to paint on. Watch as he paints his various whimsical characters and collaborates with all that attend. Once a sock is completed, it will be hung to dry. Participants are encouraged to take their completed socks once they've dried. A fun experiences for all ages. No socks required to paint!
"Paper Dress" uses recycled paper as clothing, communication and wish making during this interactive performance between music and dance. The end result is individualized paper sculptures made by the performer and audience. The piece loops itself for different audience members, collecting paper dresses that are then placed side by side, reminiscent of Terracotta soldiers.
You are an artist, and Jerise Fogel will prove it to you! Come and create your own tiny artworks and exhibit them. You and the artist will paint, letter, collage, stencil, and decorate with papercut art hundreds of separate paper squares. You will hang the miniature artworks on strings attached to lovely tree branches set up for this purpose and supported by sugar cane poles, slowly but surely creating a gigantic art exhibition of colorful paper artwork, as you enjoy one another's creativity, and play! All ages! Free!
How well do you know Governors Island? Whether you are a new visitor or this is your regular weekend getaway, try one of these photo location hunts and you may see parts of the island in a whole new way.
Phototropia = the tendency of an organism to turn or move toward or away from light. We are present in our bodies, on this island, on this nearly-summer day. We all have our tendencies – take a walk with us and discover something unexpected. This is a dance ritual that begins as a walk in the park. Each performer adopts members of the audience and leads them on an exploration of a different site on the island. The wanderers will come back together for a simple closing dance, which the audience will be invited to join.
A party isn't a party without a pinata! Join Llaves Designs for some serious pinata fun and give a good fun summer themed pinata a whack. Saturday and Sunday, 12 to 4, "Pinata Party" every hour on the hour!
"Pipes" involves working with colored cardboard tubes, fabrics, and organic materials to create a terrarium. This terrarium is influenced by the video game "Super Mario Brothers." These created pipes are the artist's vision of where the video game world meets our world. The flora of the video game helped influence the artist’s decision in finding plants for the pipes. While the project is not physically interactive the mixtures of textures and colors created by piece is visually interactive.
"Plastic Fantastic" is a 16 foot geodesic dome made from over 6,000 post-consumer water bottles. Participate in the making of the dome and/or in one of the programmed events throughout the weekend. “Plastic Fantastic” creates a possibility for social change through play, collectivity, community development and production. Through this process we improve our relationship with the everyday. Participants will be able to contribute their water bottles to the project and have the invaluable opportunity of collaborating and creating art together.
"Pop-Up Adventure Playground" is a temporary play space dedicated to children’s right to play. Gathering materials from and making connections with other island events, this project is a creative, interactive opportunity to engage visitors. Children of all ages come together to seize found, recycled, and donated materials, transforming them into the environments they want and need to imagine. The trained adults who caretake the site are known as Playworkers. They protect the child’s freedom to explore the sensory and aesthetic possibilities of the site, to experiment and take risks, and to transform the materials and themselves into something new.
Colorful balloons are moving inside a larger than life transparent globe, escalating curiosity from afar. Its bright red exterior stands in stark contrast with the outdoor landscape. "Pressure Makes Play" involves all the senses, as participants are offered a real gum ball of their choice of flavor. One person can enter at a time through the machine’s “dispenser” which opens with a zipper sewn into the sculpture. Inside the machine there is an even greater experience than just seeing the artwork, which is bizarre and fun in itself. Enjoy being immersed in a sea of balloons and intrigue.
The Panoply Performance Laboratory invites you to come have a casual conversation with them, or sit in the private interview chair and make a statement on video. They will be creating an opera called “Institute_Institut” from your ideas, opinions, and experiences with and about “institutions,” hoping to make the “ideal institution” emerge as a performance from your ideas, and those of the hundreds of others they speak with. You will receive a free ticket to a performance of the opera in exchange for your participation.
For the first time at FIGMENT, Kleio Projects present “The Purposeful Garden,” uniting artists working on socially engaging installations that aim to educate and inspire. In its ensemble, “The Purposeful Garden” aims to look at the urban garden as it pertains to art, design and agriculture. “Gastropod No.34” by Fabian Grateroles is a large inflatable sculpture that allows visitors to venture inside the belly of a familiar garden mollusk.
