Common Exchange: disCONNECT Issue

What’s Your Sign? horoscope ARIES / March 21–April 20 You like to control things, but it’s time to go with the flow.

Trust and follow your instincts.

CONNECT: Gemini, Leo DISCONNECT: Cancer TAURUS / April 21–May 21 Listen carefully if someone challenges you, then talk your way out of it. This isn’t a contest.

It’s a conversation.

CONNECT: Taurus, Scorpio DISCONNECT: Aquarius GEMINI / May 22–June 21 Conversations in the workplace could escalate into arguments or people may become silent and withholding. Both are harmful.

CONNECT: Aries, Leo DISCONNECT: Pisces CANCER / June 22–July 22 It’s true: Strength lies in numbers.

To conquer, people must unite.

Accept one another’s differences and work together.

CONNECT: Cancer, Capricorn DISCONNECT: Aries LEO / July 23–August 23 Your closest relationship seems to be fraught. You should work extra hard to try and find out what the problem is.

CONNECT: Cancer, Virgo DISCONNECT: Libra

CONNECT: Taurus, Cancer DISCONNECT: Gemini

SAGITTARIUS / November 23–December 21 Your tendency is to give more than you receive, but this may leave you feeling depleted. Do something nice for yourself.

Visitors to the Common enjoy We Complete,

by Julianne Swartz. By holding hands while sitting on the park bench, they launch a soundtrack that presents a poignant array of messages about human connection.

SETT S AVE .

(B) .

ST

—Rainer Maria Rilke

FEATURED ARTIST

AKI SASAMOTO

F E AT U R E D A R T I S TS

LEE WALTON & JON RUBIN

Event Schedule / Map:

.

(A)

Introduction

FLAGSTAFF PARK

Gallery 344 Cambridge Arts 344 Broadway, 2nd Floor Cambridge, MA 02139

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery Byerly Hall, 8 Garden Street Cambridge, MA 02138

Gallery 344

Andy Graydon: Gathering Note (a facsimile) Gallery 344

Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle SEP 18–DEC 15

JUL 17–SEP 8

Radcliffe Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay) APR 26–JUL 1

Gallery 344 Kelly Sherman: We Were Here— Memories of Cambridge Common APR 24–JUN 30

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

Common Lee Walton & Jon Rubin: When the World’s on Fire MAY 14 –JUN 12 12–2 PM

DAILY EVENT

17 / SUN CLOSING CELEBRATION Common

12 NOON Aki Sasamoto: Food Rental

2 PM Andy Graydon: Gathering Note (a facsimile)

3 PM Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle

Common 12 NOON Aki Sasamoto: Food Rental 12 NOON Allison Smith: Common Goods 2 PM Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle

SEPTEMBER

16 / SAT

Common 6–7 PM Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay) AUGUST

CCVA Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts Harvard University, 24 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138

3 / THU

Common Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay) 6–7 PM 20 / THU

6–8 PM Andy Graydon: Artist Reception 17 / MON

Gallery 344

1 PM JULY

16 / SUN

Andy Graydon: Gathering Note (a facsimile) Common

Common

>

1–3 PM Allison Smith: Common Goods 3–4 PM Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay)

Q.

17 / SAT

DS

Allison Smith: Common Goods Allison Smith: Artist Talk with Cambridge Historical Society

AR

CCVA

Common

RV

15 / THU 6 PM

7:15 PM

Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle 1 PM 14 / SUN

HA

18 / THU 12–2 PM Aki Sasamoto: Food Rental,

Food/Performance Cart

6 PM Aki Sasamoto: Artist Talk

Common

TO

Common

W AN PI AP

Gallery 344

OPENING CELEBRATION Common Lee Walton & Jon Rubin: When the World’s on Fire, Walking Musical Performance Andy Graydon: Gathering Note (a facsimile), Interpretive Choral Gathering Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle, Eyes-closed Participatory Tour

6–8 PM Kelly Sherman: Artist Reception

13 / SAT

3 PM

4 PM

5 PM

8 / MON

MAY

EVENT LOCATIONS: Hong Kong Restaurant 1238 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138

GE

Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay)

ST

RID

Allison Smith: Common Goods, Demonstration Common / Conversation with Judith Leemann

EN

MB

6–7 PM

RD

AY

GA

by side can grow.

