Of, By, and For: New Work by Daniel Peltz and Paul Notzold

September 7 – November 19, 2010

Daniel Peltz' Citation Salutation [new ticket envelope]		Paul Notzold’s TXTual Healing

OPENING RECEPTION
Tuesday, September 7, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

FIRST MONDAYS @ CAC GALLERY
Free artist receptions featuring live performances, food & community
Monday, October 4 & November 1, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

CAC Gallery, Cambridge Arts Council, City Hall Annex
344 Broadway, 2nd Floor, Cambridge

Cambridge, MA – The Cambridge Arts Council presents in the CAC Gallery Of, By, and For: New Work by Daniel Peltz and Paul Notzold, September 7 – November 19, 2010, organized in collaboration with independent curator Liz K. Sheehan. This exhibition poses questions about what defines a public, a community, and its leaders, and how artists can facilitate the dialogue between these intersecting groups. Of, By, and For presents two models of artistic intervention into urban life that examine city structure, site, and community. Both projects concern ideas of mobility, communication, control, and how authority is made visible in city spaces, but the artists' working methods are distinct.

Daniel Peltz' background in anthropology guides his in-depth study of text, language and dialogue. His project for the CAC, Crossing Non Signalized Locations, began with a residency with the Cambridge Department of Traffic, Parking, and Transportation last winter, during which he shadowed workers and interviewed employees in a variety of roles. He drew the title of his project from section 11.5 of the City's parking regulations, which are set forth in 24 articles with hundreds of sections.

As Peltz has noted, a close reading of these regulations reveals a certain poetry and perspective on urban space. The outcome of his residency is a "suite of four gestures" that respond to experiences from his residency with the department and are enacted by Traffic, Parking and Transportation staff. The suite, put into effect on the streets of Cambridge during the first week of September, includes new parking signage; the launch of a fictional parking regulation authorizing "soft-booting," in which stuffed fabric parking boots will be fabricated at a sewing station in the atrium of the Traffic, Parking and Transportation offices [produced in collaboration with the Swedish conceptual craft artist Sissi Westerberg]; and a redesigned parking ticket envelope, introducing a series of yogic postures for giving and receiving parking citations. Documentation and designs for these objects will be on view in the CAC Gallery along with "10,000 Excuses," a large-scale drawing, composed from the archive of electronic parking disputes received by the City, transcribed, by hand, by departmental staff and visitors onto the back wall of the gallery.

Paul Notzold aligns himself with street art practices, staging ephemeral, often unsanctioned performances that fall under the category of "urban hacking." His ongoing project TXTual Healing is an experiment in how mobile technology can transform public action into theater. Using a laptop and projector strapped to a bicycle cart, Notzold projects speech balloons and/or graphics onto buildings, with a phone number to which anyone with a mobile phone can text a response. Typically a private form of communication, in this project text messaging becomes an open, anonymous, and uncensored dialogue; a means to engage, rather than to escape. Notzold views his work as an alternative to advertising: "Projecting in a shared public space gives participants a voice as loud as the corporate and government entities who financially predetermine the information in these spaces." TXTual Healing generates spontaneous and unpredictable stories, in which the city serves as both frame and surface. Of, By, and For will include a series of documentary photographs from the August 7 event in Cambridge (see Event details) as well as a new interactive piece.

INFORMATION:
The CAC Gallery is located in the City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Information: cambridgeartscouncil.org or 617-349-4380. Press photos are available for download at: http://cambridgema.gov/gallery/?albumID=397&level=album

EVENTS:
Saturday, August 7, 9 p.m.
Paul Notzold presents TXTual Healing with special guest Jean-Dany Joachim, Poet Populist for the City of Cambridge. Bring your mobile phone and join in the conversation at the intersection of Hampshire and Springfield Streets, Inman Square.
:: Press Release for Paul Notzold presents TXTual Healing

Monday to Friday, August 23 - 31, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Group Writing Sessions: Monday to Thursday each evening from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Call to Participate! Come write excuses on our wall!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Of, By, and For opens with a public reception at the CAC Gallery, 344 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. Daniel Peltz will give an artist talk that evening at 7:00 p.m.

Monday, October 4 & November 1, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

BIOGRAPHIES:
Daniel Peltz is an artist and educator based in Providence, RI. Through his public projects and installations, Peltz explores the effects of repurposing social systems, with a specific interest in "re-speaking" public and private texts. To accomplish these projects, he uses a range of intervention, ethnographic, and performance strategies. He is an Associate Professor of Film/Animation/Video and on the faculty of the Digital+Media MFA program at the Rhode Island School of Design. He completed his MFA in Radio/Television/Film at Northwestern University and his BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Colby College in Waterville, ME. www.danielpeltz.net