AiOP: NORMAL 2021
long overdue event recap
Art in Odd Places: Normal was a big undertaking, but before I knew it the 4 day trip had passed and normal life once again took over. It has taken me far far too long to present my overview of the incredible event. Here it is, almost 3 years later…
The first hand folded paper boat I left in NYC.
Being part of a temporary 'return to normal' that we were all pining for in 2021 added aura of importance to the weekend.
Day one: Friday May 14, 2021:
14th Street is just 2 miles long from the East River to the gentrified Meat Packing District. I arrived in town at Midnight, slept well and awoke pumped for my first day's work distributing my hand-folded paper boats.
That first day, and travel leading up to it took a more out of my than I expected. I traveled slow, getting the lay of the strip and trying to meet as many of my fellow AiOP members as possible. I exchanged info and gave boats to each one I met. In addition to the main fleet boats I’d made for this version of the project, and the specific 14th Street editions, there were also a number of special hand folded paper boats dedicated to friends who’d donated to help me get to NYC. I remember distributing many of them on the first day.
I didn’t quite cover all of 14th Street on day one. I stopped to see other AiOP performers exhibiting their work. I was also truly struck to be back in NYC after my last visit in 2005, for Christo’s “Gates” installation in Central Park. Being among crowds of people again was a cautious experience as well, the famous hustle of the city was tempered by an undeniable paw of apprehensiveness.
I probably distributed about half my fleet of boats that first day. They were flowing freely from my hands as I experimented with all the new opportunities for placement available to me in this unique place. A lot of them were simply left on the sidewalk or on building stoops, but I like to find interesting juxtapositions against pre-existing environments when I can.
After 8 hours of hustle I was exhausted and my legs felt tight like frozen steel.
I returned to my squat and sank into the bathtub. Before allowing myself to fall asleep I did the best job I could stretching and massaging my legs and feet—worried about being too cramped up to walk the next morning.
Day two: Saturday May 15, 2021:
Despite exercising with regular endurance walks leading up to the trip, I still woke up tired and aching on day two, feeling beaten by the streets - but full of joy nonetheless as I headed back to 14th Street.
I moved a lot slower. Because I was already worn down I failed to realize that at some point, I’d accidentally drifted over to 13th Street for about an hour. I guess you could say my boats and I had gotten blown off course.
Day two was more isolated that the first. The other AiOP performers had spread out and weren’t as easy to spot, but I still caught a few well executed pieces and saw evidence of others - the gold painted trash bags in the pix above were another ‘ambient’ piece distributed all over 14th.
Highlights of the second day were meeting the famous NYC Pizza Rat who interacted with the boats and even handed a couple of them to passers by. I also managed to flick one into an open residential window. In a very rare instance, I let a couple of my hand folded paper boats blow into the East River.
By the end of the performance day, I still had 200-300 or so left to place on Sunday. One of the rewards I’d promised to my travel donors were custom postcards mailed from NYC. I really wanted to get them hand-canceled, which meant finding a post office. There was one just around the corner from where I was staying, which was lucky because my legs and feet were again absolutely done. Unfortunately I learned from the counter clerk that you can’t get mail hand canceled just anywhere in NYC, only certain branches offer the service, and the nearest to me was going to be another mile hike away. Since it was already Saturday afternoon, so if I didn’t get over there asap, I’d lose the chance completely. Determined to beat this challenge I put my head down, hunched my shoulders and headed to the James A. Farley Building on 8th Ave. I could have just gotten a cab or even rented a scooters, but … it would have felt just creatively “inauthentic” to me, to use a vehicle during the project. At least that’s what I told myself in my somewhat wracked mind.
The extra legwork was excruciating, but I made it. In the end the window clerk wouldn’t even stamp the postcards in front of me, so I just slunk back outside to sit on the steps and recoup.
Finally on my way to rest, I took a delicate pace back to home base, and armed with new advice from a friend in Phoenix, picked up some muscle rub and other aides to help restore my leg strength for the last day of AiOP.
Day Three: Sunday May 16, 2021:
My energy was much improved on the final day of AiOP: NORMAL. Thanks to the advice I’d gotten my lower extremities were greatly restored. I slept a little later, and enjoyed a quintessential NYC diner breakfast. Most of my fleet had been placed, and I had a better understanding of how to pace myself as I made my way across 14th Street.
By the end of day 2, I’d completely covered the strip from end to end, so this last day was about revisiting locations that warranted extra hand-folded paper boats, placing the last few commissioned boats, and catching more of the installations and performances of my fellow AiOP creators.
By 3pm I placed my last pair of boats (in the news box, final pic in the slide deck above) and caught up briefly with the curation team to congratulate them on the quality of the event and report on our positive public reception. The only minuses I can think of about the weekend would be that due to the still ongoing Covid pandemic almost all of the galleries and other creative spaces nearby were still closed, so I didn’t get to check out NYC’s homegrown art scene. For this same reason there wasn’t an AiOP group meet-up. I’m admittedly bad in party situations, but I’d have liked the chance to meet all of the different artists who’d participated and talk about our craft and experiences.
