Temporal Monuments

The name of my project in Sofia is Temporal Monuments. It has moved dramatically from my initial intention of doing video projections on buildings. Living in Sofia for a few months I have become increasingly aware of people begging in the streets, selling flowers on the corners or plying any kind of skill such as playing the accordion and dancing or carving wooden figurines.
While some might find this unsightly I see these people as survivors. I see Roma wagons cruising the streets for recyclable goods and I think about sustainability. These goods would otherwise find their way into a landfill somewhere. When there is a lack of resources sustainability becomes about survival.
These people on the streets of Bulgaria living by their wits are just making ends meet, but as a result not putting the kind of pressure on their environment most people of means do.
So this begging and hustling I see as hopeful. It’s like fishing, hoping to collect a bounty, something positive, helpful to one’s survival. It is about being opportunistic, working with what you have. In academia it’s called writing a grant proposal, here on the streets there is a more immediate and pressing need.
These are the people that I am interested in establishing a temporal monument for.

Monument

I found a headless monument in the park on the corner of Pirotska and Opalchenska Street and thought it would be a good space to honor regular folks in. An older couple told me that on top of it used to be a bust of Georgi Dimitrov – the Bulgarian Communist Dictator. After Dimitrov’s death a mausoleum was erected in the center of Sofia where he lay embalmed like Lenin on Red Square. Post communist political changes saw the mausoleum demolished.
I was later told by a policeman who was half-heartedly trying to stop us from completing our project that the bust was of the Russian writer-philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev who’s writings were based in Christian Spirituality. He was a Marxist and a revolutionary who gradually walked away from the radical Marxism of the Bolsheviks and found himself on the “Philosophers’ ship” of the exiles the Bolsheviks sent out of the country.
Both contenders for the monument were tied to Marxism, a philosophy promoting the equal rights among people.
So a temporal monument to the people at this spot seemed appropriate. I asked some friends to work on it with me. We created a set of stairs for easy access, cleaned graffiti from the monument, laid flowers and made a plaque to the Bulgarian people. You can see the video of the project and some photos I posted below. If you are in Sofia you can go to the site and take a picture of yourself on the base. Send it to me if you do. Here is a map of the location.

Before

After

Are they biting? Кълве ли?

MONUMENT TO THE HOPEFUL FISHERMAN
Кълве ли?/Are they biting?, Performance, Sofia, Bulgaria, March 2009

To make art in Sofia I am looking for the spaces between spaces. I am trying to figure out the potential, the possibilities. I am searching for the margins of the built environment for the places not yet resolved. Those spaces are alive with possibility. Can you catch fish in a puddle in Sofia? No, but you can catch lots of smiles, greetings and the proverbial Кълве ли?(Culve li?), Are they biting? What are you getting? Som (catfish). They are bottom feeders – opportunists. Just like so many have to be. It is a fruitless activity, but somehow full of hope. Yes. They are biting. The opportunities to be inspired, to figure it out, to create are everywhere in Bulgaria.

ICH BITTE SIE FUER 1 WORT

MONUMENT TO THE HOPEFUL BEGGAR
ICH BITTE SIE FUER 1 WORT / I BEG YOU FOR ONE WORD
Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse, Berlin, Germany, March 2009

For the Fulbright Conference in Berlin I created a performance at the Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse.
In many countries especially in the West, begging is considered a contemptible occupation practiced in order to receive money dishonestly for obtainment of food, drugs or alcohol. Historically however, the western tradition has been known for respecting beggars such as Diogenes of Sinope and Lazarus. I am the least of these, were the words Jesus is recorded as saying in the bible about less fortunate people, beggars included. In many countries of the east like India, Japan and others begging can be considered a spiritual occupation, which frees the beggar from material concerns such as labor for money and keeps them on the path to enlightenment.
My decision was to beg for something considered non-material – a word. I was interested in the attitudes and behavior of people towards someone in a position of a supplicant. What kind of poem could come from the words collected in a specific location in a specific city? In this case, it was the Friedrichshtrasse train station in Berlin.
The experience was humbling. Many people did not realize I was begging for a word, did not look at my sign and thought I was asking for money. They avoided my gaze, completely ignored me, or walked a large circle around me. I felt that I was putting them in an uncomfortable position of having to make a decision about giving. On the other hand, twenty-eight people chose to give a word. This relationship between those in need and those with resources plays out on a regional and world scale and the decisions to give or not to give are crucial to our future.

Brigada

Art Removal Poster, February 2009

In Sofia, we have formed Brigada which is an Art Taskforce consisting of a group of art students, graduate students and professors. All the members of Brigada are artists willing to work in new and collaborative ways. They are left to right: myself, Boyan Dobrev, Radostin Vasilev, Nikola Grozdanov, Ivan Genov , Stanislava Penelova.

Art Removal

ERASING THE MEMORIAL
Performance, Video Installation, Art Removal Taskforce, Union of Bulgarian Artists, February 2009

So far Brigada has completed one Art Removal Project in Bulgaria. The project consisted of erasing a photograph of the Soviet Army Monument. The projects intent was to satirize censorship. I find it ironic that during Soviet times Socialist Realism was the accepted art and most others were censored. In this case a piece of Socialist Realism art is getting censored.

The idea for Art Removal came from an experience with censorship I had in the US. It stemmed from indignation by shop owners regarding street art a group of my students created to help homeless people. In response to the negative reaction we created the Art Removal Taskforce. The Taskforce is a satirical representation of agents of censorship. Art has been a powerful propaganda tool for many centuries. The removal of art has also been a powerful way for various interests to assert themselves and squash dissent and varying opinions on their rule. For instance, Hitler instigated infamous book burnings. He censored, banned and held exhibitions of Degenerative Art, which he considered most modern art of his age. Likewise, despite worldwide protest the Buddha statues of Bamiyan province, Afghanistan were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 as they were considered idols.

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Art Removal taskforce flyer, February, 2009

Spine at the Lunar Eclipse

Thanks to my fellow students at the Fulbright International Summer Institute in Triavna, I experienced a new way of working. I was looking for a way to create, think, enjoy the collaborative moment and release the control – trust others. We created a performance in a square in Triavna, which inspired me to work outside the realm of galleries and museums and bring my art into the everyday.
The students created one-word responses to the word hate that were then created into the following poem which I wrote onto their bodies in the Triavna Town Square.

СИЛНА СТРАСТ ЗА
ЛЕСНА ПЕЧАЛБА
НАДЗЕМНА ПОХОТ ЗА
РОЗОВИ БЕЗРАЗЛИЧНИ
YСМИВKИ
МИРЪТ СТРАДА,
ОБСЕБВAН ОТ МИНАЛО
И НАСИЛИЕ, БОЛКА,
РЕВHOСТ,
ДИСКРИМИНАЦИЯ
ВOEННА МАШИНА,
ДРЪН - ДРЪН
НЕВEРНИТЕ ДРУГИ СЕ
БОРЯТ С УЖАСЯВA-
ЩАТА ГЛУПОСТ

INTENSE PASSION FOR
EASY PROFIT
OVER-GROUND LUST
FOR PINK INDIFFERENT
SMILES
PEACE SUFFERS
OBSESSED WITH PAST
AND VIOLENCE, PAIN,
JEALOUSY,
DISCRIMINATION
WAR MACHINE,
BLAH-BLAH-BLAH
UNFAITHFUL OTHERS
FIGHT HORRIBLE
STUPIDITY