STRATA SPORE

 biG CAAK(E*) 

http://strataspore.ning.com/

A Project  by  biG CAAKe

for the iLAND 2009 Collaborative Creative Residency Program

biG CAAKe is an interdisciplinary collaboration team united in re-imagining space,

material and situation for the purpose of initiating playful engagements with

and understandings of urban systems and living.

“Scientists have discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on earth, an individual

mightier than the blue whale, the giant sequoia tree or such past pretenders to size supremacy as the

dinosaur.…the finding will force biologists to rethink their assumptions about what constitutes an individual,

a fundamental problem in the study of the natural world and its ecosystems. Scientists normally

view a single organism as something bound by a type of skin, whether of animal flesh or plant cellulose.

But fungi grow as a network of cells and threadlike elements whose boundaries are not always clear.”

(The New York Times April 2, 1992)

“It’s a limitation to be bound by the three dimensional body. So, reconfigure the three dimensional body into a cellular body -- instead of thinking Deborah Hay, I think 384 trillion cells at once.”

- Deborah Hay

When the largest and oldest living organism known surfaces, it manifests as a delicate mushroom no

bigger than the palm of a hand. Inspired by rhizome networks as tools for bioremediation, a metaphor

for the layers of unseen infrastructure below our feet, and a collaborative niche upon which to focus

a collective narrative, we propose a multifaceted interactive research project that will culminate in

events combining dance, education, environmental remediation and architecture 

StrataSpore is a platform for collective knowledge about local NYC ecosystems and its potential for

applications in urban sustainability. The platform will cultivate “spores” of knowledge by combining

elements of task/performance-based art, experiential learning, and experimental design practice that

implements a dialogue about unseen, natural and man-made systems as sites for restorative sustainability

applications. Our focus will be directed to the mushroom, and its potential for changing the

ecology within a landscape. We invite communities and individuals to partake (with CAAKe) in a multidisciplinary

practice of visualization and re-interpretation of natural systems (mycology) as models for

community engagement. Based on the connective function and form of mushroom ecology, StrataSpore will harness local fungi

as a model for engagement and re-interpretation of living in urban spaces.

Above the Table , At the Middle , Below the Table/Not Yr. Typical PE CLASS

 

The University of Trash: Free Skool 

On Saturday, May 23, 4 of us visited your center. While there, we encountered 3 vibrant,  friendly, fun-loving young adults making pasta.  Although we still don't know the connection between that and your "trash" exhibit, my friend joined them in their project, and subsequent lesson in dance movements relating to the bodily movements of making fresh pasta.

Following are some pictures.  If these people are still coming to your museum, please pass these photos on to them.  I'm sure they would enjoy seeing them.     Thank you.           Anita King

This is not your typical physical education class. Competition will be set aside along with ugly gym uniforms, and getting picked last.  We will consider our bodies to be building materials for imagination and reinterpretation. Through a series of  collaborative and invigorating exercises,  we will meditate our own physical  structure within a shared physical landscape. We will consider the space we occupy, and imagine our bodies to be support structures or building blocks that work collectively rather than opposing. Classes will run from May 21- 25 at the Sculpture Center in Long Island City in part Of Nils Norman and Michael Cataladi's project, University of Trash 2:30-4:30 pm 

***

www.universityoftrash.org/

Physical Education Plan in progress  

(Some points for discussion in random order)

* 

   

                                   

                                  (Chopsticks as appendages) Beans
 

 

• The body is filled with bones below gravity . ( Exhibiting a test of body positions that stretch out tired bones.) Re-orientation of table legs so they become a surface 

• Working with others to find connecting points

• Head to Head connecting
• Birth marks as starting points for dialogs
• Kneading and rolling. (Pasta making) How does one use their body in the making of a meal?
• The voice, the conversation, and the stomach

    How to pick a live body up? 

 

                                       

Lumbar Spine

• Make dough

• Play dough

• The body bending into sections. Bending from the hips.
• Accessing or feeling the ground 

                                                 (BELOW)

For the Panels

United Rites Of The Table (In Parts)

In Collaboration with Giada Alazraki, Preston Burger, Paula Chaves, Dora Koimtzi, Ely Levin, Yuko Mitsuishi & Andrew Weeks

Part I Newspaper Event ( A. Knowles 1965)

Part II Eating

Part III Digestion and Emancipating

Part IV The Table Turning and Serving Soup

The piece began with my desire to understand current events in the world. I started to stack newspapers I'd read in the corner of a room, and as the stack aged and got taller they reminded me of a spine. At the time, I was working with an elderly woman who could not walk very much and didn't like to eat. And when she did eat, she couldn't balance the food very well on her fork. One of the articles I had read was about a food crisis in Haiti. There, people were storming the palace gates, and someone was quoted as saying, "When people are hungry, that's when we get angry." I think of these events when I think of how this piece began to evolve. These specific narratives are lost because their meanings are still in progress. In my collaboration with dancers and musicians, we have begun to combine our stories and test our differences for finding a new common language for rituals of exchanging that take place at and around the table. We have no set dialogue as yet.

Left: Ely Levin Right: Andrew Weeks

Stretching Bones

This video shows part of the making of the broth that was served in "United Rites of the Table". 

In it: a part of the vertabrae, scapulas, and sacrum of the pig from New Year's, The breastbone of the Christmas turkey,  legs of a chicken, a carrot, a parsnip, citrus,  and salt.

Pressure Points (2008)

Pressure Points was a collaboration with Andrew Weeks and Natalie Heller. We were extracting sounds from an creaky flight of steps in an old tenement building in the Lower East Side (specifically, ABC NO RIO for their Ides of March Biennial). A series of dances were performed on the steps. The sounds rather than the visuals of our movements were recorded. We presented to the public a sound piece played from 3 boom boxes that suspended from the ceiling above the stair case. Visitors were invited to sit on the steps and listen to a looped, non-linear narrative of action.

The Burial

Performed by Gail Accardi, Jorge Colombo, Sally Im, Lucca Leopardo-Brunt, and myself. The Burial was was presented at an eco-festival at Socrates Sculpture Park in September of 2007. The Burial was a reaction to being involved in a war over natural resources. The Kinks' song Well-Respected Man plays while Gap Models act bored. they listen, dance, and pose for the photographer.  In one part, a drumming solider plays along with the boy on the violin, to the song, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" Honey Cakes travel to the platform by Gap Models, are placed on the record player, lowered down on the record player, replaced back in the basket, and then are shared with the audience. Honey cakes in the Myth of Trophonious were gifts given to the two snakes which guarded the entrance of Trophonious' cave. Once the snakes were appeased. Trophonious would offer his cures and prophetic visions for the future.

The Burial was inspired by "The Death of Hip",  a Diggers performance from 1969

Other photos by Jorge Colombo here: http://www.jorgecolombo.com/burial

Eating/Maps

Spreads & Dips

The Drawing Table

"The Drawing Table" took place in May 2007. In this event, drawing students from Columbia were invited to share in an end of the year party at the Ramphouse. The afternoon involved them purchasing food en route. On arriving, their contribution was arranged into an edible still life. The still life changed as they consumed it. 




Nudes and Foods

www.jorgecolombo.com/nf

(video link)