Prospect: a moving conversation, 2009
Prospect Park, NYC
Monday, June 22
in collaboration with Floating Lab Collective

An economy is built upon an exchange of value that occurs between parties. Prospect is the second iteration of a proposed, long term series of engagements that explore the relationship of cause and effect inherent in the idea of exchange and the definition of value.
The initial work was composed of four tables and eight chairs, covered with blackboard paint, that were installed on the walls of a gallery. They were periodically taken down during the course of the exhibition to become a locus for inclusive discussions premised upon the intrinsic social function of art. Chalk notations were made; responses were added as well as erasures.
A table and chairs are a neutral site until occupied. When we sit at a table, we activate it as a social space where the full spectrum of our personal and interactive selves are put into play.
For this piece and exhibition, a rocking, sled platform was constructed as a transportable territory for a table and two chairs. They were brought to Prospect Park and were pulled along a path, and passers-by were asked for help. The question of the value of help and of work was posed to the participants, and exchanges were proposed, including currency created by the Floating Lab Collective.

Currency created by Floating Lab Collected for Prospect Park

Chalkboard Talk, 2009
Katzen Museum, Washington University
in collaboration with Floating Lab Collective

A series of meetings occurred around blackboard tables. Tables were displayed on the wall and taken down in order to hold the meetings. Participants assembled an appropriate table arrangement based on the size of the meeting. Participants left notes and traces of the meetings using chalk to mark the tables. After the meeting the tables were returned to the wall. The action activates a space of reflection and memory, the traces of which become the object.

Meetings
Sept 20 Connecting Cultures in a Mobile Society
Oct 4 Silence As Presence
Oct 18 Strategies for Art & Social Engagement

Building a Mobile Community Center, 2009

Falls Church, VAIn Collaboration with Floating Lab Collective

 The genesis of this project came after a series of meetings with people from Tenants and Workers United. Participants discussed how community centers had been dismantled in some areas as a way to disperse and restrict the Hispanic population, and expressed the need to regain infrastructures like community centers and reorganize Hispanic groups. In this action, community centers are transformed into a battleground and place of organization that leads to empowerment.

The project was executed in collaboration with representatives of the Day Workers of Culmore in Falls Church, Workingnan Collective, and Floating Lab Collective. A prototype for a mobile community center was created, including the principal elements of the table, the basic structure of collective equality and shelter, and the protective structure.