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Performing the Changing City: Public Space, Transformative Events and Creative Action in New York

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 | 7pm
03-19-12_changing-city_sm

Performing the Changing City: Public Space, Transformative Events and Creative Action in New York

Luciana Achugar, Randy Martin, Jenny Romaine, and Niegel Smith reflect on our shifting urban landscape and imagine how we may enact our city in the future.


A Movement Research Studies Project, organized by Abigail Levine and HNYPN Artist-in-Residence Paloma McGregor.

"...careening astronauts and bank clerks glancing at the clock before lunch; actresses cowling at light-ringed mirrors and freight elevator operators grinding a thumbful of grease on a steel handle: student riots; that dark women in bodegas shook their heads last week because in six months prices have risen outlandishly; how coffee tastes after you've held it in your mouth, cold, a whole minute." --Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren

Hurricanes, transit strikes, planned and unplanned explosions, occupations... Bike lanes, bus lanes, protest pens, command centers... Pedestrian zones, redevelopment zones, disaster zones... How is the landscape of our city changing and what are the possibilities for creative response? Looking at the shifting social, economic, and literal topography of our city through the frame of transformative events and policy decisions, we ask the question: what is the role of artists, activists, and all citizens in conceiving, creating, and defending (a notion of) public space? And conversely, what is the role of public space as a partner in creative expression and action? Luciana Achugar, Randy Martin, Jenny Romaine, and Niegel Smith reflect on our shifting urban landscape and offer opportunities to imagine how we might enact our city in the future.

Hemispheric Institute of Performance & Politics
20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003

Luciana Achugar is a Uruguayan choreographer based in Brooklyn.
Randy Martin is professor of art and public policy and director of the graduate program in arts politics.
Jenny Romaine is a performer, director and puppeteer and a founding member of GREAT SMALL WORKS.
Niegel Smith is a New York-based performance artist and theater director.

Events are free and open to the public, photo ID required to enter NYU buildings.

Co-sponsored by Movement Research and the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics with funds from the Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund.

photo by Laura Ayers.