In addition to the performances and events listed below, look for these park installations in the Cambridge Common, May–September 2017: (A) Kelly Sherman, poetic memory banners; (B) Paul Ramirez Jonas, contributory monument; and (C) Julianne Swartz, interactive bench.

CA

T.

wonderful living side

PARK INSTALLATIONS:

ACHU

CAMBRIDGE COMMON ON S

distances continue, a

.

(C)

MAS

CONNECT

A PUBLIC ART PROJECT PRESENTED

BY CAMBRIDGE ARTS, CITY OF CAMBRIDGE

PISCES / February 19–March 20 Emotional ties are strong, but don’t let them bind you to old bad habits. Keep moving forward.

Common Hong Kong Restaurant

E ST

human beings infinite

CONNECT: Aries, Sagittarius DISCONNECT: Taurus

4 / SUN 1–3 PM

W

OUS

AQUARIUS / January 22–February 28 It’s best to surround yourself with positive people who believe in you and support your efforts.

Bring balance and harmony to your life.

1 / THU

.

RH ATE

LIBRA / September 23–October 23 You have strong opinions, but that doesn’t mean everyone needs to hear them. Avoid lecturing others if possible.

JUNE

VE

CONNECT: Aquarius, Scorpio DISCONNECT: Libra

MASS

DA

CONNECT: Pisces, Cancer DISCONNECT: Gemini

Common

OR

CAPRICORN / December 22–January 21 Fearful of approaching someone about an important subject? If you overcome your fear, you have a good chance of bridging the gap.

Aki Sasamoto: Food Rental Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay), Collective Theatrical Performance Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay)

NC

VIRGO / August 24–September 22 You find it difficult to connect with certain people, so it might be best to give yourself some time alone.

SCORPIO / October 24–November 22 Give yourself time to think deeply about your values and what you want out of relationships. Don’t be hurried into decisions.

ISSUE 4 / 4

between the closest

CONNECT: Aries, Libra DISCONNECT: Pisces

CONNECT: Gemini, Libra DISCONNECT: Cancer

PERFORMING THE CAMBRIDGE COMMON

is accepted that even

CONNECT: Gemini, Libra DISCONNECT: Scorpio

20 / SAT 12–1 PM

1–2 PM

4–5 PM

CO

Once the realization

PLEASE NOTE: The event schedule is subject to change.

Confirm at cambridgeartscouncil.org or facebook.com/cambridgeartscouncil

IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTISTS:

CONVERSATION: THE LANGUAGE OF THE COMMON LETTER TO THE EDITOR (DIS)CONNECT FOOD RENTAL LOST / FOUND? WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE TAKE WHAT YOU NEED: GIVE WHAT YOU CAN MISSED CONNECTIONS: THE ETERNAL AWKWARDNESS OF SUCH WHAT’S YOUR SIGN? HOROSCOPE EVENT SCHEDULE / MAP

ANDY GRAYDON PAUL RAMIREZ JONAS CARMEN PAPALIA AKI SASAMOTO KELLY SHERMAN XAVIERA SIMMONS ALLISON SMITH JULIANNE SWARTZ LEE WALTON & JON RUBIN EDITORS: Dina Deitsch and Lillian Hsu ART DIRECTOR: Rick Rawlins DESIGNERS: Kelsey Arbona, Michael Coleman, Will Currier, Joseph DeSouza, Alexandra Fletcher, Melinda Freund, Joab Garcia, Jacqueline Gold, Caitlin Kalafus, Anya Piatrova, Matthew Reilly, Daniel Seaward, Katherine Shannon, Jaxy Stewart, and Michael Talbot

Common Exchange is a specialedition newspaper that serves as a companion to a series of interactive public art performances, installations, and exhibitions that present responses by ten contemporary artists to the historic site of the Cambridge Common.

accessibility and connectivity to surrounding neighborhoods for pedestrians and bicyclists. It is on this occasion that we celebrate an improved civic space at the heart of the city with a unique suite of public artworks.

