Illuminated Corridor Closes the Whitney Biennial

I've taken my time posting this because I simply had to think about something else for a while. I intend to post new revelations about the work I've dived into since I got back in the next couple days, but I couldn't justify that without posting something about the Illuminated Corridor convergence on Manhattan.

Weather in New York has been fantastic- oh, except for May 31st, the day of the Illuminated Corridor. Please note in the background of my day-shots, the large puddles of standing water. These shots were taken when I optimistically believed the rain had passed for the day. Oh how wrong I was!

It rained, but it didn't rain us out, as you can see. But there was one moment there when I thought I was going to throw up on my shoes as I realized that, although I'd covered everything in plastic, the street was so wet (and getting wetter during the final downpour of the day) that I was going to blow it all up, or electrocute myself, and I wasn't certain which I preferred.

About 15 minutes to Civil Twlight, the rain had stopped and the pavement was 'dry enough' and we began on schedule.



The guys from Neighborhood Public Radio supplied each of the 24 artists with a mini-transmitter that sent a signal on a low-frequency FM wave to anyone passing by with a radio tuned to the correct station. People showed up with their radios and listened. It was a great idea of theirs and even though it was technically glitchy, conceptually everyone seemed very enthused.

The amazing and cool thing about these events is the collision between artists. It's difficult to tell from these tiny films, but it was really dramatic to see all of these projects interacting on the outside of these buildings. My favorite moment was when my projections collided and surrounded with the projections of another artist standing about 50 feet away from me; we were the only two (that I could tell) who were projecting live images from the street, although he altered himself to project his image and I was taking live input from a surveillance system, processing it on my laptop and projecting the result. The two projects together couldn't have been more elegant! And neither of us could have planned it.

For sound I took white noise from a radio I brought along, tuned in-between stations, and modulated that noise through a series of filters in an ongoing, ambient composition. I'm going to recycle the idea for something else, because the sound was really elegant, and I've gotten a lot of compliments on it. I will also be recycling various more subtle aspects of the project to go into another, more concise installation/performance piece as part of my upcoming tour this fall (details TBA!).

It was exhausting, but it was absolutely a blast and I will do it again. I have plans for future performances and street happenings, some with perhaps a little more control. One thing that made this event difficult was the amount of ambient light on the street. But, as my friend B always says, 'Next time.'

Current listens: Daft Punk Interstella 5555, DJ Samim (VA mix), and a little Big Boss Man Winner! on the side.