Project by Sanjana Saumin Patel @sanj__patel
The project looks at performers in Manhattan, not just as entertainers, but as part of the city’s everyday life and of a larger urban system. In New York, street performance exists in a complicated relationship with regulation, weather, pedestrian flow, tourism, visibility, and informality. Performers depend on foot traffic, but they also need moments of pause. Situated in Battery Park, the project has a set of spaces that work together as a kind of support system. There is a place for the public, for performers to change and prepare, to store costumes and musical equipment, and a larger recreation space that can shift between co-working, practice, performance, and café or restaurant use. The project is about making visible a kind of urban life that already exists, but is often unsupported. It is about giving that life a place, while still letting it remain open, changing, and connected to the city.
