An unexpected and stunning visual assembly appeared out of nowhere — with the help of New York activists and artists, along with Miles Grant and his friends. It reminded me so much of the very first visual assembly David and I created about the City of Care, it made my heart ache.
The group just showed up, laid out some materials, and started drawing. They were immediately surrounded by children and passersby who happily joined in. It really shows that all people need is a space to imagine and create — and the number of willing participants becomes endless.
Here are some of the ideas and sketches dreamed up and created in record time by a group of complete strangers who had just come together.
but the event turned out to be very short-lived — it had to be interrupted almost immediately by authorities who enthusiastically erased all traces of collective creativity.
What followed was a rather absurd exchange between the organizers, participants, and the order-keepers:
What if we organized many such assemblies everywhere — quickly photographed and documented the ideas, then uploaded them to the Units of Care map? We’ll start right away with this one and look forward to seeing more!
The event started out wonderfully. People arrived ready to imagine what a community garden could look like in Midtown, and our performers were ready to imagine how previous New York City mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani might oppose something like that. Before we could really get started, children who were walking past joined us in chalking the ground! They made great additions to our work. The ground got covered much more quickly than we could have ever expected.
After only about 10 minutes, a security came up to us and told us that what we were doing was legal, but that we “shouldn’t push it”. We went ahead in not pushing, but after about 5 more minutes of chalk the security guard sent his assistant with a hose and he began to silently wash away the chalk. Some braver people would chalk on the wet ground, but that too was washed away. Had the police been called, they would’ve sided with us. Chalking on public property in New York City is legal.
The event started out wonderfully. People arrived ready to imagine what a community garden could look like in Midtown, and our performers were ready to imagine how previous New York City mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani might oppose something like that. Before we could really get started, children who were walking past joined us in chalking the ground! They made great additions to our work. The ground got covered much more quickly than we could have ever expected.
After only about 10 minutes, a security came up to us and told us that what we were doing was legal, but that we “shouldn’t push it”. We went ahead in not pushing, but after about 5 more minutes of chalk the security guard sent his assistant with a hose and he began to silently wash away the chalk. Some braver people would chalk on the wet ground, but that too was washed away. Had the police been called, they would’ve sided with us. Chalking on public property in New York City is legal.