The four issues of Common Situated at the heart of the city, Exchange revolve around themes the Cambridge Common, like addressed by the public artworks: all public spaces, only acquires sound, histories, access, and meaning when citizens use it. (dis)connection. The newspaper is Since its early days dating back available at selected park benches to the 1600s, when it was a place on the Common and in various for livestock grazing, and during public buildings around the city. subsequent periods when it beWe hope that you check out the came a site for military training Spring–Fall 2017 schedule of and housing, a place for concerts events and exhibitions and all and protests, and parkland for issues of Common Exchange. Visit contemplation and play, it has us online for more information. remained an important communal space that houses and reflects CambridgeArtsCouncil.org the changing temperament of f @ CambridgeArtsCouncil t @ CambridgeArts public participation in civic life over time. # CommonExchangeCambridge # PerformingTheCommon In 2016, a renovation of —Lillian Hsu, Director of Public Art the Common brought many and Exhibitions, Cambridge Arts improvements and increased its

As the city’s official arts agency, Cambridge Arts commissions temporary and permanent public art throughout all neighborhoods of Cambridge. We are pleased to present Common Exchange— its exhibitions, performances, installations, and newspaper. The newspaper is produced through a collaboration of the Cambridge Arts Public Art Program, curator Dina Deitsch, and Lesley University College of Art and Design (LUCAD).

SPONSORS: Common Exchange is made possible through multiple partnerships and sources of support, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Cambridge/ Agassiz/Harvard Community Culture and Recreation Fund, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Artists Resource Trust Fund of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Community Design Studio of LUCAD, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Massachusetts Cultural Council, VIA Art Fund, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, First Church Cambridge, Holosonics, and the City of Cambridge.

The Common—as both a literal and conceptual site—is defined by gathering, exchange, and the multitude of voices and actions that take place within it. In effect, the Common is the landscape of citizenry and a place defined by dialogue, between people, cultures, and histories, that can echo the best and worst of our civic states.

Conversation: the language of the Common

The “commons” is a place of shared knowledge and resources while also being a contested area of collective action and possibility; it is the term by which we legally frame our public rights and hold our democratic freedoms. It is the locus of dialogue itself; as philosophers Cesare Casarino and Antonio Negri remind us, “Conversation is the language of the Commons.”1 The “Common” (notably missing the s) is the physical manifestation of this idea in space, publicly shared and historically a field of grass at a city’s center used for collective livestock grazing.2

—Dina Deitsch, Curator

The Common—as both a literal and conceptual site—is defined by gathering, exchange, and the multitude of voices and actions that take place within it. In effect, the Common is the landscape of citizenry and a place defined by dialogue, between people, cultures, and histories, that can echo the best and worst of our civic states.

Common Exchange is a series of temporary art installations and performances presented in one of the nation’s oldest common greens, the Cambridge Common. Orga-

nized in honor of the park’s recent pathway renovations, each project that constitutes Common Exchange reiterates the park’s physical and ideological function as a connective space, one defined by the exchange of ideas, words, and things, a space of conversation.

Over the course of the summer, time-based and participatory works will occupy the Cambridge Common to address connectivity and exchange in the twenty-first century, moving from interpersonal to communal and historical relationships.

The public remains the central figure in these works to emphasize that it is participation and public discourse that ultimately shape our civic spaces.

—Dina Deitsch, Curator 1

Cesare Casarino and Antonio Negri, In Praise of the Common: A Conversation on Philosophy and Politics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008).

2

This history of shared grazing space has also spawned social and economic theories of misused resources in unregulated systems.

See Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science 162, no. 3859 (December 1968).

In this issue of the Common Exchange newspaper—“(Dis)Connect”—we focus on two projects that approach pathways as sites of awkward interactions, missed

“We have a new city-produced newspaper celebrating the Common . . . a proclamation of the ‘importance of gathering and coming together for the greater good in public space,’ but these curators can’t really say what that is. That’s the problem with our arts councils. They can’t really support work that has any bite: ‘Politics,’ by definition, comes up when people are NOT in agreement over what the ‘greater good’ is. The ‘ideological function’ of parks is ‘as a connective space, one defined by the exchange of ideas, words, and things, a space of conversation.’ ‘Let them eat participation,’ they seem to say—‘but don’t think you can just start expressing yourself.’”

