Public Art Installation / Language Barrier Project
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Public Art Installation / Language Barrier Project
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 25, 2008
LANGUAGE BARRIER / Lower Manhattan, New York
September 29-October 3, 2008
A Public Art Installation by Alina and Jeff Bliumis
Duane Park / Intersection of Duane Street and Hudson Street
September 29 / 3-7PM
Patel News Stand / NE Corner of Church Street and Park Place
September 30 / 8-11AM
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Jin Market / 111 Hudson Street
October 1 / 3-6PM
Civitella Ranieri Foundation / 28 Hubert Street
October 2 / 3-6PM
Express Shoe Repair and Barber Shop / 59 Franklin Street
October 3 / 3-6PM
"Language Barrier" is an ongoing project by Alina and Jeff Bliumis, artists originally from the former Soviet Union. This site-specific installation engages issues of immigration, assimilation and alienation among the various diasporic communities of lower Manhattan. The artists selected five different sites in lower Manhattan, each chosen for its contemporary and historical significance and will intervene along various corridors and spaces with piles of foam dictionaries.
By obscuring sightlines, blocking windows and physically interrupting daily routines, the artists draw attention to the social and cultural differences that characterize life in New York City throughout its history. For the lower Manhattan installation, every site represents an aspect of the community, geography and past of this vibrant area, from its importance as a farm, to its own Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, to its gentrification into the coveted real estate it is today. Within this sea of change, different immigrant populations struggled and continue to grapple with questions of communication, adaptation and social reorganization.
The installation of colorful foam dictionaries, each uniquely designed, printed and painted, in the forms of different barriers at each successive location underlines the fragility of communication, the construction of language and our need for translation. Practical and theoretical considerations meet formally during this ephemeral urban intervention, making visible our daily negotiation of barriers both physical and social.
On July 22, 2008, Mayor Bloomberg signed into law that city agencies must provide translations for the six foreign languages most commonly spoken in NY: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian, and French Creole. It is only fitting that "Language Barrier" may be experienced between September 29 and October 3 at five different locations so soon after this historic legislation.
"Language Barrier" has been made possible, in part, by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council with the generous support of The September 11th Fund. Additionally, this project is supported in part with funds from the Strategic Opportunity Stipends Program through New York Foundation for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts, administered in the Central Region by Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts.
For further information, please visit the website at http://www.bliumis.com. A brochure accompanies the installation and will be distributed at selected locations around Tribeca during the week of the installation.
MEDIA CONTACT: Charlotte Cousins (631)559-2583, email: languagebarrier08@gmail.com
Producer: Charlotte Cousins / Photographer: Anton Trofymov
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Civitella Ranieri Foundation
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