P'unk Avenue Window

Today I start my “one thing for sale” project.

The concept is simple. I will choose one thing to sell in our storefront window on E. Passyunk Avenue. I will type up a description of the object and post that in the window and on this blog. It remains for sale until someone buys it in person. I will post a picture of the person that buys it holding the object and I will ask them to update me on the objects future home (not required). Along with the thing, you get my typed description.

I see this as an opportunity to create connections between people through the sale of a good - a more human way of exchanging things.

It is a comment on how and why we buy things. It is a comment on patience. It is a way to encourage reuse. It is a defense of simplicity.

Equally important, it will help me find a good home for things that no longer serve my needs.

The first object for sale is my Rolodex from Rolling Stone (with some contacts still in there).

The post-it in the window reads:

For Sale: Rolodex $5.00
Gently used. Lifted from Rolling Stone office. Still contains some contact information.

Lovely device, but less useful to me due to advent of address books on computers. Playing with it reminded me of some of its advantages. Rich tactile experience. Easy to add business cards. Physical size forces you to edit regularly. Will still work in an energy crisis (when you need it most.)

Inquire within or window.punkave.com

(That is the first time I used a typewriter to type a domain name.)

If you need a rolodex, please come by.

It is always nice when someone notices that you are trying to do a good thing.

This week Sam Tremble of the Philadelphia City Paper wrote about our role in the emerging Second Friday Art thing in our neighborhood.

Sam attended many of the openings last month and really enjoyed it.

Hope you can make it if you are in town.

Rosi Dispensa: The Pittsburgh Series
An abstract look at the steel mills along route 837 in Pittsburgh, PA.
P’unk Avenue
1168 E. Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia 19147
Closing: Friday, June 8 2007, 6 - 9 PM

the proposal show
works on paper
(managed expectations)

P’UNK AVE designer Richard S. Banister Jr and Catherine A. Kane are currently working on an art show about making art. Hopefully they’ll be done by the opening on Saturday, June 2nd, but making art is sort of hard and pointless and expensive and sometimes boring to look at. Which is what the show is about anyway. So, if they can bring themselves to finish making some art about making some art, they’ll be really happy to see you and your friends between 7pm and 11pm on the aforementioned date.

Here is the flyer that they made even before they made the art.

The Proposal Show
14 Drawings by Catherine A. Kane and Richard S. Baniter Jr
The Padlock Gallery
1409 Ellsworth St (5 blocks from the studio)
Opening: Saturday, June 2 2007 7 - 11PM

Rosi Dispensa, Tower, C- Print, 2006

It is one of those moments in time when various cool things have started to coalesce in one place.

That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I am excited about all of these cultural things that are happening in the neighborhood that P’unk Avenue calls home.

Case in point: there are 4 art openings this friday night in our hood. Of equal interest, there could have been 11! In fact, I have started to create a map of places that show and/or create culture near us. I know of a few more, and I am sure there is stuff I am missing.

Because I have a lot of free time (!), I am in the process of trying to coordinate this so that everyone considers doing something on the 2nd Friday of the month. Nancy at Benna’s Cafe has openings on this schedule, so it only makes sense to build upon this.

Today’s Daily News mentions this emergence of this art scene in South Philadelphia.

Some other cool things to note: Kun-Yang Lin Dance Company bought a building in the area and has intentions of opening their studio here.

2nd Friday Art Crawl in our Neighborhood!

May 11th starting at 6pm

__________________________

Rosi Dispensa: The Pittsburgh Series
An abstract look at the steel mills along route 837 in Pittsburgh, PA.
P’unk Avenue
1168 E. Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia 19147
Opening: May 11, 6 - 10 pm

Katie Henry
Benna’s Cafe
8th & Wharton
Philadelphia 19147
Opening: May 11, 7 - 9 pm

Jared Udel: New Work
Annin Street Studio
1222 Annin Street
Philadelphia 19147
Opening: May 11, 6 - 8 pm

The Bards of Bruley Presents: “More Than Adequate”
w/ musical performance by Mr. Unloved
The Padlock Gallery
Opening Reception: Friday, May 11, 2007, 7-10

The Debtor’s Inheritance project that I wrote about in March is going live this sunday, May 6th!

I hope you can all make it.

We have really enjoyed the collaboration with Katie Murken on this project.

This foray into ubiquitous computing has allowed us to play with text-messages (SMS) as a medium. Delivering narrative through a text message is something that we will continue to develop.

One of the cool things that emerged from this process is the idea of pacing. The narrative is delivered in multiple messages. However, if you always receive them in rapid fire – one right after the next – it can get overwhelming. We gave Katie a tool to control the pace at which the different narratives were delivered so that she could play with the timing for each one.

It is probably fitting that Katie and I both graduated from the Book Arts/Printmaking MFA program at The University of the Arts where we studied this kind of stuff in relation to printed books. I have always been the black sheep of the program, though, with my interest in the digital!

Here are the details of how to experience this project:

Debtor’s Inheritance

(part of Green Machine curated by John Murphy of InLiquid)

May 6 - October 30, 2007

Opening Reception:

Sunday, May 6 2007

5:30 Reception

6:00 Gallery Talk

6:30 Trail Walk

At the The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education

Get Directions

One could make the argument that the Window began with a fabric purchase.

This material came from one of those stores on 4th Street in Philadelphia’s longstanding fabric row. It is a simple white “gauzy” weave that when hung over a window filters the light but does not block it completely.

My wife, Shannon, and I bought it to replace a very heavy and very dirty curtain that covered the window on E. Passyunk Ave in our new corner studio. We wanted more light. It instantly brightened the space, and an interesting side-effect was the ability to see what was happening outside very clearly in the day. The weave cut the glare, and in fact, the view of the outside was clearer than looking through a window.

It might have been a few days later before we realized… this effect was reversed in the evening and people could see inside very clearly and observe our bumbling-abouts.

This fabric got me thinking that I could project on it from the rear and see the image clearly from the street.

Our first show in the Window titled, “Unwatering” took place on Halloween night 2005. View some documentation here or read the press release.