Limited Edition, plastic grocery bags.
Part interactive public performance, part civic survey, Hot Button Issues transformed the tradition of political campaign pins into a way to gauge the concerns and priorities of New Yorkers. Capitalizing on the then, current mayoral campaigns, we invited passersby to pick from one of our many buttons representing various local concerns--from candidates of the upcoming election to pressing policy issues facing our city. By picking one button over the others, the participating public expressed their concerns by wearing the political message they felt strongest about while, in effect, "voting" for the issue that concerns them the most. In the end, we tallied up these "votes" and posted them on our website in order of popularity, indicating the order of priority these messages held for this project's participators.
Citation encouraged New Yorkers to rate the city and its elected public servants. Irreverent comment cards, convincingly-disguised as parking tickets, were placed on car windshields along 14th street. The "tickets", given without cause, simultaneously engage and give voice to the citizen’s frustration with the city’s bureaucracy. The survey results were documented and delivered to City Hall.
A satirical election campaign that challenged Mike Bloomberg's third term bid for mayor. Using wheat-pasted posters, web and video, social media, and community outreach, our group led the fictional Simpsons billionaire Charles Montgomery Burns to dominate that year's citywide write-in vote.
Founded in 2009, Concerned New Yorkers, is an art collective that creates interactive public art and multimedia information campaigns about local issues in New York City.