about the confluxcity project
Sunday September 20th, 2009 from 10 am to 6 pm
Desensitized Walk, by Eric Bessel and Shawn Stucky
Tompkins Square Park, 7th Street entrance (between Avenues A & B).
Pairs of participants can collect free original artwork, including a map, a set of photographs, and required props from the info table at the 7th Street entrance to Tompkins Square Park, between Avenues A & B. Please RSVP by calling (917) 828-6714, or email contact@ericbessel.com.
Project Description:
Hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. Many people will never know what it's like to 'get by' without one - or more, of these luxuries. Remove someone's sense of sight, and they might develop a heightened awareness of sound, over time. Join two newly 'desensitized' people, and they instantly form a bond. Is it out of perceived necessity? Selfishness? Trust?
Pairs of participants - with their ears or eyes partially disabled; explore the northernmost section of Avenue D, get a coco helado, and return to Tompkins Square Park with a newly developed sense of self-awareness.
A basic - but modified map; will allude to a somewhat fixed path to follow. A set of sequential photographs will serve as anchor points - visual confirmation of going the 'right' way. However subjective, the pair will emerge from their journey 'closer' than when they started.
About the Artists:
Eric Bessel (www.ericbessel.com)
Eric Bessel was born in Connecticut, USA, in 1981. He is an artist and writer working in photography -- sometimes dabbling with design, and taking on collaborative projects. A citizen of Brooklyn, New York, he splits his time between Lower Manhattan, where he is a Public Information Specialist for the Bureau of Waste Prevention Reuse and Recycling, and his art studio/walk-in wardrobe in Carroll Gardens.
Shawn Stucky (www.shawnstucky.com)
Upon arriving in Chicago, I was immediately taken by the power and elegance of the surrounding architecture, the abundance of artistic influence and the incredible wonder of how it all comes together. The Illinois Institute of Art is where I earned my B.F.A. in visual communications. My color blindness is sometimes an added challenge to the artistic process and yet it has given my work a unique quality all its own. I now spend copious amounts of time seeking to convey my thoughts and state of mind through my work.
About ConfluxCity:
In keeping with its commitment to urban artistic exploration, community participation, shared knowledge, and critical civic engagement, Conflux is pleased to announce ConfluxCity - a user-generated city-wide event on Sunday September 20th, 2009 from 10am-6pm.
Drawing inspiration from Burning Man's creed of radical self-reliance and BarCamp's philosophy of openness and participation, ConfluxCity adopts an open-space approach in which participants will organize, promote, and host their own activities and events. To facilitate this format, the Conflux Festival headquarters and website will serve as a central communications hub directing festival attendees outward to individual event websites and locations.
For information about ConfluxCity projects and artists, please refer to the preliminary list below. Additional information can be found on the ConfluxCity 2009 Google Map.
