Exhibition at Leo Kesting Gallery
Exhibition at Leo Kesting Gallery
Exhibition at Leo Kesting Gallery
During the spring of 2008, Julia Mandle worked in residency at the NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies with two classes of eighth-grade students to create the outdoor drawing Chalk Shoes to the High Line. Throughout her residency, Mandle cast dozens of chalk shoes and educated students on the tactics of artistic intervention. The students created a drawing by scuffing the chalk shoes along the paths they will take to the High Line, thus symbolically claiming the new park for the neighborhood through the rituals of mark making and walking.
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By marking the paths that people have walked and will walk again, the chalk drawing directed attention to the role of collective memories in urban processes and development. In addition, it symbolized the High Line itself, which is about movement and the way in which groups and individuals—from horses to trains to pedestrians—move through space and time. In this way, the High Line operates on a performative level—a “body” which intersects the urban landscape with a dynamic motion and flow.
Also evocative of the High Line, the performance slowed the pace of the neighborhood. As pedestrians encountered the procession of students, they took a moment to pause and reconsider their daily environment from a new perspective. These pensive moments foreshadowed the quiet reflections to be experienced in the new park.
During the spring of 2008, Julia Mandle worked in residency at the NYC Lab School for Collaborative Studies with two classes of eighth-grade students to create the outdoor drawing Chalk Shoes to the High Line. Throughout her residency, Mandle cast dozens of chalk shoes and educated students on the tactics of artistic intervention. The students created a drawing by scuffing the chalk shoes along the paths they will take to the High Line, thus symbolically claiming the new park for the neighborhood through the rituals of mark making and walking.
PAGEBREAK
By marking the paths that people have walked and will walk again, the chalk drawing directed attention to the role of collective memories in urban processes and development. In addition, it symbolized the High Line itself, which is about movement and the way in which groups and individuals—from horses to trains to pedestrians—move through space and time. In this way, the High Line operates on a performative level—a “body” which intersects the urban landscape with a dynamic motion and flow.
Also evocative of the High Line, the performance slowed the pace of the neighborhood. As pedestrians encountered the procession of students, they took a moment to pause and reconsider their daily environment from a new perspective. These pensive moments foreshadowed the quiet reflections to be experienced in the new park.
Outdoor performance in Meat Packing District and Chelsea, NY, April 2008
Commissioned by Friends of the High Line
Exhibition at Leo Kesting Gallery, New York, NY, May 2008
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Special thanks to the City of New York and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe; 10th Police Precinct and Officer Mike Petrillo; Lab School for Collaborative Studies: Principal Brooke Jackson, Principal Gary Eisinger, and JoAnne Riina; Meatpacking District Initiative: Annie Washburn; James E. Robison Foundation; Friends of the High Line Board of Directors and Advisors; J Mandle Performance Board Directors and Advisors.
Friends of the High Line's education and in-school programming is made possible with generous support from: Johnson Family Foundation, NYC Council, Speaker Christine C. Quinn, NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, The Wachovia Foundation.
Outdoor performance in Meat Packing District and Chelsea, NY, April 2008
Commissioned by Friends of the High Line
Exhibition at Leo Kesting Gallery, New York, NY, May 2008
PAGEBREAK
Special thanks to the City of New York and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe; 10th Police Precinct and Officer Mike Petrillo; Lab School for Collaborative Studies: Principal Brooke Jackson, Principal Gary Eisinger, and JoAnne Riina; Meatpacking District Initiative: Annie Washburn; James E. Robison Foundation; Friends of the High Line Board of Directors and Advisors; J Mandle Performance Board Directors and Advisors.
Friends of the High Line's education and in-school programming is made possible with generous support from: Johnson Family Foundation, NYC Council, Speaker Christine C. Quinn, NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, The Wachovia Foundation.
“Chalk Shoes to the Highline drew passers-by in to play and reflect on public space and the existential nature of one’s experience of the immediate environment.” — S. Moreno, I.D. Magazine
“In my work, I seek to create moments that allow audiences to pause and heighten their perception of everyday environments, just as the park promises to reveal a new perspective of the city.” — Julia Mandle, Metropolis Magazine
“The urban-scale project blurred boundaries of site and stage, creating a hybrid of place, public, and performance.” — Kaitlin McNally-Murphy