For the first time at FIGMENT, Kleio Projects present “The Purposeful Garden,” uniting artists working on socially engaging installations that aim to educate and inspire. In its ensemble, “The Purposeful Garden” aims to look at the urban garden as it pertains to art, design and agriculture. “Heap” by Anne Percoco is a fabric sculpture which mimics a pile of autumn leaves. The leaves have been gathered from printed fabrics of diverse textures, colors, and graphic styles, celebrating the use of nature as a decorative motif. This over-sized beanbag chair functions both as a nest in which one can immerse oneself in fake nature as well as seating for FIGMENT visitors.
Installation
Purposeful Garden, The: The Victory Garden
Caitlin Berrigan
Roving
Friday:
All Day
Saturday:
All Day
Sunday:
All Day
For the first time at FIGMENT, Kleio Projects present “The Purposeful Garden,” uniting artists working on socially engaging installations that aim to educate and inspire. In its ensemble, "The Purposeful Garden" aims to look at the urban garden as it pertains to art, design and agriculture. "Take it or Leave it" by Caitlin Berrigan consists of a series of ambiguous sentences placed around the island to initiate a dialogue between the environment and language.
For the first time at FIGMENT, Kleio Projects present “The Purposeful Garden,” uniting artists working on socially engaging installations that aim to educate and inspire. In its ensemble, “The Purposeful Garden” aims to look at the urban garden as it pertains to art, design and agriculture. “Untitled” by Junko Sugimoto is an installation that alters the participant’s perception of space and form. Colors of the urban landscape interact with those of woods and rivers. The repetition of materials and shapes are rendered unique as the sculpture interacts with its environment.
For the first time at FIGMENT, Kleio Projects present “The Purposeful Garden,” uniting artists working on socially engaging installations that aim to educate and inspire. In its ensemble, “The Purposeful Garden” aims to look at the urban garden as it pertains to art, design and agriculture. “Souvenirs from a Luna Park” by Edina Tokodi Mosstika is an interactive piece, inviting participants to pose for photographs and interact with eco-graffiti.
Explore the sounds of the future: lasers, robots and hyper-drives! A semi-fictitious enclave, the Rebellion for Autonomous Future (RAF) presents an interactive selection of re-appropriated sound clips from popular movies. The audio portion of “The Sounds of Tomorrow” will be structured thematically and made available as an interactive digital instrument. Visitors are encouraged to explore the sounds and create original works with the aid of artist Benjamin Andrew, who will be leading talks and demonstrating the possibilities of subverting and asserting agency over the mass media from which these sounds are sourced.
“RIKUZENTAKATA” is a roving performance dedicated to the city of Rikuzentakata which was washed away by the tsunami of 2011 in northeast Japan. Taking inspiration from the sole surviving tree in the middle of massive devastation in Rikuzentakata, this performance explores the tenuous relationships between islands and water, between humans and the ocean, between raging storm and serenity. Performers with cymbals thread their way through Picnic Point, marking the resilience of coastal communities to prevail amidst absolute catastrophe.
Drum machines have no soul... YET! Tim Laursen took a human and asked it to create a rhythm on a drum machine. Then he told the drum machine to tell a robot to play the rhythm. Then he re-recorded the sounds and played along with live instruments. For FIGMENT the robot stands alone and even takes orders from humans witnessing the creation. Laursen wanders the internet searching forums for information and hides in his garage, hunched over his creations like Dr. Frankenstein. His robots are not pretty – they are the raw soul of a drum machine.
Rush Education Programs will present an exhibition of Rush Student and Teaching Artist artwork, filling a whole house on Governors Island for FIGMENT 2011. On Saturday and Sunday (11:30am to 3:30pm), Rush Kids and Teens will lead tours, conduct hands-on art making sessions and invite viewers to participate in Rush art activities. Also on Saturday and Sunday, wearing costumes created by our students, Rush Education partner Opera On Tap will sing hourly, from noon to 3pm. On Friday, the exhibition will be open to the public for viewing and Rush staff will be present.
Kitchen Sink Arts invites you to shake up your Shakespeare! Before the show you can suggest new props, settings, line changes, and the sequence of our scenes – fights with feathers, Hamlet in a salon, “A ________ by any other name would smell as _________”. “SHAKEn-not-SPEAREd” will then use your ideas to perform some SHAKEspeare! Hilarity ensues.
