OCULARPATION: WALL STREET
August 1st, 2011
Monday morning at 7am
50 people working the professions of Wall Street
ALL OF WALL STREET EXPOSED
More photos and video will be up shortly.
Photo by Mike Kingsbaker
The most famous street in America, Wall Street is the grand chameleon. To some it is a visionary and shimmering boulevard where fortune is won and the American dream is played out in real life, where a person can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and join the titans of history in ruling the economy of their country. To others Wall street is the gleaming ruby in capitalisms crown, showing that consumerism and democracy work hand in hand to provide the finest system of governance known to humanity. To still others Wall Street is the epitome of what has gone wrong with the United States, unchecked greed run rampant over the nation that birthed it. At the very least Wall Street is the most controversial and widely debated street in the US, but how much is actually known about this thin strip of cobblestone that stretches but a few blocks?
Video still by Steven Day
Ocularpation: Wall Street was a five minute, outdoor performance that stretched the entire length
of Wall Street. Each of the fifty performers was enacting an actual occupation from Wall Street.
The idea came to me while talking to my mother. She was a public school counselor for thirty years and was forced to come out of retirement to look for a job in her mid-sixties because she lost almost all of her retirement savings in the crash of 2008. At first she was depressed and then she became furious that the entire financial structure of Wall Street is almost totally opaque and inaccessible to many of the people it affects the most.
Photo by Daniela Pimentel
Ocularpation: Wall Street was an project which aimed to create a sense of transparency for one of the most mysterious streets in history. The project was two parts. First I canvassed the entire street of Wall and took a survey of what professions people actually worked on Wall Street. Next I assigned the fifty performers proportional roles based on this data. To further this aim, in the spirit of a Freudian nightmare and to draw attention to the absurdity of the modern economic model, I had all of the performers appear naked, Wall Street exposed!
Thank you to everyone who made this project possible.
A special thank you to Drea Bernardi. You are THE best.
Back to Main Projects Page
OCULARPATION: WALL STREET
August 1st, 2011
Monday morning at 7am
50 people working the professions of Wall Street
ALL OF WALL STREET EXPOSED
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Video still by Steven Day
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Video still by Steven Day
Video still by Steven Day
Photo by Mike Kingsbaker
Photo by Asa Gauen
Photo by Thomas Ahern
Photo by Daniela Pimentel
Photo by Daniela Pimentel
Photo by Daniela Pimentel
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Asa Gauen
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Asa Gauen
Photo by Asa Gauen
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Asa Gauen
Photo by Asa Gauen
Photo by Asa Gauen
Video still by Steven Day
Video still by Steven Day
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Video still by Steven Day
Video still by Steven Day
Video still by Steven Day
Video still by Steven Day
Video still by Steven Day
Photo by Olimpia Dior
Video still by Steven Day
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Nickolaus Typaldos
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Photo by Hal Horowitz
Back to Main Projects Page
OCULARPATION: WALL STREET
PAINTINGS
On display at
Klemens Gasser and Tanja Grunert Gallery
524 W 19th, NYC
January 6th - February 11 2012
Back to Main Projects Page
OCULARPATION: WALL STREET
SCULPTURES
On display at
Klemens Gasser and Tanja Grunert Gallery
524 W 19th, NYC
January 6th - February 11 2012
Back to Main Projects Page
OCULARPATION: WALL STREET
August 1st, 2011
Monday morning at 7am
50 people working the professions of Wall Street
ALL OF WALL STREET EXPOSED
sample of full video
Back to Main Projects Page
OCULARPATION: WALL STREET
August 1st, 2011
PRESS
Initial Press:
New York Times article - 8/2/11
New York Times video - 8/11
New York Times debate topic - 8/18/11
CNN video - 8/11
Wall Street Journal article - 8/11
NBC article - 8/11
Artinfo interview - 8/11
Artnet - 8/11/a>
Washington Post - 8/11
Spiegel - 8/11
Metro NYC, front page! - 8/2/11
NY Daily News - 8/11
NY Post - 8/2
Huffington Post - 8/11
Village Voice - 8/11
Newsday - 8/11
New York Magazine - 8/11
Hyperallergic interview - 8/11
New Criteria - 8/11
Artwrit - 8/11
The Gothamist - 8/11
DNAinfo interview- 8/11
Gawker - 8/11
Groupo 1 in Brazil - 8/11
Topfree Equal Rights Association (TERA) - 8/11
People You Should Know interview - 8/11
YNet (Israeli? maybe?) - 8/11
Chinese (maybe?) - 8/11
Matador Nights (Buenos Aires) - 8/11
Brooklyn Rail - 9/11
Castor & Pollux - 12/01/11 - German
The Vista - 12/08/11
More Recent Press:
New York Times video - 8/31/12
New York 1, TV Station - Interview - 1/27/12
Village Voice, NYC - 1/28/12
Denver Post - 1/22/12
2DM, interview- 2/9/12
One Review A Month - 1/29/12
Sovereign Nation - 1/18/12
Artdaily - 1/7/12
Artobserver - 2/19/12
Art Forum- Printed review in Magazine- 2/20/12
Art in America - 2/20/12
Modern Painters - February 2012
Back to Main Projects Page