—I.M.M., May 24, 2017

Issue: (Dis)Connect The projects that comprise Common Exchange were prompted by the Common’s renovations that focused on the pathways, lighting, access, and general connectivity of the park to the surrounding city. As each art installation and performance explores ideas of social, political, and historic connectivity, we have to ask: In our age of smartphones and screens, when we are obsessively communicating with one another yet rarely making eye contact, what about moments of disconnection?

TO T H E E D I TO R

connections, and fragmented experiences. AKI SASAMOTO doles out food-based performances to unsuspecting visitors from her pushcart, throwing into question a simple and daily interaction. The seller and consumer relationship is recast as one between a performer and audience. LEE WALTON and JON RUBIN commissioned a pair of fife and drum musicians to play revolutionary songs every day for a month during lunchtime. As they wander the Common, melodies drift through the neighborhood, never quite coalescing into a full song to remind us of the age-old battles that these grounds have seen and will keep seeing.

—Dina Deitsch, Curator

Well, this is awkward.

(above) From the sole Letter to the Editor we received in the brief but bright life of Common Exchange arguing against policies related to street performers’ permits. Here’s to the scuffle—connection and disconnection—that makes Cambridge the place we all love. (background) John Bridge statue on the Common pulled down by vandals, an apparent prank; August 25, 1935. Photo: Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

F E AT U R ED ARTIST

AKI SASAMOTO Food Rental ARTIST STATEMENT: Food Rental, 2017. Live performance, food cart and menu

Airport Bathroom

Diseases with Complications

X•Y=1

Sasamoto’s work has been exhibited in the 2010 Whitney Biennial, 2012 Gwangju Biennale, 2016 KochiMuziris Biennale, and in a solo presentation at SculptureCenter, Long Island City, among others.

Pickling Pot

Sasamoto’s performance and installation works revolve around gestures on nothing and everything. Her installations are careful arrangements of sculpturally altered found objects, and the decisive gestures in her improvisational performances create feedback, responding to sound, objects, and moving bodies. The constructed stories seem personal at first, yet oddly open to various degrees of access, relation, and reflection.

Difference Test

Aki Sasamoto works in performance, sculpture, dance, and whatever medium it takes to get her ideas across. Her works have been shown both in performing art and visual art venues in New York and abroad. Besides her own works, she has collaborated with artists in visual arts, music, and dance, and she plays multiple roles of dancer, sculptor, or director.

Sasamoto cofounded Culture Push, a nonprofit arts organization in which diverse professionals meet through artist-led projects and cross-disciplinary symposia.

Bully

Aki Sasamoto, b. 1980, Yokohama, Japan; lives and works in New York, New York

Cliché of Romance

ARTIST BIO:

Fork Field

Aki Sasamoto presents Food Rental in which she operates a handmade food cart to deliver one-on-one performances for visitors to Cambridge Common.

Food Rental uses a familiar park fixture of a pushcart to dispense unexpected and often hilarious acts by the artist. True to its context, Sasamoto features foodrelated projects that operate on the logic of “mis-use”: wearing lemon glasses, playing oystershell castanets, and dancing with vegetable-chopping shoes. Food Rental lives in the space between street performance, theater, and the gallery as it explores the awkward, unspoken space of public interactions. Sasamoto replaces an everyday consumer exchange— buying food—with an artistic one, placing us, as visitors, on unstable ground: How are we supposed to act, and what are we to give back, if anything?

LOST / FOUND?

Once, we didn’t think we could live without them—a favorite stuffed animal, a warm scarf, a bicycle, keys to the house and car, an ID and wallet. Then they slipped out of our grasp. Not gone, exactly, they reside somewhere else—disconnected.

Here we focus on a few of these displaced objects in the Cambridge Police Department and Public Library lost-and-found. Let’s hope they find their way home.

