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Evening at the Colony presents:
May 4
May 4
EVENING AT THE COLONY presents:
February 9, 2013:
Artists, a musician/architect and a journalist from the US and Europe were asked to send their instructions for an object or task
that the host of the evening or others were creating or performing throughout the evening on their behalf.
Jessica Rose Frelinghuysen/Detroit
I would like you to gather everyone in a circle or a line and whisper a 5-word sentence to the first person next to you, holding your hand up so no one else can see. Then they tell the next person and so on.
The sentence can be about the people in the room or the event or the weather. The last person has to tell their sentence out loud to everyone.
Then everyone should think of a person in their heads that they haven't talked to on the telephone in a while and make plans to contact them within the next 5 days. Jessica Rose Frelinghuysen
Corina Reynolds/New York City
Using the bedsheet that you slept on night before you complete this action, spread the sheet flat on the floor in the center of the room.
Standing in the center of the sheet invite someone to join you.
Once they are on the sheet, leave the room. (From the studio of Corina Reynolds to Hartmut Austen on February 5, 2013)
Ryan Clark/New York City
Each participant should bring whatever book they are currently engaged in (fiction or not). You may provide a selection of random books if it is not feasible for your participants to bring their own. On your mark, all participants will begin reading in their books silently, each time they come across the words "now" or "then" they should say them out loud. This will continue until 5 minutes is up (or the longest duration you can give to this piece).
The word "then" is illustrative of future and past tenses and the word "now" represents the present which occurs only at the time of statement.
_______________________ Thank you for your time, Ryan J Clark
Julie Mecoli/UK
5 minutes
being together
in silence
Instructions: Julie Mecoli ‘Evening in the Colony’ Grant Wood Colony House Iowa City 9 February 2013
Henry C D Sparks/UK
I have a picture/drawing in my studio by a 'local artist'. I would like to send you instructions on how to make it.
It would require a sheet of paper approx 9"wide by 13"high laid flat on a bench. Some black ink, a paint brush approx 1" by 1/2".
The process should take about 1 minute with one person reading the instructions to the painter.
The painter should react as fast as possible and not think about the instructions too hard. When you have done it I can send a jpeg of the original.
Henry C D Sparks
Sacha Eckes/Belgium
How to draw an artsy cartoon in 4 minutes
material needed: sheet of A2 paper or something like that, black markers thin and thick, black paper
white paper you can cut out, glue, scissors, a sense of humor
1. Take a large sheet of white paper. Can be really large! At least A2!
2. Draw a rectangle in black paint.
3. Divide the rectangle with two vertical lines- so you get three panels
4. Cut out a circle out of black paper that fits into the first panel
5. Cut out an oval shape out of black paper that fits into the second panel
6. Cut out a very narrow and long rectangle that fits into the third panel, like a line
7. Cut out three pairs of small oval shapes out of white paper
8. Stick a pair of these ovals onto each shape. These will become eye balls!
9. Now with a black marker, make dots into the eyes/ovals
10. Now here is the title: The Slow and Agonizing death of a Shape.
11. Write this title above your rectangle of panels
12. In your last panel you can draw a word balloon and within that word balloon, you can write 'this is The End, isn't it'
13. You can embellish the artsy cartoon by adding cut out legs in the same black paper and you can keep collaging with white paper as well, and add black marker as well.
sacha eckes
Christian Tedeschi/Los Angeles
One minute interactions with clay and sound.
There should be an egg timer, 50 one pound balls of any type of clay and a large table or two to accommodate the finished sculptures, and a radio of any kind to play the song Black Sabbath War Pigs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZCyOWLrRTE
......this should be played on repeat for the entire event. Its okay if the sculptures are densely clustered. the timer should set to one minute at any time and who ever wants to the can pick up a ball of clay and make whatever they wish in that one minute time frame. It is important that the music is heard while this is happening. Christian Tedeschi
Peter Schiering/Berlin
INSTRUCTIONS for "Evening in the Colony" @ GRANT WOOD COLONY HOUSE /IOWA City from SALON NEUCOLOGNE / Berlin
"TRUST YOUR TASTE"
LOCATION: a comfortable seat (armchair if possible) beside a table. On the table there are hard boiled eggs in a bowl. they are cold and unpeeled.
INSTRUCTION: Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Take one egg, peel it, take it in your hand, close your eyes and feel its shape and texture. Now imagine this egg would have been made out of chemicals and not being a natural egg.
Keep your eyes shut. Now eat the egg. Try to find out how much your imagination is influencing your real taste and if the egg still tastes like a normal egg for you.
Background: in China there is an illegal production of fake-eggs that look like real real eggs. They are made of chemicals like sodium alginate,
carboxymethylcellulose, sodium benzoat and others. If the chemicals are propper, there are no harmful side effects. It is kind of a specific
form of "molecular-cuisine". Theoretically, it could make chicken factory-farming needless.
