Emerald City

2006-12-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

The Rider Project Presents: The Emerald City.
A display of fine art in the back of a Ryder truck that interprets the word green.

Outside the Gene Siskel Film Center Chicago, IL.
Sunday November 19th, 2006.

Survival Design
(Jason Brown and
Elizabeth Scofield)

Dan Gunn

Tamara Gubernat

Alee Peoples

Wagner Malta Tavares

Jereon Nelemans

Cai Gillis

Justin Williams

Michele Gambetta

Alex Chitty

Aaron Zimmerman

Cassie Thornton (floor tiles and book case)
Joe Hardesty (skulls)

Joe Hardesty

Cassie Thornton

Stephanie Nadeau

The Rider Project outside
The Pontiac Cafe in
Chicago's Wicker Park
neighborhood.

Dan Gunn, Jason Brown
and Tamara Gubernat
installing Tamara's piece.

Alee Peoples installing
her net piece on State St.

Alex Chitty and others
deinstalling in SAIC's loading dock.

SAIC's flyer for
The Rider Project's
Visiting Artist Lecture

A modest crowd gathers
in the SAIC Auditorium.

Jason Brown preparing
Survival Design's part of
the lecture.

Aaron Zimmerman
calms his nerves with
coffee (!?) before his
part of the lecture.

Rider Project Director
Michele Gambetta
delivering her part of
the lecture.

2006-11-09T05:18:00.000-08:00

The Emerald City website is up and running at art-anon.org.

Here is a link to it.

Please share it with anyone and everyone you think would be interested in checking out the show.

2006-10-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

OPERATION EDUCATION
Hi! I am posting the conversation between Alex Chitty and I in regards to an educational component for Rider in chicago. The initial conversation is below, and the followups will be in the comment section of this post. Please post feedback!
-Cassie

Email sent last week:
Hi Alex,
How are you? I am Cassie, and I am one of the NY artists in the Rider Project. I was hoping we could begin a dialogue about the educational program you suggested in your proposal for Emerald City. Are you interested in developing that as a component of your piece? Or as a supplement to the overall show? I would love to help you develop a plan! Let me know what you are thinking about in terms of content and logistics.

2006-10-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

Ok everybody,

Here's what I need for the website and other
promotional materials:

-2 images (preferably of what you will be exhibiting
but if that's not possible the best examples of what you do.)
Maximum size: 500 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall.

-3 sentences on your work. If you are submitting
images of what you will be exhibiting, 3 sentences
describing your piece. If not a general artists
statement that you don't mind being edited will do.
Be clear, descriptive and succinct.

-Image details: Title, media, dimensions and date completed.

-A link to your website if you have one.

-A contact email that you don't mind being public in
case anyone wants to talk to you about your work.

-Your name as you want it spelled on the cards.

I need this as soon as possible: At the latest the
evening of Monday October 30th.

Feel free to email me with any questions. Have a
happy Halloween weekend.

Aaron.

2006-10-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Hello Citizens of The Emerald City,

For those of you who don't know me I'm Aaron and aside
from being one of your coexhibitors in The Emerald
City show I'll be heading up the PR for this verdant
venture. I qualified for this position because I have
4 years of experience writing reviews for magazines
and websites on art and culture in New York and
Europe. I have also done alot of PR work for
galleries and other art organizations.

Over the course of the next week or so I will be
calling on you to send me some images, text and other
things for a subsite that will go up on art-anon.org.
It will act as THE main resource for writers and
gallerists to see what we're doing. It will also be
something for each of us to use to promote the show to
our friends and colleagues.

I have compiled a short list of blogs, papers,
magazines, galleries and other potentially interested
groups in Chicago as well as asked for the help of
friends I have in the area but from New York it's hard
to know what is most effective. So if any of you have
any leads please pass them along. Please observe
traditional email etiquettes when doing so though.
Only give me contacts for parties receptive to
promotion of this sort. The art world is full of
finicky people. We don't want to spam anyone and risk
alienating those we want to see the show.

In any case, I have yet to finalize the details for
image sizes and other related issues so when I get
that sorted out I'll email again with exactly what I
need.

Thanks,

Aaron.

2006-10-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

As a short order cook of images, i try to incorporate suggestions for truck and other junk towards the top of the thing. bad, bad cassie. so if i was a short order image cook i would make grey eggs at a diner in the burbs.

2006-10-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION. my emailing capabilities are null. this needs serious proofreading, can it be on the blog? for some reason i cant get onto my mindspring account today, dammnit.
As I mentioned before, I am leaving this town and this chair and computer Thursday night and will return to it on Monday. So, whatever changes I can make tonight and tomorrow during the day I will do and then will hand it back to aaron. some of the details on the back of the card are fuzzy. like where is this infamous "saic auditorium"? hows the layout and color rubbing everyone? whoops i forgot the logo. i will pop it in.

2006-10-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

INSTALLATION Issues

We have been in touch with many of you 1:1 about your proposals for the upcoming exhibition. Jason Brown, of SURVIVAL DESIGN, will be handling all questions about installation, and you can direct them to him, here.

Please NOTE the truck will NOT have sheetrock walls. We will be using the truck in its raw state, and installing lighting on the ceiling. We will be using a 15' rented Ryder Co box-truck which runs on diesel -- so we can use bio-fuel.

Special hanging techniques and/or hardware are often necessary for "art in a truck" since all trucks BOUNCE, and bouncey art needs special consideration... Please think this issue through, and talk with Jason for suggestions or if you have any questions.

The attached image is from the RIDER Project's For Given: 1. Mobility 2.Chance exhibition, 2005, and gives you a good idea of a "raw" Ryder box truck. ALTHOUGH every truck is slightly different.

Best!

2006-10-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

so what is to be said about this attempt at card design? its not mind blowing. that is for sure. but are the colors in the right ballpark? (wrigleyville?)
c

2006-10-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

Dear friends of Rider,
How is Chicago on this crisp Saturday morning? Does anyone want to help me work on the show card?
Does anyone have any input to add before it gets rolling? I am cassie, and I will be working on it. Yell on the blog if you are interested in working with me or have thoughts. (does everyone know to check the comments listed in light blue below their posts? make sure to check up on what you post so you are able to respond...)
-c

2006-10-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

HI!
Welcome to the RIDER Project Emerald City blog! This will be the group forum for artists participating in the upcoming RIDER 2006 Emerald City exhibition. We will use this blog to communicate about the logistics and 'infrastructure building' about the show. Please check this blog and your email daily.
----
Over the next month you'll be creating the Emerald City RIDER Project and exhibiting with: Michele Gambetta, the artist who founded and directs the RIDER Project, artists Aaron Zimmerman, Cassie Thornton and Tamara Gubernat from New York City, and Jason Brown from Survival Design.

The exhibition will take place on Sunday, Nov 19th, in conjunction with SAIC's Negotiated Localities Symposium: Artists, Designers and Citizens in a Green City. The RIDER Project is the designated Art Project for the symposium and will be parked on State Street in front of the Gene Siskel Auditorium. This exciting, high visibility venue was chosen by SAIC's Visiting Artists Program.

The installation and deinstallation of the show will span Nov 17-21, and we will be sending more specific info on times as we get closer to the date. PLEASE SAVE THESE DAYS FOR THE RIDER PROJECT. This artists' project requires a time commitment. Every participating artist and their contribution matters. Please review your schedule before committing to this show.

We will be including you in the "infrastructure building" of the exhibit: the art installation, artists presentation, documentation of the exhibit, PR and graphic design. As a result you'll gain a taste of the work and freedom involved creating a mobile exhibition, and have that possibility in your arsenal of tools for the future.

The RIDER is a social sculpture and it is highly organic. Genuine dialouge, wholistic learning and self-empowerment are goals. All questions, comments and thoughts are invited! You will be working directly with RIDER artists, and being incorporated into the show as a colleague. The vibration of the show is high and professional, and we are looking forward to working together.

Please prepare to focus upon this special opportunity, to work hard, make some great art and enjoy!

Looking forward!

Aaron Zimmerman
Cassie Thornton
Tamara Gubernat
Jason Brown
Michele Gambetta, Founder and Director

2006-10-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
A few logistical practicalities and strategii before moving forward...

Due to reality I have attached a "responsibility waiver" for each of you to sign (in ink) and return to us by mail. I will need 2 copies of this document -- one for RIDER records and 1 for SAIC. Please sign and mail to

The RIDER Project
c/o Aaron Zimmerman
246 West 108th St. Apt. 1W
New York, NY 10025.

I am also asking artists to designate their exhibited artwork as an a.i.R. artwork. The ad infinitum Rider (a.i.R) has been embedded in the RIDER Project for the last 4 years and I am pushing the idea further forward.

I will speak about the a.i.R. when i am at SAIC and you can read about it on art-anon.org. The idea is experimental and I am interested in feedback about it. But I am also requiring that you designate your Emerald City artwork as an a.i.R work.

Your participation in the a.i.R. -- with others around the country -- could have an effect and create change. Your postion as young, emerging artists -- the truest green in our reality -- embodies an enormous amount of potential. At the start of the 21st century, a new millennium, our (planetary) culture is changing at an enormous pace. We are living in an exciting time to be an artist, and you are the future.

The a.i.R. addresses our global commons (which includes space) from a theoretical, conceptual art, economic viewpoint, and the theory is still developing. It is very young and experimental. The hope of the a.i.R. is to change artists' reality, subversively if need be. (The connections between art and everyday reality are also relevant) Collective action can change things, and if nothing else an active consideration of whether "positive social change" is possible, is valuable.

I'm not going to focus on political issues, but will say that there was a time on our planet when the concept of owning land was unknown, even considered ridiculous.
Today we buy water, our air and oceans are polluted, and our 'global commons' are being monopolized.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701484_pf.html

So ... please write, burn, etch or in anyway mark your work with the letters a-i-R. Place them in/on your work, or hide them in your participating artwork. I will not check. But I am asking for your participation in this experimental, theoretical idea. It could be the heart and meaning of the RIDER Project.

----

If you are still interested in moving forward with Emerald City, please send us an email saying "yeah man, lets do it," or some such, and pop your signed waivers into the mail!

Hope to hear from you!
Michele

2006-10-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Congratulations!
The RIDER project has reviewed all School of the Art Institute of Chicago applicants
and we would like to invite you to participate in the upcoming Emerald
City exhibition and project, Nov 17- 21, 2006! Your work was chosen from
a pool of very high-quality applicants, and we are excited to exhibit
your art and work with you on the upcoming show!

With only a month till the exhibition we are going to jump right into
the RIDER project process! Almost all communication is via email, and
I’ll be sending an overview email to start everything going. Other
RIDER artists will also be in touch with you as we get this engine
purring. This blog will be an ongoing source of information about the show, logistics, the other artists and their processes.

Aaron, Cassie, Tamara, Jason and myself (Michele) are looking forward to a dynamite, kick-ass show, and welcome you to the RIDER Project!

Talk Soon!
Aaron Zimmerman
Cassie Thornton
Tamara Gubernat
Jason Brown of SURVIVAL DESIGN
Michele Gambetta, Founder and Director

2006-10-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

so i propose we ditch email at this point, and start posting on here so to check the narrative of the daily conversation there is only one constant source. remember to sign your name when you post since we are all using the same username id
-cassie

2006-10-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

Emerald City
so rich text format works to make things less hyper. however, the time on the blog is a lie because as far as i know it is 12:18 am, not 9:25.
i think i did all the work that was required of me today so now i will go to sleep. or something like it.

2006-10-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

i dont know why everything i am typing is hyperlinked but maybe its just the computer sensing my excitement about things.

i wonder if this will work better using rich text format? one can only hope.
well presumably i have no audience as of yet so i will use the blog to entertain myself until all you "riders" get jealous and come try to crash my text party.

2006-10-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

so i see no one is using this fantastic blog. i cant even type without it being underlined so i wont point fingers.

2006-10-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Emerald City

2006-09-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

so this is the first post. today is Wednesday, Sept. 27 or so, and last night the four of us met at Around the Clock Diner to reconnect about everything. one thing we didnt finish was listing and dividing the tasks that we have to complete before leaving for Chicago.
I have written down a few things:
show card
website
binder
solar power
organizing submissions
contacting applicants (thumbs up/thumbs down letters)
insurance waiver
gathering hanging materials
photos of locations where we will show
researching lights/ availability of what we want at Home Depots there
signage?
publicity