Friday:
12:00pm to 12:30pm, 1:00pm to 1:30pm, 2:00pm to 2:30pm, 3:00pm to 3:30pm, 4:00pm to 4:30pm, 5:00pm to 5:30pm,
Sunday:
12:00pm to 12:30pm, 1:00pm to 1:30pm, 2:00pm to 2:30pm, 3:00pm to 3:30pm, 4:00pm to 4:30pm, 5:00pm to 5:30pm,
How often have you heard news lately that just made you want to SHOUT to the world? "SIFT" is a collection of crowd-sourced, quotes, headlines, comments, expletives, exasperated musings, and declarations collected prior to the event. These will come from a variety of locations surrounding passersby, inviting them to follow. This traveling sound scape performance will move around the island, leading participants towards a central location where they can gather and share reactions to what they have heard. "SIFT" endeavors to provide impetus to critical, independent thought as a catalyst for collective action.
A memelogical crowd-sourced creative enterprise predicated on the ongoing instantiation of the semi-nonsensical phrase "STFU Katielady." The project exists as a collection of instances of the meme throughout the world, across various media, and at various points in time (ongoing). For FIGMENT, “STFU Katielady” manifests itself as a booth where the public is invited to don various “STFU Katielady” apparel and props (t-shirts, signs, etc.) and be photographed for addition to various galleries. Patrons may keep the apparel/props upon committing to wear/display them for at least the remainder of the day.
"SWAN," a group of three inflatable sculptures made of found fabric, is hand screened, sewn and inflated by fans. One inflatable asks visitors to MAKE A WISH, another asks visitors to WISH FOR PEACE, the third piece is a sea of white stars on a blue flocked ground representing the universe overseeing wishes, granting all once peace has been achieved. "SWAN," embraced by visitors as something fun, subliminally challenges them to think about themselves, the world they live in and how their desires can affect not only themselves but the human condition all around them.
Carved on temple walls and Buddhist caves are mythological stories dating back to 2 B.C. Mala and her Odissi Ensemble at the Young Indian Culture Group perform the oldest Indian classical dance form with rhythmic footwork, elaborate facial expressions, hand-gestures, head, neck and body movements exquisitely choreographed bringing these stories to life. Once, on the banks of the river Kalindi, you could hear the sound of the flute drawing young dancing girls. The audience experiences Sanskrit poetry describing spring, the season of new beginnings and pure dance sequences presented in the Mayadhar Raut style of Odissi.
A puppet theater hidden inside a dress, "Seeing Inside" explores issues that lie beneath the surface in black & gas light. Lou Andreas-Salome, friend of Rilke, Freud, & Nietzsche, tells her story through toy-theater puppets. Themes are for a somewhat mature audience, as Freud & bioluminescent sea life are involved.
Begun by artist Frau Fiber in 2006, Sewing Rebellion NYC is a protest in the form of a skill share. Participants are invited to emancipate themselves from the global garment industry by learning the skills to produce, alter, and mend their own garments. Sewing Rebellion NYC and the Textile Arts Center launched "The Mending Circle", a monthly gathering specifically focused on developing and sharing mending skills. Visitors (and at least one SR staff) share their knowledge of sewing, tailoring and patching, and encourage reuse, renovation and recycling of existing garments.
Saturday:
12:30pm to 1:30pm (Lawn Stage), 11:30am to 11:35am (Roving),
Sunday:
1:00pm to 2:00pm (Lawn Stage), 11:30am to 11:35am (Roving),
Actors* from Shakespeare Anywhere will perform a showcase of various Shakespeare monologues, soliloquies, sonnets, and scenes. The show program will have a few different pieces each day, so try to come both days to catch all the action! Wandering Sonneteers* will traverse Governors Island and perform selected Shakespeare sonnets and monologues to FIGMENT visitors. Try to find as many Sonneteers as you can to see a wide variety of pieces performed!
*Actors and Wandering Sonneteers appear courtesy of Actors Equity Association in this AEA approved showcase.
Sierra Carrère & Groove Era are a NYC based band described as Modern Soul with a Global Groove. They perform original songs in various styles such as funk, soul, reggae, rock, latin & dance with messages of positivity, peace, environmentalism & social activism. Their most recent performance was at EarthdayNY in Grand Central Station.
Come learn American Sign Language through children's songs with Brooklyn Mini Hands artist/teacher Michelle Marwitz. Learn the signs to well known songs like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and then perform your signs/songs as a group at the end of the session. Sessions will begin every half hour and conclude with the group performance.
Evoking an appreciation for the splendor of mother nature’s bounty, silk banners painted by FIGMENT visitors will be suspended from dyed silk string between trees and umbrellas. The resulting ornamental series of textiles, inspired by Governors Island’s flora and fauna, illuminated and choreographed by nature to produce a constant metamorphosis of hues and movements. "Silk Sensations" will combine the play of light, color and shadow (as the sun moves across the sky, with the transformation of space, shape, and energy (as the banners ripple with air currents, sag with precipitation or are brushed against by visitors moving through the exhibit).
