In our artistic representation of Washington Square Park, we have chosen to do a performance piece. This medium enables us to pull from the past while also staying in a contemporary context. We are focusing on the history of the park and the notions of tourism and photography. We were inspired by Sontag’s “On Photography: In Plato’s Cave”, where she discussed the impact of tourism in a media-saturated world. As Washington Square Park is a tourist destination we wanted to play with this idea by incorporating image making into our piece. The participant would perhaps take selfies or pictures of the arch during the performance. To include the historical depth of the park we would include movements such as marching and other military motions. The arch and the park itself represent the freedom that America was founded on. The performers would be our peers or even if anyone and the street would like to join. The marching and the obedience to the smartphone would call attention to the falsehood of freedom in America.
Based on prior research, the people that we interviewed in the park were merely there to take a picture. They did not have any real connections to the park and were completely unaware to the rich history that the park holds. The goal of our performance piece is to contextualize the parks history as a militia parade ground with a modern touch. Using volunteers we would recreate a modern form drilling, showing regiment and military esque order interweaving modern instructions. Opening doors to thinking about what the park was really meant for in the past and how it is used now, the similarities and differences.
In our curisory research we found as a group that nearly all of the people that we conducted interviews were here merely by happenstance, they were walking by and wanted to stop and take a photo, or they had hear about it being a nice quiet place to come and sit down for a bit. None of them knew the historical value that the park held, it was far more a tourist attraction rather than a historical attraction. With our performance piece we hope to blend the touristy side with the rich history and create a harmonious blend between both and educate those who are not familiar.