In June 2012 there was an art-Event at SALON NEUCOLOGNE called "SHANZHAISALON". It was about the phenomena of fake (SHANZHAI in chinese) and the
Foodchemist Daniel Siebler made fake eggs out of chemicals. Three people ate these eggs and are still well and alive.
http://salon-neucologne.de/category/events/shanzhaisalon/facebook.com/Salon.Neucologne.e.V Peter Schiering
Robert Schefman/Detroit
“Dangerous Footbridge”
You will make a wooden bridge. It will span your room, from wall to wall .
It is to be installed at exactly 7.5ft from the floor on the two walls.
Materials List: 1 package of skewers, 1 roll of light, cotton string, 4 wall tacks
Procedure:
1. Measure the width of the installation space (A).
2. Take the measure (A) and divide by the number of skewers.
3. This new dimension (B) is the spacing for knots placed along the string, that will hold the skewers
4. Cut two lengths of string at: (A) + 10ft
5. Beginning 2ft from one end, tie a series of knots, at interval (B), along each string.
6. The two completed strings are laid parallel on the floor.
7. Skewers are now secured into, and tightened into the loose knots, ½ inch in from the ends of the skewers, creating a ladder-form of the strings and skewers.
8. When this is complete, leave only 2ft of extra string at each end.
9. Tack each end of the “Footbridge” to opposing walls at the specified height (7ft 6 inches), creating an arc with the center at 5ft 8inches from the floor. Schefman
Chido Johnson and Dylan Spaysky/Detroit
TITLE: "Smile"
TASK: sing loudly to the provided Karaoke video standing at attention. (Dancing would be inappropriate).
ARTISTS: Chido Johnson and Dylan Spaysky
Elaine Tin Nyo/New York City
8:15 PM
"The Best Ever International Three Minute Dance Party"
Recruit as many people as possible to connect through video conferencing all over the world to the people at GWCH. At the appointed time we will play one really kick-ass song (Dee-Lite) and everybody in Iowa and around the world dances for the length of the song.
This will require an internet connection and a computer/laptop with video Skype capabilities. If you want to get fancy you could project it.
The idea is that everyone can see everyone on their screens where ever they are. And of course that everyone including the people at GWCH will be dancing too. Elaine Tin Nyo
Steve Hughes/Detroit
So yes, Instructions. Maybe how about you all do a story or two on my behalf. A good reader is important. Maybe someone from Drama or an author from the English Dept. I'd pick one from each issue.
Maybe Male: Clinton Township: The Best Part of Bible Study, from Washed in Dirt and
Male: Hamtramck: Pollution Sails from Unfixable. Steve Hughes
Mariángeles Soto-Diaz/Irvine
Make a brown monochrome painting with other connecting elements. Invite a friend for chocolate, coffee and conversation. Appreciate the material and relational presence of paint, friend, coffee and chocolate in the same temporal chromatic space. Mariángeles Soto-Diaz
Jan-Philipp Sexauer/Berlin
3 Americans who DON'T speak German, should read the following poem by Goethe. In a form of a "canon", that is, the first reader starts... and when the first begins to read the second line, the second reader starts with the first line....following then the third reader....
The poem's English translation should be provided to the readers but they should read it in the German version.
Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh/ In allen Wipfeln spürest Du/ Kaum einen Hauch/
Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde/ Warte nur balde/ Ruhest Du auch
(transl.) Above all summits/ it is calm./ In all the tree-tops/ you feel/ scarcely a breath;/
The birds in the forest are silent,/ just wait, soon/ you will rest as well!
Jef Bourgeau/Detroit
PERFORMANCE: When I was in 8th grade and whenever we had a new substitute teacher at school, the entire class would drop their heaviest book onto the floor en masse and at a predesignated time of day. I would have you recreate this act of iconoclasm during another artist's performance (i.e., reading or singing), where the audience (you decide the number) would drop en masse and at a designated time into another artist's performance the heaviest art book available loudly onto the floor.
You decide the number of people to drop ART history books in audience. The more the better. All if possible & on signal by you, as conductor, they will all drop their books simultaneously/together/en masse. Boom.
& If possible you can leave the books where they have fallen throughout the duration of show. Jef Bourgeau
Two task that weren't happening due to a broken modem.
Chido Johnson and Dylan Spaysky (watch video HERE)
Elaine Tin Nyo The Best International Dance Party Ever
We danced at NYC, DC, Philly, Detroit — Saturday at 9:15 PM EST; Iowa City —Saturday at 8:15 PM CST; New Delhi — Sunday, Feb 10 at 7:45 AM IST; Taiwan — Sunday, Feb 10 at 10:15 AM CST; Japan — Sunday, Feb 10 at 11:15 AM JST
Watch video HERE
All rights are with the individual artists. A project by Hartmut Austen. Photos by Amanda Lee or Hartmut Austen. For questions or inquiries, please use the contact form.