Long after hangings, McCarthyism and civil rights; ethnic cleansings, genocides and religious divides; people are still asking, "What are you?" – despite history’ s tale of the dark and deadly side of classification. America, the beautiful, cultural melting pot – how can you have so much room for religious freedom, colored skin, different languages, cultures, foods and still leave so much room for ignorance in these very areas? Must you demand that we fit into one race box, when so many of us belong in two or more? This book contains the true stories of people who don’t fit into one box.
This dance theater piece of three solos occurring in different spaces, yet at the same time, will consist of interactive dancer/audience choreography based on the Haitian and Japanese earthquakes. Choreography will be like a “choose your own adventure” book: there will be set points where the dancers will illicit the help of the audience through physical interaction/verbal discourse. The dancers will continue the piece based on the choices the audience makes. All dancers will be performing the same movements, yet the experiment lies in the direction the audience takes the choreography.
Performance Art
Sound Proof
Calla Videt
Roving
Friday:
All Day
Saturday:
All Day
Sunday:
All Day
How is what we hear connected to what we see? How do images become stories? How do words transform into characters? “Sound Proof” is an audio adventure that turns your journey to FIGMENT into something beyond a figment of your imagination. Seek out the sounds, the stories, and the scenes that move you, listen in on a world distinct from your own, and let this soundtrack guide you as a once imaginary world unfolds between your ears. Intrigued? Email secondsoundtotheright@gmail.com to put yourself into the mix.
Sculpture
Sparky the Transparent Juvenile Roundbelly Cowfish
"Sparky the Transparent Juvenile Roundbelly Cowfish" is a delightful inflatable sculpture of a transparent juvenile roundbelly cowfish named Sparky. Nearly transparent, one can almost see the story of what he had for dinner and how it gave him indigestion.
At "The Spider Hole" one plays the ball under or around the legs of a centrally located spider who is "protecting" his turf. Many insects are considered menacing or dangerous while they actually do much good, such as pollinating and eating other insects that harm plants. The only thing people have to fear on this spider is not making par.
Emblematic of US military operations in both Gulf Wars and the time in between, the F-117 stealth fighter’s odd, angular design makes it invisible to radar. This 1:1 scale replica is framed in wood and wire and covered in Astroturf. It will be hidden in plain sight. Although the Astroturf blends in with the grass, "Stealth Fighter" will be obvious because of its size and distinctive shape. Visitors can go inside the fighter and use its ‘cover’ to peek out the jet intakes and cockpit windows. The fighter’s sloped sides provide a tent for people to hang out underneath.
Installation
Stillmotion: Images from the Ol' Paramount Theatre
Old film stills, just a few millimeters in size, have been transformed into oversized scrolls offering a porthole into the images of yesteryear. These snippets of film were salvaged from the projection room of the Paramount Theater which once stood in splendor in the heart of Newark, capturing odd glimpses of the Theater’s former glory. Amateur talent night from the 60’s, the action of 70’s kung fu, and images from the original movie “The Fly” have been frozen in time, enlarged, and suspended above the viewer in Natalie Giugni’s “Stillmotion: Images from the Ol' Paramount Theatre.”
“Stockpiles of Beneficial Mud Balls” are placed along the harbor side of the Island and people are invited to throw them in the water. They are beneficial because they are activated with trace amounts of EM-1, a solution of microbes found in food like yogurt and cheese. When thrown in the water they eat waste and pollution leaving behind proteins, vitamins, minerals to name a few. In countries such as Malaysia people call mud ball throws "One Million Apologies for Mother Earth." We only have around 2,000 mud balls so get there early Saturday!
"Strange Bugs!" is a make-your-own animation project with an installation of 15 nearly identical bug sculptures placed in a circle. As visitors sit on the giant insects, a friend takes a series of 15 photos of them on each bug — one after another. The photographer sits in the middle of the circle, making sure the bug stays in the same spot of the composition. Played consecutively, these 15 photographs can be viewed as a movie. It will appear, as the background changes behind them, that the bug and the person who sits on it are on one crazy ride. "Strange Bugs!" is made possible in part with public funds from the MCAF, supported by the NYC DCA in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC and chashama.
