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Thank
you James! It
is exquisite. On
my wall at home. xo Karoline July 19
www.jameskusel.com
Hello
James,
Warm thoughts and heartfelt thanks to you, our special
guest at this night's Collective String Web. Thank you
for being brave and adventurous with us, trying
to embrace the world in present creative actions! You made a journey with us
all the way from your world at 104 St Rock away Beach to the center of NYC, Union
Square. You brought your beach gear all the way in the subway, even your beach-flip-flops
and your beach clothing. On the way in the subway you showed me how you make
beautiful graffiti paintings with people's names. You even talked about making
one with my name, and mailing it to me in Denmark, even though we had only known
each other for short while. When we got to Union Square we went to the Whole
foods store to find restrooms. I remember your beach-flip-flops making "squeaky" sounds
against the footsteps on the stairs. I enjoyed having your company with us that
day. To me, you seemed very present and visible in the world that Sunday night
as you were sitting with your beach gear in the middle of Union Square - Visible
to all passers-by, responding to people's questions and letting them photograph
you in the Collective String Web.
Thanks for being brave!
Best Wishes, Karoline, May
30
PUBLIC SPACE
PROCESS
We had our new friend James Kusel (www.jameskusel.com) as
center point and grounding center for the Collective String Web
at Union Square. James had
all his beach-gear with him and he would set it up in the middle
of Union Square exactly the way he does it when he is on the beach.
We imagined tracing visions inside James'
head - and re-tracing them into public space, bringing the thoughts
out of James' head(from the back of the
chair). Each string would be tied to the upper-back of the chair
and would be tracing space behind James. The strings also became
a
manifestation of people interconnecting, getting
present
and
aware
of each others
positions,
and expressing themselves.
We would tie strings to the back-top of the chair and start making
lines of string run from the chair to the people sitting on
the stairs as potential spectators. We would ask people to hold
the
string, or to join in and tie more strings to the chair and
to the handles by the stairs.
When this part of the Collective String
Web was rocking we would do a blue baseline:
A tipped Square. Then the throwing, weaving, intersecting,
wrapping of string would begin and peoples involvement with
the string would grow, and the intensity
of people's expressions. We were happy we got people involved
just before the rain came.
Union Square was different because it was evening
time, thus
there were no kids involved. In particular one man would express
himself for a long time inside the web - trapping other people
in the strings and finally trapping himself and rolling in
the strings.
Union Square was
also different because no
police showed
up to stop the game, though a police car was parked nearby.
When we did the blue-baseline around the light posts many people
would
comment
and say: "You'll
get
a ticket for that, it is government property." We don't harm
the property, we use it temporarily and we do clean up, so?
The worst part is all the fear and tension before we start,
whether the police will show up and arrest us or not.
I believe - the police let people performe in
this Union Square, because so many other people just sit there
and expect to be intertained.
Yet another thing
which was different at Union Square was cleaning
up. At some point it started raining, and we lost a
lot of participants, when we had no
more string to join for the game, we would hide from the rain
for a while and come back. When we came back
The Collective String-Web was already gone!
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