Workshop on the Street: May Day
Broadway Plaza between 43rd and 44th Sts.
Stand in solidarity: bit.ly/workshoptsq
House of Trees arts collective is dedicated to the transformative effects of contemporary art through the creation and production of dynamic, site-specific, public art projects. Each project incorporates a variety of artistic practices, including installation, textile art, sculpture, video, and performance art, among others. House of Trees seeks to create work that is part of our personal and political conversations nationwide and internationally, bringing together artists and institutions to collectively explore and expose deeper ways of connecting through artmaking.
For Workshop on the Street: May Day, House of Trees invites you to convene in Times Square for an artistic act of participatory democracy. Whether you’re a New York City resident or a first-time visitor, you can celebrate your freedom of speech with phrases and iconography, cut and glued in colorful felt on banners, sashes, capes, or badges - perfect for your next protest! All materials will be provided – just come ready to create.
While you're busy with your masterpiece, enjoy music DJed by members of BRUJAS, a feminist, anti-capitalist, anti-racist political organization.
Workshop on the Street: May Day is part of a yearlong collaboration between Times Square Arts and House of Trees, and a larger Word on the Street project with recent iterations at Socrates Sculpture Park and The Watermill Center. From August 2017 to February 2018, the Word on the Street {Fall Edition] exhibited works in Times Square by Anne Carson + Amy Khoshbin, Carrie Mae Weems, and Wangechi Mutu. The Word on the Street [Spring Edition] features works by Laurie Anderson + A.M. Homes, Tania Bruguera; and House of Trees + Naomi Shihab Nye from March through August 2018. Artists Take the Street! is a conversation amongst Word on the Street artists Tania Bruguera, A.M. Homes and Amy Khoshbin.
Workshop on the Street: May Day (and a previous Workshop, in September 2017) brings the project full circle, helping participants pour their passions and concerns into felt; engaging the community in social action; contributing to personal and political conversations across the country and the world; and encouraging a physical and artistic response to the Word on the Street banners installed throughout the district.
“Given the times in which we live it is important that institutions stand up and support one another, ultimately to collaborate with individuals who are not afraid to speak truth to power, not afraid to fight for themselves or others that has been mistreated, oppressed, marginalized, or forgotten. The artists, refugees and producers collaborating on Word on the Street are the voices we should be listening to as a way forward, especially at this moment.”
- Noah Khoshbin, Curator, The Watermill Center
This event was scheduled for May 1 for three reasons: May Day is an ancient pagan spring holiday, inspiring thoughts of renewal and hopeful times to come; the holiday is also synonymous with International Workers' Day or Labour Day in many countries; and, of course, the title plays on the international radio distress signal “mayday,” used to signal a life-threatening emergency.
Workshop on the Street: May Day is part of a yearlong collaboration between Times Square Arts and House of Trees, and a larger Word on the Street project with recent iterations at Socrates Sculpture Park and The Watermill Center. From August 2017 to February 2018, the Word on the Street {Fall Edition] exhibited works in Times Square by Anne Carson + Amy Khoshbin, Carrie Mae Weems, and Wangechi Mutu. The Word on the Street [Spring Edition] features works by Laurie Anderson + A.M. Homes, Tania Bruguera, and House of Trees + Naomi Shihab Nye. Other events in the series include a previous opportunity for public participation - Workshop on the Street in September 2017- and an artist talk - Artists Take the Street! – featuring Tania Bruguera, A.M. Homes and Amy Khoshbin.