Disembark the ferry and embark on an intimate exploration of Governors Island with a stranger. Scripted instructions are created and provided by writer/artist Joy Tomasko. If you arrive with friends, be prepared to be split up and paired by guides. The promenade lasts approximately 75 minutes. When directed, use of cell phone cameras and a blanket for occasional sitting is encouraged. “A Stranger Stroll” is a variation on Tomasko’s interactive piece, “Blind pairings”, performed at The Allegra LaViola Gallery in March/April 2011 as part of an exhibition of works by Phoebe Joel and Joy Tomasko (www.joytomasko.com).
Come take a stroll through your average backyard and encounter some of the small neighbors dwelling there. As you shrink down to see them at their height, you will face a beautiful butterfly, a busy bee, a Zen snail, a sensuous centipede, and lastly you will come face to face with a fearsome spider. This hole takes you on a mini adventure in a place you would never think to find. Have fun but beware!
Inspired by The Great Gatsby, the films of John Cassavetes and The Iceman Cometh, "Summit Avenue" is part play, part rock concert, part party. "Summit Avenue" follows a group of friends on a hot summer afternoon as they have a wild party. When an unexpected and uninvited friend shows up, things become more interesting than expected. Rock music. Booze. Hipsters. Fights and more! Play by Zac Kline. Music & Musical Direction by Mark T Evans. Lyrics by Eric Kubo. Directed by Troy Miller.
Originally composed and performed in Spring 2010 at SUNY Purchase College, this composition combines both graphic and text based notation, rather than manuscript paper. This style of notation is based solely on personal interpretation; the performer can do no wrong as part of the large “ensemble.” By using these alternative methods, Max Alper has created a sound world in which audience participation is the key component to the piece. In fact, the audience is also the key performer – the larger the crowd, the greater the sound.
At the turn of the century a tech bubble burst, releasing various tech items, including monitors, from bondage. Some of these monitors found their way to Governors Island and evolved into new existences. They have hidden themselves away all these years; now, they will allow themselves to be seen and interacted with, but only to folks who give them a friendly wave. These "screenthings" act as windows to other parts of the island, or windows to the soul of the viewer. They have concocted a puzzle for this year’s participants to solve. You can't do it alone.
Intended as a place of exploration, contemplation, reflection, and personal expression, the graceful timeless design of the sculpture will encourage visitors to walk around and through the wings, sit down and even climb into one of the wings, and interact with the temple’s structure by leaving contributions of art, messages, and other ephemera on the wooden feathers of its wings. The temple encourages people to interact mentally, physically, or artistically and discover their own eccentricity and the angel within themselves.
The "Temple of Grace" is a fiscally sponsored project of Circle Arts, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
In the spirit of American folk lawn art, a group of two dimensional wooden sculptures interspersed with plastic flowers dot the landscape. In the background lurks a menacing undulating motorized serpent. A dark yet playful commentary on the American dream, the installation conjures the escapism prevalent in 1950's Americana yet pulls the Oz-like veil aside revealing an inherent humanity which is basic but beautiful.
"The MoS Roving Food Spiral Usurpers" are a participatory moving installation that is augmented by the food spiral mini golf hole and Figment Leave No Trace team. (Leave a Better Trace!) We are accepting food scraps for soil building better food. So look out for our MoS Collective cargo trike. This is our base for our food-scrap bins, soil building samples and growing food systems. We will be moving slowly through the Figment diversity "banded" around collecting nutritious food waste donations for the worms and soil building. The kids will want to see the worms! Bring us your composting questions!
North Star Academy Charter School, Clinton Hill Middle School of Newark’s art club performs a Native American-inspired story. Their student puppeteers perform with larger than life (much larger than life) puppets. It is a story with a lesson for all ages! Then, they welcome you to a papier-mâché puppet-making workshop.
Sound Installation
The Tsunami Bass Experience presents: The ~WaVe~ Ver. 4.0!!
“The Tsunami Bass Experience ~WaVe~” is an interactive installation created specifically for the facilitation of bass culture music appreciation. A combination sound system and dance platform built in the shape of a breaking wave, the ~WaVe~ is specially designed to submerge participants with full multi-sensory (audio, visual and kinaesthetic) enhancement in order to ignite the intuitive modality and deepen sensory awareness. Capable of transducting audio frequencies ranging from 20KHz to 5hz into tangible waves, this unique installation allows participants to climb aboard and feel the waves generated by the Tsunami Bass Experience line-up of bass culture talent.
"Three Realms Labyrinth" is a 60-foot triple spiral pathway with a twisting laser-cut steel spire in its center – connecting earth and sky. An exploration of time, space and consciousness, the labyrinth offers pilgrims the opportunity to experience walking meditation. Presented by Kate Raudenbush (www.kateraudenbush.com) and Greenery NYC (www.greenerynyc.com).
