Public Art Exhibit -- Chalk by Allora and Calzadilla July 2, 2004

Chalk by Allora and Calzadilla
Seventh Annual ICA/Vita Brevis Project
July 2 - 4
Boston Common along the Beacon Street Mall

The collaborative artistic team of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla
bring their ongoing project Chalk to Boston for ICA/Vita Brevis seventh
annual project. A highly interactive public event, Chalk involves the
placement of numerous lengths of oversized chalk on a pedestrian way or
plaza. These large pieces of chalk encourage a very democratic form of
communication by inviting spontaneous writing and drawing by all who choose
to join in.

Taking place during Bostons renowned celebration of Independence Day, the
project precedes the citys hosting of the Democratic National Convention.
Chalk invites the public to participate by leaving a mark, be it a personal
message or drawing or a political statement. Also presented in New York and
Lima, Peru, the installation addresses notions of democracy and how it is
manifested in the early 21st century, a theme pertinent to this historic
moment in Boston.

Since 1995 Allora and Calzadilla have made several poetic yet challenging
interactive public works of art that address a range of social and political
issues, often involving modes of communication and perception. Their work
has been shown at Tate Modern, London, the Wexner Center for the Arts, in
Columbus, Ohio, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Chalk is supported in part by the Nimoy Foundation and the ICA's New Group.

http://www.icaboston.org/Home/VitaBrevis/VitaBrevis/Upcoming/Chalk

-a