chashama, in association with the Fashion Center BID for the Fashion Center Arts Festival
presents

Loading Bays

October 21 & 22, 2006, 2-6p

at five locations on 35th & 38th Streets near 7th and 8th Aves

For the Fashion Center Arts Festival, Risa Shoup, chashama's Programming Director, has selected 4 remarkably different installations and 1 performance, for a project showing that any medium can be used to create site-specific work. Rather than tailor a project better suited to a gallery or a theater, these artists were matched with donated spaces -commercial loading areas- to use their environment as an integral part of their work.

chashama wishes to thank Kaufmann Management Company LLC, Ina Greenfield, and Olmstead Properties Inc. for their generous donation of space for this project.

For more information about the Fashion Center Arts Festival (October 16 - 22), go here.

Project Description by Ryan Frank ^{^}
Location: 462 7th Avenue, freight entrance on 35th Street
Donated by: Kaufmann Management Company LLC

For the 2006 Fashion District Arts Festival, I plan on creating a public art installation that reflects on the bustle and anonymity of one of New York's busiest commercial centers.

The piece will consist of a wall of clear non-reflective plexiglass that covers the front doorway of a ground level loading dock. A photo transparency, subtly depicting a site-specific narrative image, will be placed on top of the plexiglass, fit to scale. The goal is to create a faux reflection of a street scene, making the viewer question the reality of their space and experience it through the moment frozen in time that is depicted in front of them.

Much like how car windows and glass buildings transform into mirror-like surfaces when shining against the sun (creating a natural multi-media display of the city's landscape) the installation uses this idea to capture a moment lost in time: the coming and going of a delivery person who goes unnoticed or the statuesque pose of a urban professional standing on the sidewalk. In an era in which we question all realities and feel constantly recorded through surveillance, it is worth examining the permanence and temporality of imagery in the public sphere.

The installation aims to respond to these concepts while displaying the subtle stories of this distinctive neighborhood.

Project Description by Suko Presseau ^{^}
Location: 519 8th Avenue, freight entrance on 35th Street
Donated by: Kaufmann Management Company LLC

I would like to make a small stretch of midtown like strolling by the shore. The loading bay will be painted a bright, cheery sky blue on which magical, multicolored mylar seagulls fly. If possible, I would like to cover the sidewalk in front with sand, so it's like strolling on a beach and give away small mylar birds to passersby as a souvenir for their mini-vacation.

Project of Phillip Ristaino ^{^}
Location: 306 West 38th Street
Donated by: Ina Greenfield

Murals painted in his own personal, futuristic style.

Project of Adriana YoTo and TapeArt ^{^}
Location: 450 7th Avenue, freight entrance on 35th Street
Donated by: Kaufmann Management Company LLC

Tape Art is the medium/process of choice for a group of artists dedicated to temporarily transforming public spaces with life-sized silhouette drawings. These drawings are made by the simple process of applying low-adhesive tape directly to walls, floors and ceilings. The tapes are designed to leave no trace behind, and the work is traditionally removed 24 hours after its completion. The Tape Art collective has been altering public spaces for over 17 years and have graced thousands of buildings with drawings as small as a single ant to 52,000 square foot monstrosities. A collection of their work can be found at tapeart.com. Each work is a spontaneous accumulation of collaborative ideas, responding to its immediate environment. The artists work in unison to create site-specific work and engage in an ongoing dialogue with interested passers-by.

"trespass" ^{^}
by Despina Stamos and Wen-Shuan Yang
Location: 575 8th Avenue, freight entrance on 38th Street
Donated by: Olmstead Properties Inc.

An experiment in "Proxemics", the performance installation by modern dancers Despina Stamos and Wen-Shuan Yang will explore our subtle and intricate relationship to space, boundaries and borders. trespass is provoked by current global border disputes and the study of Proxemics. Proxemics is a term coined by Edward T. Hall in 1966 for the interrelated observations and theories of spatial use. His book, "The Hidden Dimension", brings attention to the cultural meaning of space and its distribution. Stamos and Yang use his concepts as departure points to investigate how we experience territory culturally, geographically and physically.

chashama is a non-profit arts organization that provides opportunities for performing and visual artists. We support the development of art by awarding grants, producing shows and providing subsidized studio, rehearsal and performance space. Since 1995, we have provided artists with a home and the support resources necessary to presentand create art that engages the community of New York.

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