“We are The Three Wagoneers! Come make a play with us!” The Three Wagoneers are two girls and a boy – ages 5, 6, and 7. They will travel the island, an ode to the traveling theaters of centuries past, with a wagon-full have props, costumes, and musical instruments. They will invite children to make a play in 15 minutes and then they will present it. Note: this project comes with parental supervision.
"Til Death Do You Part. Marry Yourself!" is a one-on-one live-art piece in a mock chapel/installation. The Encouraging Priestess will guide you through a quick, lost-Vegas parody of a wedding… to yourself. At sign-up, Host-Guides offer explanations and printed materials with ideas to consider and multiple-choice vows for you to select or use simply for inspiration. You get a ring you can keep, and temporary costuming and bouquets for the wedding. You are then celebrated and glittered! You get a wedding photo to be emailed later, and a free wedding cupcake.
In this unusual situation, a colony of insects has nested on an old Skee-Ball game, originally from Coney Island, having mistaken the face of its cheery mascot Tillie for their queen. We may have an infestation on our hands.
A table sits in the middle of a field or another unlikely spot. When there’s a table, there’s an invitation – to join in, to offer up, to taste, to feel, to laugh, dance, make music. What do you bring to the table? What do we offer? A mischievous durational performance exploring the universal act of gathering around a table as an act of sustaining oneself and nourishing humanity at the same time.
This sculptural installation is made up of a large wooden tool chest that Janice Patrignani found on the street and transformed into a ceramic/mosaic-adorned shrine to self-help. Talismans, created by hundreds who attended her 2010 FIGMENT exhibit, enshroud the piece like 60's beaded curtains. The artist hopes those who made a medallion at FIGMENT 2010 have the opportunity to see this year how their contribution helped finish her sculpture.
Inspired by a desire to bond the playful atmosphere of children playing on Governors Island to the tranquil ambiance of the more mature who seek a day of repose, "Transformative Kayak" is intended to be a sculpture for relaxation and social interaction, disassembled, and then transformed and donated to children for their use around the island. "Transformative Kayak" is a fun and leisurely space where children can play in the "floating" kayaks while their parents relax in the hammocks that are tethered between the kayaks. A shading diffusion of light is provided by translucent polycarbonate panels atop the sculpture.
The artist has created an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to support this project.
This sculpture is of a man sitting on a bench, with his arm outstretched as if around another person. “Transparency” is made entirely of packing tape, allowing the viewer to see clear through him. However, unlike the perfection of clear glass, the tape creates bends, overlaps, and flaws. The sculpture speaks to the transparency that should exist in relationships. Visitors are invited to sit next to him, enveloped with his arm. The visitor has total knowledge of what resides within the sculpture... will the visitor be so divulging?
"The Tree Hugs" is a group of 3 nylon swimming-tube shaped inflatable sculptures forming a hug around tree trunks. It really feels great to squeeze inflatable art. Come hug our Hugs!
NYC is a city of transplants that have taken hold in often difficult conditions and made something that’s often beautiful and wonderful. CORE Project invites you to help them create a tree by creating leaves, writing and drawing on them. Tree of Heaven will be a storytelling about how various people have found and created their own small niches in the city, many of which will grow into great things in the future.
What are your feelings, beliefs, sacred spaces? Where is your place of peace? You are invited to write on paper: butterflies, birds and leaves. To share your truths, thoughts, experiences… Please decorate the branches of this tree with your papers. On the ground, you’ll find wood and wire structures: churches, mosques, temples, perhaps a garden and maybe a forest. Here is the world. Discover your uniqueness.
"TreeHouse" is part nostalgic playground, part classroom. Encouraging the viewers to play, it is also meant to serve as an educational tool for sustainability issues. The project brings together both kids and adults through hands-on activities and is exemplary for the use of reclaimed materials both on a small and large scale level. "TreeHouse" and its surrounding playground activities are created entirely from reclaimed materials from the streets of Brooklyn and project partner Build It Green! NYC, a non-profit retail outlet for salvaged and surplus building materials. Wind and solar energy are used to power the activities surrounding it.
This magical forest area wraps tree-bodies in bold colors of pink, blue and gold. It reveals the sculptural and textual uniqueness of every trunk. Each sculpture canvas is painted with Pereira' signature contour line style. The distance between the observer and the object diminishes to zero where the act of feeling the tree with one’s hands becomes possible. The lines painted on the material mirror the lines of the age of the tree. This year anamorphic dancers will embody the skins’ souls in a choreography bringing to life the story of the trees, the sky, the grass and people.
