Photographer JJ Tiziou and sculptor James Peniston introduce their new project How Philly Moves—a multi-disciplinary documentary of dance. Andrew David Watson (w/special guest!) premieres his 20 minute film Down the Hatch: The Life of John “Red” Stuart. Nicole Bindler engages the audience with a memoir in dance. Miss Koco amplifies the social life of objects with Pieces of Koco.

item#: 067 & 068, 090-108
materials: mostly plastic
status: taken (2.01.08)

Here we have all kinds of fabulous freaks: Kitty (the Monsters Inc. character, item #090), a glow-in-the-dark alien (item #091), three pigs (item #100-102). These tiny creatures were picked up here and there. I couldn’t say where each and every one was from but I know some came from Kinder Eggs: the crow that pulls the worm out of th ground (item #107), the strange bird with blue feathers (item #104), the yellow and orange worm (item#095), and the scary green smiling thing with yellow arms and suction cups (item #098), and the robo-cat with green arms (item #092). The pigs and the chicken (item #093) came from a set of farm animals, Kitty came from a vending machine outside a Japanese toy store in NYC, and the turtle with the bobbing head (item #094) my mother picked up on a trip to some place I can’t remember. The Monkey (item #068) and the Giraffe(item #067) are also part of the Creature Collection.

2.01.08 I gave these away to an artist through freecycle and we met up at a benefit art show, Corsets For A Cure. As a totally unexpected bonus she gave me a copy of The Daring Book For Girls. It’s perfect.

The creatures became the stars of this creation:

How exciting!

Toys are made to be played with, right? I never took these out of their boxes. One even still has the plastic packaging intact.

I have always liked them thought, So simple, yet so awe inspiring and mesmerizing to watch.

I gave one away to a woman through free cycle, and the second one… I seem to have lost track of. This is really strange. I have vivid memories about the simplest things, and I can’t seem to recall what happened to the second slinky. Maybe I gave it to the woman who took the Barrel of Monkeys.

item#: 062
materials: plastic
status: taken (2.13.08)

[update 2.18.2008] Here is item #062 on its first adventure.

photo by: Mary Schwalm

“a trip the Reptile/(Amphibian) house at the Philadelphia Zoo. [Mary] decided to give the frog a sense of its roots so it realizes how special its new life is….. ”

This is one lucky frog because its new owner, Mary Schwalm, is a photographer who travels a lot. If I could fit into someone’s pocket, I’d say Mary’s would be a cool one to pick.

59, no wait… 62 frogs and one snake.

I imagine it may have felt a little lonely for the snake. He was different, you know. Maybe the snake was in denial the whole time and thought he too was a frog.

I was working for the Department of Residential Education at NYU, living in the East Village. I knew if I moved downtown the commute would be longer, but the apartment would be big, new, and possibly have a nice view. So, I moved to the Financial District. NYU @ the Seaport was an attempt to create solidarity among the staff of four residence halls: the massive Water Street dorm, Cliff Street, 99 John, and The Exchange. It was pretty short lived. A few months later Water was considered one staff, and the smaller staffs of Cliff, John, and Exchange were grouped into another.

This time as a member of NYU @ the Seaport was marked by a lot of frustration, confusion, and a lingering feeling of helplessness that made me bitter. I guess it paid off a bit in the end though. As a result of 9-11, the shifting staff, and the simple fact that I stuck around, I got the chance to reside in quite possibly the most fabulous place I’ll ever live–RENT FREE. When I look back at the two years living at the Seaport, it was great working there. That was reason enough to hang on to the duck. It’s also pretty cute.

I recently passed this on to a woman in Philadelphia who thought it was adorable. I had a moment of hesitation. Second thoughts were shooting through my mind; I didn’t want to let it go. What would she do with it? Was I a making a bad choice for the duck? Abandoning it for no good reason? She wrote me reporting, “[I] took a bath with my rubber ducky last night. LOL I have about 5 different duckies. I’m so silly.” I had some mixed emotions at first to hear this, but resolved that I was happy to know that the Seaport duck will now have friends, be among his kind, instead of collecting dust on my shelf next to a pewter figurine of the peeing sculpture in Brussels.

The reason this frog candle stuck around is because growing up I wasn’t ever allowed to light candles or incense. My mother was worried I’d forget to blow it out and burn down the house. These days there are candles in like every room of my parents house and they are more forgetful than ever before. It may be time to reinstate the rule.