PROJECTS>>
city explorations
city explorations
Bike Paint :: Alicia Dvorak
Ongoing :: throughout Providence
Using my bicycle and a bucket of paint, a bright trail of urban exploration will be left by the bike's tires as I make my way throughout the city. Follow the trail to see where I've gone, or let it lead you to further explorations of your own!
From Here to There Under an Umbrella :: Chris Barr
Saturday, July 14 :: by appointment :: FooFlux
www.underanumbrella.com
For one segment of Provflux I would like to offer to escort local residents and festival participants to their desired location under an umbrella, as a sort of umbrella taxi. Our walk and conversation will be recorded via an "umbrellacam" and will be uploaded to the project website. With this experiment I am interested in how a shift in spatial experience (i.e., a space designed for one being used for two) can shift other relationships such as communication. And how something such as our vulnerability to our environment can offer us unique (and sometime intimate) human experiences. Additionally, I am interested in developing an art practice that fills the seems of everyday life and inserts small talk back into social spaces. Participants sign up for the free taxi service at one of the ProvFlux hubs, or by calling (716) 512-9254, and specifying a pick-up time, place of origin, and destination.
Horror of Place :: Andrew Jankowich
download audio tour
This audio tour concentrates on the courtyard next to the Hay Library that is the site of a memorial to H.P. Lovecraft. Instead of providing a description to go along with notable sights this tour uses Lovecraft’s words to evoke feelings of uneasiness lying beneath the everyday. The tour will reinvigorate an area that might be passed by, encouraging close observation in an attempt to explore Lovecraft’s vision of Providence. Lovecraft’s work displays a strong sense of place and intense physical descriptions. In his stories the landscape itself seems infected with the ancient evil at the root of his stories. By using his words as a guide we can understand more about Lovecraft and his intense connection to Providence and how his interpretation of a location may differ from our own. The text of this audio tour can be read at www.horrorofplace.blogspot.com.
The Alan Shawn Feinstein Mapping Project :: the Feinstein Scholars
Ongoing :: throughout Providence
alanshawnfeinsteinmap.shorturl.com
Hello, this is Alan Shawn Feinstein, reminding you to keep up your good deeds... for me! I've put my name on so many buildings in town, I can't keep track of them. So while you're walking around the city during this little festival you have happening here, be on the look out for my profound quotes. Write down the address where you see me, the quote I used, and a photo if you can manage it. The person who spots me the most wins a secret prize (and I'm not talking about a photocopied signature of Mother Theresa)! I think I have a quote on every high school and middle school in the city, so that's a start. I'm also on some elementary schools, soup kitchens, and churches. All results will be featured in a map, which can be seen online here. Send your reports to Alanshawnfeinstein@gmail.com.
The Last Time I Saw … :: Tim Devin
Story Collecting: Ongoing-- inquire at ProvFlux hubs
Walking Tour: Saturday, July 14, 5p :: depart from FooFlux
www.timdevin.com/providence.html
Public spaces often have secret meanings for people. Some are positive or neutral; others are decidedly negative. Negative associations often involve memories of the last time a person saw someone who they no longer speak to—-such as a former friend, an ex, or an estranged family member. These types of memories are often kept secret even from friends, and can bring up bad feelings unexpectedly.
"The Last Time I Saw..." is a Providence RI-specific book/art project that serves as a forum and memorial for these types of memories. It documents both the stories themselves, and the exact places in Providence where they occurred. During ProvFlux, I will distribute free copies of this book, and lead people on a walking tour of downtown Providence. I will also collect stories for the second edition of the project at different spots around town.
The Stream of Unconsciousness
Tour time + departure point TBA
On the margins of Blackstone Forest in Eastside Providence, behind a school, there is a mysterious spring of water that emerges from a slope of earth that has been used to fill in a valley so that the city could claim more space for houses. No map mentions this spring. No mention of it is made in the annals of the city. Maybe it will cease flowing as I write. Sometime during the weekend an exploration party will take us to this spring and behold the strange sight of water gushing out from the side of a hill. I would like to dedicate this spring to the “unconscious of the city” (Louis Aragon) by diverting the spring through a hollowed-out mannequin head embedded in the earth at the source. There is a follow-up option for a drift through Blackstone Park and its numerous other waterways.