UnionDocs Collaborative is interested in both the construction and redevelopment of Williamsburg, and the narratives they contain. To demonstrate this, they have mapped a floor with a topographic, three-dimensional display of the Southside Williamsburg neighborhood made of sugar blocks. They are projecting videos, collected from a year in the neighborhood by our collaborators, onto the rectangular surfaces. Visitors are invited to play with the sugar blocks; build waterfront towers, return towers to two-family homes, demolish buildings, populate empty lots, remove trash. The visitors’ physical transformation of the map will activate a change in the projected image.
"True Mirror Palace" opens a doorway to your true self like you have never seen before. Within the silver and turquoise walls adorned with shooting stars, you will find that the real magic is within you! When you look into a True Mirror, you will be seeing yourself for the first time without being backwards - in other words, true-to-life! When you smile, its your real smile, when you put a power pose, its your true power looking back. Compared to the ordinary, flat mirror, a True Mirror will make you sparkle!
A wind-powered banjo happily strums itself on the waterfront. When the wind picks up, the vanes spin, causing the little metal fingers to strum the strings and play a gentle tune. Visitors can play the strings with their fingers. “Trumpet Marine” returns from FIGMENT 2008.
The dancers of Hoboken Hip Hop are in 2nd and 3rd grade. They go to school at Allsaints Episcopal Day School, or Hola! in Hoboken NJ. Many of them participate in a creative dance based program throughout the year during the school day. All of them take after school Hip Hop with Jenn Eisenberg once a week. The group keeps growing and so does the excitement. They’re happy to share their dance with you!
William Herschel is furiously building (and destroying) telescopes so that he might get closer to his beloved new discovery. Two young backpackers are mysteriously transported to a planet made entirely of Earth’s garbage. A derelict called Gaea searches among piles of her treasured trash for a waste rock that has the power to restart the world. Told with music, moronic humor and physical poetry, “URANUS” is a hodgepodge of history, myth and make-believe. Written & directed by Jeremy Pickard, featuring Jon Erdman, Maria Portman Kelly, Matt Luceno, Katey Parker, Thom Pasculli, Teale Sperling, & Anne Zager.
“Undertoe Dance Project” presents an interactive lecture/demonstration of one of our signature tap/jazz fusion dance pieces, “Funk Sweet!” Mission is to create dance that is innovative, exciting, and accessible. Under the artistic direction of Dana Fisch, “Undertoe Dance Project” does more than just have tap dancers and jazz dancers together onstage. Each dance is carefully crafted to so that the rhythms and movements of each genre can exist separately, but are then woven together to complete the full artistic vision. The movement is athletic yet graceful, aggressive yet smooth and challenges the conventional definitions of tap and jazz dance.
Species manipulation. Artificial transference of genes, and the introduction of transgenic organisms. What is GMO? Who is Mansanto? Is human intervention in nature a duty or a symptom of scientific irresponsibility? “Undisclosed Particulars” is an installation of mutant flowers that calls into question the necessity of genetic engineering on plants, and demonstrates the possible long-term effects of willful ignorance, and prolonged unrestricted scientific experimentation in the name of profit.
A giant knitted spider web, home to strange and beautiful insects.
Come help these critters find their place on the web and they'll thank
you by responding in surprising ways.
The Ant Farm. An American cultural icon of bug related imagery. The people’s terrarium. The nature lover’s TV. This hole presents New York City as an oversized ant colony, with everybody hurrying into similar directions, working towards common goals, and sometimes carrying seemingly unbearable loads. "Urban Ant Farm" uses metaphor to create an implied narrative, an insight into society. We aren’t all that different from bugs after all.
A favorite from 2008, 2009, and 2010. "Dionaea muscipula" is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey (mostly insects and arachnids). The trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant’s leaves. The plant’s common name refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of love… Who has promised you that all your dreams will be sweet?
Season Long Minigolf
Very Fly Swatter, A
Jason Lucas, Bob Scott, Bob Seetin, Lilah Amon-Lucas
This is "A Very Fly Swatter." On one hand it’s an oversized icon of pest-ridding technology. On the other – it’s a contraption large enough to be turned against its creator. What happens when our weapons grow beyond of our control? Something to contemplate or ignore while you enjoy putting this hole. Oh, and hope you brought some bug spray!
