Cold Springs, New York
Literary Kiosk
Mayday Productions 1998-1999
With Anton Vidokle + Christoph Gerossizis
1998-1999 throughout New York
Mayday Productions was the name given to a group of ephemeral and experimental activities realized in New York and its outskirts from 1998 - 2000. The core group, Regine Basha, Christoph Gerozissis, and Anton Vidokle often invited numerous other artists and curators to participate in the production such as Barbara Clausen, Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Moukhtar Kocache, and others. Each production was transparent in that attending often meant being a part of the process of production.
The following describes a selection of Mayday activities: 'May 17, 1998' (Cold Spring), 'The Best Surprise is No Surprise' in 1998 (Holiday Inn, Chinatown, NYC), 'Parking' in 1999 (Highbridge Park, Harlem).
'May 17, 1998' (the monumentalization of a random calendar date) took place throughout an abandoned estate in a forest in Cold Spring, New York (a Hudson Valley historic town). 38 artists participated with video, sculpture, performance, and temporal land art for one day only. It also featured an outdoor literary kiosk with publications by Paul Bloodgood, Gregory Volk, Laura U. Marks, Ivo Mesquita and others. Performances, sculptural installations and land works were realized over the course of a day.
'The Best Surprise is No Surprise', took place overnight (10hrs) at The Holiday Inn in Chinatown, New York. It included Michel Auder videos, Carsten Nicolai sounds, Peter Scott’s paintings and a special edition tele-tubby sold in the bathroom. The title, taken from the very first Holiday Inn slogan, is now also the title of a recent book chronicling e-flux's history (as this event triggered the first e-flux announcement).
'Parking' took place over a day at Highbridge Park (a 40-block long 19thc park in Harlem designed by Calvert and Vaux) in conjunction with the restoration efforts of New York Parks and Restoration and with Lauri De Chiara. An international group of artists reflected on issues of urban planning, public space and memory within the community.
More Images
Rita McBride Plan for Corbusier City of Algiers
Joel Holub Explaining art to Joseph Beuys
May 17, 1998, Cold Springs Announcement
Elana Herzog Cold Spring, imaginary maps
The Best Surprise is No Surprise Peter Scott at Holiday Inn
Parking at Highbridge Park Announcement
Ellen Harvey Parking at Highbridge Park
Sound tunnel Parking at Highbridge Park
Post-Event Release Holiday Inn, Chinatown