2020

Part of Show Up – a one-day event during which art projects, civic action, and performances appeared simultaneously in several parks around Brooklyn on May 1. Curated by Regine Basha and Birgit Rathsmann.

For Three Benches, participants were invited to sit on a piece of paper on a park bench and trace the outline of their seat with a graphite stick attached to a short branch of silver birch (Betula pendula), which we called Picto-Betula Pendula. The circular design of the cast-iron armrests of the 1939 New York World’s Fair park bench – ubiquitous in many New York City parks – was put into action as the aperture to study the psychological and physiological dynamics of sitting. The resulting materials helped to compare the complexities of postural deviations and to discuss how they relate to notions of randomness, chance, and quantum causality.

Each participant was given a certificate with the date and time of their participation, and a printed image of the bench, with a pencil drawing of them in the act of sitting. The action was repeated in each of three Brooklyn parks.

The International Workers’ Day was reflected in a painted slogan in Russian, by Victor Skersis: НА РАБОТУ КАК НА ПРАЗДНИК! (GOING TO WORK IS LIKE GOING TO A PARTY!)

Materials & Actions: A series of collaborative performances by Daniel Bozhkov, Victor Skersis, and many passersby who chose to participate.

Locations: McCarren Park, Prospect Park, Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY