Speaking of people singing in the street...

I was going through some old files and found a link to an art/film project Mark was a part of last year. It was actually on the front page of the New York Times Theater section which was really cool.

"Last year Rochelle Steiner, the director of the Public Art Fund, which commissions and presents exhibitions in public spaces in New York, encouraged Ms. Friedman to do something for the fund."

Friedman does art films and she decided to film people all over the city preforming in public spaces. You can read about it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/theater/29sing.html?_r=3&oref=slogin

The photograph at the top is my husband Mark! As well as the first person in the soldier's uniform to sing on the street in the video. If you don't see the video just click on the spot where it should be and it will come up. Isn't he cute?

My favorite part of the article and the experiment is the fact that there are so many crazy things going on here on the streets that no one even bats an eye! And in a way that makes me sad, I mean do we as a society have so much going on that we don't even see the other people around us living out their lives? Do we pass by things without seeing their beauty because we have to much to do? Has it become unacceptable to reach out to the people around us and share a strange moment on the street? I wonder a lot about that here in this city. It's so easy to feel alone here while at the same time be surrounded by millions of people...

Comments

[Tami Murray Cline]

I suppose that feeling is amplified in NYC but I've found that it's true of just about every large city center. I hope that I never lose the ability to notice the lives of others, the extraordinary little moments that really put spark into life. I have noticed in the last three years of being a new mom that tunnel vision often descends and my saving grace is watching my daughter experience her surroundings. I think that the larger the population the easier it is to tune out a strange moment or to observe and quietly slip off without actually becoming a part of it. A large population also gives a higher percentage of these moments too.

[Beka]

I think that films like that remind the viewers to tune in to the people around them. I have always been an avid people watcher, and remember living in New York City as a child and finding endless entertainment and food for thought in the faces and scenes around me. And, yes, your husband is cute! Mine would never, ever have the guts to do something like that.

[Frances]

That is so super awesome!! Your husband is brave! Your last post made me a tad jealous! We have good friends who live in Brooklyn and love visiting them. The City is so exciting (especially from small town Ohio)!