CASUAL CONVERSATIONS IN BROOKLYN at Black and White Project Space, Brooklyn, NY
March 7- June 14, 2009
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Casual Conversations in Brooklyn is a two-part site-specific installation occupying both the indoor and outdoor gallery spaces.

Be Happy - a new project conceived for Black & White Project Space's unique outdoor space harnesses the gigantic cutout of a young woman with a Be Happy talk balloon against the artificial grass surface as a metaphor for "greener pastures," the search for which entices people to migrate.

The last installment of the ongoing Casual Conversations in Brooklyn project for the indoor space consists of a series of artistic interventions, discussions, and actions that have taken place since 2007. It is comprised of sculptural objects, photographs, video and sound work inspired by public dialogues conducted by the artists in the Brighton Beach community of Brooklyn, and new work specially developed during this exhibition. The newly created and existing work will gradually fill up and claim the space over the course of the exhibition inviting the spectator to share the journey, its beginnings, its evolution, and the stories these wandering objects trigger. This unconventional installation attempts to evoke the transformation of immigrant experience from an "empty nest" to the space defined by new social interactions.

American Dream / Be Happy!
2009
Site-Specific Installation
Astroturf
280 x 230 x 280 inches

American Dream / Be Happy! image is derived from our Casual Conversations in Brooklyn / American Dream project, that took place at St. Petersburg bookstore, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY on July 27, 2007 and December 28, 2007. We asked shoppers in this popular Russian-language bookstore to share their American Dream with us by writing or drawing it with a magic marker on a "thought bubble". One of the participants, Ksenya, who was a cashier at the store wrote "Be Happy!" the photograph of her at that moment is the base for "American Dream / Be Happy!" installation.

Let's drink. Let's talk. Free.
March 14th / April 10th / May 8th/ 7-9pm.
We invited visitors to drink with us, talk, share a story, or make a toast.

Traveling Library Series
Installation
2009
Cast foam, acrylic and ink
Dimensions variable