P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center - Long Island City, NY (Museum Tour)

WHEN: Sunday, September 17th, 12:00 - 6:00 PM
WHERE: P.S.1 - 22-25 Jackson Ave (@46th), Long Island City, NY
WHAT: This will be the second of two dates in New York over a single weekend in September. P.S.1 operates a cutting-edge alternative museum/gallery space (affiliated with The Museum of Modern Art in NYC), and as part of its mission, works to bring art and its audience closer together. This approach couldn't suit the BYOV Museum Tour more perfectly. I want to put the audience right inside the art, very literally.

- When was the last time you bought a piece of art?
- How did you feel walking around the museum today?

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 21
Reading sheets used: 23
Weather: a beautiful day to be in the courtyard
Level of success: very successful AND entertaining
Records broken: most security guards surrounding the booth
Photos: Check them out

We were given a great location in the courtyard of P.S.1. People had to walk right past the booth to enter the museum, and all the individuals who wanted to eat their lunch outside or otherwise just enjoy the beautiful day, were occupying tables surrounding the booth. The day got off to a somewhat slow start, but picked up significantly by mid-afternoon.

The highlight of the afternoon had to have been the 'incident' involving a painter recently returned from Burning Man who decided to make it his mission to get arrested for trying to bring a tiny fluffy white dog into the museum (named Muffin, no less). Though I found this incredibly entertaining, the manager of security, whose job it is to be not amused with anything at all, earned more than his daily wages.

This man reasoned that since they allowed Picasso's dog, Lump, into the museum for an exhibit, how was it fair to not allow Muffin in as well? He was most definitely in a mood for self-expression, so I took it upon myself to escort him from the circle of eight security guards into the booth for some good old fashioned bringing his voice (listen below!)

Other than that, New York provided a number of other interesting, though less disruptive, individuals, and the voice collections were great. Thank you to Yng at P.S.1 for letting us infiltrate for the day and to Rene, as always, who was only minorly pleased to learn that all I see when she speaks to me is wave files coming out of her mouth...

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

the art world vs. the world

is there a good acronym for that?

show it all

wow...see what I mean?!?!?!?!

uniting

the art of cutlery

required guidance

art projects don't kidnap anyone

this is what happens when you stick art students in the booth

other times...

sometimes we have no idea

semantics

a better society

Chelsea Art Museum - New York, NY (Museum Tour)

WHEN: Saturday, September 16th, 12:00 - 6:00 PM
WHERE: Chelsea Art Museum - 11th and W. 22nd, New York, NY
WHAT: Though the booth has traveled to New York before (Jim Kempner Fine Art), this will be the first of two New York BYOV events on the Museum Tour. Chelsea seems to be where much of the most cutting edge art is happening in New York, so this should be an ideal location.

- Should art museums help visitors understand the art that they display?
- Should art be felt or understood?

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Summary:

Number of voices recorded: 9
Reading sheets used: 23
Weather: much nicer than the night before when we drove down
Level of success: the optimist in me says "fine"
Records broken: most cavernous and sparsely populated location ever
Photos: Check them out

We setup the booth in the main gallery on the first floor of CAM in the midst of the Jean Miotte retrospective show. It was a beautiful space, and I enjoyed being surrounded by Miotte's large abstract paintings. The weather was beautiful, and people were mainly outside, it seemed. Plenty of people ventured into the gift shop, but when they tried to enter the museum gallery, they were informed that there was an entrance fee. This unfortunately discouraged 99% of the potential entrants, most likely because in Chelsea there are free galleries every 25 feet.

That said, we were nonetheless able to record some brave individuals and a few unsuspecting children. Thank you to the CAM for letting us spend the day in your beautiful space and to Jean Miotte for providing the visuals.

As usual, click below to access some representative audio clips:

censorship is good

very small contingent

mathiness

meaningful and beautiful

ha ha ha

totally immoral