“WHY LIE?” is a performed, participatory musical installation. Eight core players navigate through a pool of 100 small pieces, getting suggestions of what, where, and how to make sound. These pieces are commonly layered on top of one another and interlaced, and over time the group of eight splinters into solos, duos, quartets, etc. Spectators are encouraged to bring their own instruments, as the 100 pieces will be available to all and the core players will take turns organizing new groups with audience members. Some small instruments will be provided.
“Wanter” is a project on drinking water shortage featuring 7 tables with two cups on scales of a balance and two bottles. Competitors choose a table, and turn on the sound track playing in a loop. In seven tries each competitor must divide a bottle equally in the two cups. Unsuccessful players quit; successful ones choose an empty table to start the next round in 6 tries. A tie starts a break set that starts at next level. Winner is the nearest to double try. One to seven players possible. You are welcome to play against yourself!
"Wantimatika" is hand-woven out of used plastic shopping bags. It is a homage to recycling. Recycling is as old as mankind. Mankind has always used resources in the environment, and reused, re-purposed and recycled materials. The tipi provokes a nostalgic history and preserves the memory of a great culture that belongs to the heritage of North America. Visitors are welcome to enter the interior space and let their imaginations soar.
Enter into a jungle of the obsolete, where chargers, plugs and other technological devices which have previously been carelessly cast aside take on a new life in the "Wasted Wire Jungle."
"The Wedding Dress Project" was developed as an artful way to help women who are victims of domestic violence cope with and grow beyond their experiences, and to help teens envision and engage in dialogue about what healthy relationships look like, and learn to recognize early warning signs of abusive partners. The project engages the community in a variety of ways, most notably through dress deconstruction workshops.
Saturday:
12:00pm to 12:20pm, 2:00pm to 2:20pm, 4:00pm to 4:20pm,
Sunday:
12:00pm to 12:20pm, 2:00pm to 2:20pm, 4:00pm to 4:20pm,
“Wind/Water, Women of a Hurricane” is an interactive contemporary dance piece featuring five women and a minimal set comprised of weathered photos and found objects. The work aims to investigate the process of rearrangement and the relationship between people and their creations and the natural world and its momentous, often mystical forces – like that of a hurricane. The dancers perform movement that ranges from subtle and internal to wild and whirlwind-like as they rediscover themselves, their memories and objects from their lives all in new forms and locations after the unearthing force of the storm has passed.
On the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, a large tree outside of a catacomb is known as the Wishing Tree. Many people believe it has magical curing powers. Based on this tradition, a tree on Governors Island transforms into a Wishing Tree. Visitors write their wishes on recycled square pieces of multicolor cloth, which are tied to the tree to create a hanging link of desires. “The Wishing Tree” gives visitors a time for contemplation and represents a symbolic step to create the change we want in our lives and the world.
An enlarged replica of a 1970s era "Executive Stress Reliever" – a table-top low-fi noise machine marketed to C-level corporate executives. Push the buttons and play with the sounds. A simple toy modified into interactive public art. The project will put to the test just how tolerant one is of something meant to relieve stress, while maintaining a playful, interactive attitude.
Installation "go on foot" questions people for an idea to have a good human footprint on our planet. All together are 750 footprints made of cork and cotton. The cotton side is the artist's paint and the cork side will be the space to write the idea. The footprints go up on a tree and some will hang like fruits.
People are invited to paint on the ground using long brushes and water. Each point where images touch or overlap with another person's image will be noted with a small drop of gold dust. As the images fade through evaporation only the small sparks of glistening dust will remain. Those too will eventually fade, leaving only the memory of the experience, reminding us how we pass through our lives affecting one another, knowingly and unknowingly, sometimes with significance and magic.
The electro-ambient music of "redgreenblue" evokes the romance of travel and wanderlust of living. Using keyboards and drum controllers, Shane King's performances are sonically rich and visually absorbing, engaging the eyes, the ears and the imagination.
The Tsunami Bass Experience is an art & musical collective based in NYC that produces wave theory-based edutainment designed to enlighten and enhance events in the form of interactive Bass Culture guaranteed to wobble your booty! Founded in 2009 from the musical, entertainment and event production collaboration by ShiZaru & Morphous, TBE's mission is explore, experiement, and edutain with wave-theory inspired bass culture and it's real world application. Our music wobbles booty while our event production, revolutionary interactive installation (~the WaVe~) triggers audio, visual and kinestitic learning/thinking modalities for a truly intuitive multi-sensory experience. Come play in the ~WaVeS~!!!
