R. Luke DuBois & Okwui Okpokwasili: Residency At The Crossroads

Kate Crawford, professor, author, and founding member of Deep Lab - a collaborative group of cyberfeminist researchers, artists, writers, engineers, and cultural producers - serves as a moderator for a discussion with artists R. Luke DuBois and Okwui Okpokwasili, the first two Residency At The Crossroads artists, a new cross-disciplinary and collaborative residency program, in which artists are invited to experiment and engage with Times Square’s unique urban identity and users. You will also hear brief interviews with President of Times Square Alliance, Tim Tompkins, Director and Curator of Grants and Exhibitions at NYFA, David C. Terry, as well as Program Manager at Eyebeam, Laura Welzenbach.

Artist R. Luke DuBois is Co-Director of Integrated Digital Media at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering. During his residency, DuBois created a continuous video portrait of Times Square, relying on a matrix of webcams that already existed onsite, to create a compressed video of 90 days’ worth of accelerated activity into video art. As part of the piece, he worked with artists who performed simple, repetitive acts designed to be recognized within the accelerated video and contrast with the fast-paced bustle of Times Square all around them.

During the Fall and Winter of 2015, Okwui Okpokwasili worked with Peter Born to engage with visitors in Times Square to capture their voices and create a song based on the idea that the Crossroads of the World can serve as a global commons, not only as a transactional hub for capital, but also a stage and a shared public space that is an open resource for creative dialogue and exchange. By asking people to tell her what they have always wanted to share with the world, she explored whether a common cry, idea or desire emerged.

Residency at the Crossroads was launched in Summer 2015, the program will host a series of 4 three-month residencies for New York City-based artists, infusing artists into the urban commercial district of Times Square in order to creatively investigate its identity and usage through observation, experimentation, engagement and documentation.

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