May Day Artist Fury

Contrary to what you may have thought prior to the posters across the country that have decorated telephone poles, stickers slapped on walls and sidewalks spray painted with General Strike May 1 - May Day is not about May Poles. Its not a whimsical holiday despite the exciting activity you hear behind me may sound like pageantry, May Day’s roots are in creating awareness for worker’s rights and the rights of immigrants.

People raising their voices through art to reflect their ideals about society and human rights is frequently woven through all artistic disciplines by subtle subversive undertones to the being provocateur- sparking movements throughout history. Last Spring of 2011, Zefrey Throwell, first announced here  the Artsy Fartsy Show, that he was going to do a public performance on Wall Street by stripping nude to urge transparency on wall street and how it begat the great recession. His public performance at 6-7am on a Sunday August morning, Occularpation Wall Street was the first occupation of wall Street and weeks later the Occupy Wall Street Movement popped up tents at Zuccoti Park also coined Liberty Square.

Here in New York City the general May Day Strike is taking place in Union Square. The park nestled on 14th Street and Broadway , historically has been the meeting place for for political and union demonstrations and a place of freedom for immigrants to voice their needs. Today it is a frequent gathering place for artists to make speeches, display their art work or perform public art pieces in reflection today’s society.

Today we will talk to about how artists contribute to activism especially within the Occupy Wall Street Movement. You will going to hear from everyday people  who are striking this sunny May Day afternoon in union sq. We are broadcasting live from the May Day festivities in today’s show entitled: Artists Fury

 

ONE BIG CITY – ARTISTS UNITED WITH NYC IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
 

CEC ArtsLink has launched One Big City, a city-wide, two-year project that pairs local New York artists with their counterparts from countries that have substantial immigrant communities in New York. Executive Director of CEC ArtsLink, Fritzie Brown and One Big City participating artists, Daniel Gallegosh will join the Artsy Fartsy Show in Union Square to talk about the project and arts in immigrant communities.

One Big City is a platform for the artists to explore cultural and artistic identities and heighten local awareness of our rich diversity of cultural communities. It enables CEC ArtsLink to bring the cross-cultural discourse it has been fostering for nearly fifty years to a new level by engaging directly with communities throughout the five boroughs.

Participating International artists will travel to New York for a three-week residency to produce a collaborative work with a local artist. The results of the collaborations will be presented in a series of public programs throughout the city. The participating artists are:

Daniel Gallegos, “artopologist,” NYC & Mikhail Zheleznikov, filmmaker, St. Petersburg, Russia
Abena Koomson, poet/performer, NYC & Kristina Leko, visual artist/filmmaker, Zagreb, Croatia
Hatuey Ramos-Fermin, multimedia artist, NYC & Arin Rungjang, installation artist, Bangkok, Thailand

May 2012 (My America) is the inaugural project under One Big City, by NY artist Daniel Gallegos and Mikhail Zheleznikov, who will be focusing on Brighton Beach. On May 6, they will set up a pop-up ‘memory bazaar’ on the sidewalk in Brighton Beach to interact with the locals. They will offer their own art works in exchange for questions like: how do you make New York your home? What is New York to you? What is your New York? 

June– July 2012: Abena Koomson and Kristina Leko will collaborate on a multimedia oral history project that shares stories and songs of the Croatian community in New York City. The project will culminate in a presentation at The Kitchen in Manhattan as well as a series of events in Queens, where many Croatians currently reside.