— Submitted anonymously to Common Exchange / I lost my beanie in Cambridge Common looking for Pokemon. Would you look at that—I found a Pikachu but lost my hat. It’s a gray Neff skull cap. Actually, if you find it— keep it. God only knows where it’s been by now.

F E AT U R E D A R T I S TS

LEE WALTON & JON RUBIN When the World’s on Fire

What’s Going On Fight the Power They Don’t Care About Us I Will Survive War Killing in the Name American Idiot Get Up, Stand Up [ MARVIN GAYE ]

[ MICHAEL JACKSON ]

[ RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ]

THE WAILERS ]

[ PUBLIC ENEMY ]

[ GLORIA GAYNOR ]

[ GREEN DAY ]

[ EDWIN STARR ]

[ BOB MARLEY AND

ARTIST STATEMENT:

ARTIST BIO:

ARTIST BIO:

When the World’s On Fire, 2017.

Musicians play protest songs

Lee Walton, b. 1974, Walnut Creek, California; lives and works in Greensboro, North Carolina

Jon Rubin, b. 1963, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania; lives and works in Pittsburgh

For thirty days, two musicians dressed in Revolutionary War regalia parade through the Cambridge Common playing contemporary protest songs.

With military precision, the performance begins the moment the duo gets off the train at Harvard Square. Their route leads them through the Common and back to the train station two hours later.

When the musicians board the train, the music stops and the performance ends—until the next day. The relentless consistency and precision of this daily spectacle accumulates presence and power over time. In the course of a month, this 60-hour performance imprints on the memory of the public, a reminder of the radical history of the Common and its contemporary potential as a site for resistance.

Lee Walton’s art practice includes drawing, performance, and social practice. His experiential artworks employ systems of rules, chance, and open collaboration. Lee works with museums, institutions, universities, and cities around the world to develop participatory public events, lead workshops, exhibit, and educate. He is currently codeveloping the Greensboro Project Space (GPS), a site for celebrating public life through art, culture, and education.

Jon Rubin is an interdisciplinary artist who creates interventions in public life that reimagine individual, group, and institutional behaviors. His projects include starting a radio station in an abandoned neighborhood that only plays the sound of an extinct bird, running a barter-based nomadic art school, operating a restaurant that produces a live video talk show with its customers, and codirecting another that only serves cuisine from countries the United States is in conflict with.

The project’s title comes from a Baptist gospel, recorded by the Carter family, that also supplied the melody for Woody Guthrie’s iconic anthem This Land Is Your Land. Played on this country’s oldest civic grounds, songs such as these remind us of the precarious nature of freedom and our responsibilities as citizens.

FIFE / Eva Redamonti DRUM / James Knoerl

His work on paper is exclusively represented by Kraushaar Galleries Inc., New York, and his experiential work is represented

by Alexandra Lawson Gallery in Toowoomba, Queensland. Walton is an Associate Professor of Art and Director of Interdisciplinary Art and Social Practice at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

He has exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Mercosul Biennial, Brazil; Shanghai Biennale; Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Rooseum, Malmö; and Parkingallery, Tehran, as well as in backyards, living rooms, and street corners. Rubin is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award and a finalist for the International Award for Participatory Art. He is an Associate Professor and Graduate Director in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.

You’ve heard the expression, “It’s the thought that counts.” Even a simple offer of goodwill, posted anonymously, has meaning and

power. Give it a try: Cut along the dotted lines to separate the flyer from the newspaper. Carefully cut the offerings into thin bands

leaving them attached to the flyer at one end. Post where allowed.

What will your community need most—A PET or DEBATE?

We posted several flyers here in Cambridge and recorded what was taken over a month. We found that some people need ARGUMENT

Some of my best friends are fictional.

(presumably not the same folks looking for SILENCE), more want RULES, and many high achievers need MOTIVATION(see below).

Take What You Need: give what you can

Missed Connections: the eternal awkwardness of such — Greg / I saw you walking your corgi near the corner of Mass. Ave. and Cambridge St.. I just want to say how cute your pup is—and so is his owner.

