[-empyre-] Introduction

[Samara Smith]

Hello,


I want to thank Patrick, Andrew and Selmin for starting us off.  I'm
Samara, one of the discussants this week.  This discussion is of great
interesting to me, as my work combines activism, documentary and,
site-specific interventions.  I'm currently working on an audio soundwalk
documenting the OWS occupation of Liberty Plaza/ Zuccotti Park in NYC in
the fall of 2011.  That project will be a downloadable audio file that
participants experience, somewhat like a guided audio walking tour, in
Zuccotti Park.


When documenting the OWS occupation of Liberty Plaza/ Zuccotti Park, I was
often struck by the performative nature of some of the protest moments,
"performed" for live observers in that moment and space, but also,
seemingly, intended for documentation and dissemination.  Two that
particularly stood out were:

1.  The OWS sanitation working group members (and others) dressed up and
scrubbing the plaza in the days before the first attempted power
washing/park clearing.  (This performative cleaning became a regular sight
in the plaza for the rest of the occupation.)

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/nyc_cleanup_of_zuccotti_park_u.html

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/told-to-leave-protesters-talk-pre-emptive-strategy/

and

2.  The knitters who were a daily presence sitting on the edge of the plaza
throughout the occupation period:

http://www.capitalinstitute.org/node/732

For me, those moments raised questions:

Are these examples of artivism?  How did the awareness of cameras influence
these acts? How does documentation change the ways in which people
participate in activist practices?  Is there a line between performative
protest and performance art?


Another question that runs through my work is: how might site-specific doc
projects transform the viewer/participate's live experience?  My interest
in creating site-specific documentary projects arises from a desire to
bring the participant more actively into the creation of meaning by
layering the documentary elements over the space and each participant's
observations of the actual environment.  So in this regard, can
site-specific documentation be a trigger for more focused, nuanced
observation of live experience/ actuality?  In the case of this OWS
soundwalk, can a mediated experience be constructed that, not only
documents the occupation, but also focuses attention on the current use of
the plaza, thereby calling attention to urban space as a social construct?


I'll leave it there today.  I look forward to exploring this topic and
learning more about everyone's work.

-- 
Samara Smith
Assistant Professor, American Studies
SUNY College at Old Westbury
(917) 554-7639

http://samarasmith.com/
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