Lucky pup. / Cambridge

COURAGE

SILENCE

RULES

ADVICE

DESSERT

— Kelsey / You put money in my meter out in front of the park. Still not sure if it was on purpose, but thank you. I’m paying it forward. / JP

A PET

INDEPENDENCE

FOOD

HELP

RECOGNITION

A HUG

TOUCH

LAUGHTER

VOICES

SILENCE

A PLAN

RULES

ADVICE

TRANSPORTATION

A FRIEND

A PARENT

SOLITUDE

CLOSURE

ARGUMENT

RESOLUTION

CONVERSATION

A HELLO

FEEDBACK

CONTACT

DEBATE

REST

HEALING

MOTIVATION

PATIENCE

FORGIVENESS

PEACE

COURAGE

NATURE

HOPE

ADVENTURE

UNDERSTANDING

COMPASSION

LOVE

— Jeff / Our kids were playing in the park a few days back and our eyes met.

Swallowing my pride, I approached and we had a brief conversation about living our lives singly with children.

Ahh, the trials and tribulations. I hope to see you again. / Cambridge

— Anonymous / Are you a really pretty dude with a bleached mohawk? I see you out my window near the suites. If you’re reading this, I just want to say you have a beautiful profile.

— Garrett / We chatted near the park (on the corner where people nearly get run over) and it turned out my dog’s name is Taco—a 120 lb. lab—and your chihuahua is named Bear. I think it’s a sign. Talk again soon? Maybe Mexican and a walk in the park?

(Sorry for the dog-dad joke.)

— Anonymous / Hey Dad, it’s been a while. Why’s that? / Cambridge

— Chuck / Cute Asian boy yelling sassiness near Lesley University—I like your style. Maybe when you shut up you can love me? / Newton

— Amy / I could listen to you sing all day. Play that piano again—all of your intertwined melodies of “today’s hits.”

Hot, no joke. So sexy. / Cambridge

— Abigail / Saw you jammin’ to T Swift and when you noticed me noticing, you shut it off. Girl, take pride! #TeamTaylor / Watertown

— Anonymous / Saw you in a plaid shirt with a band tee underneath— Beatles, maybe? Just wanted to tell you your drawing skills are incredible.

Keep it up! / Cambridge

— Anonymous / Kid in the orange T-shirt and cute glasses—keep your head up. Everyone cares.

— Dan / I swear I saw you at the Sox game (Bleacher 21) and then again walking by Hi-Rise this morning.

Coincidence? I hope not. You had on a blue sweater and a gray skirt; brown eyes, I am almost sure. Sorry, I sound like a total creep! Maybe next time I’ll say hi. / Watertown — P / A little happy action happened near the church in Harvard last night and I am definitely down for round two. Let’s meet up? / Cambridge

— Julia / You have held the door for me in three different boutiques and bodegas this week, randomly (I think).

Thank you. And thank you for being a complete gentleman. / Cambridge

— Hailey / You were on your way to Soul Cycle with my coworker. I later (sarcastically) told her “Hey, thanks for introducing me.” Kind of hoping she doesn’t tell you, kind of hoping she does. / Framingham

— Anonymous / Saw you in the Cambridge Common last Tuesday when I was heading to Lizard Lounge for a gig: semi-tall, long brown hair, brown eyes. I should have just said hi.

Dammit. / Cambridge

— Anonymous / Dancing on the stage, tossing pineapples back and forth with the crowd, we killed it. Going out on a limb to connect in real life. If you don’t know who you are yet, you were with a friend in a blue wig and tutu.

HOPE

Bye PATIENCE

REST

A PET

TOUCH

MOTIVATION

A PARENT

ARGUMENT

INDEPENDENCE

PEACE

LOVE

—Siri

— Anonymous / I saw you trying to listen to my music through the door.

It was awkward but I’m glad you have good taste.

— Anonymous / Here’s a shout-out to the security officer who brought my friend and me home and searched for our drunk friend on the streets.

— Anonymous / I saw you on the island between Cambridge Common and the Square: guy wearing a “Beat Yale” T-shirt. You seemed to be in a hurry and were carrying a case of water, but you still went out of your way to offer a bottle to a homeless guy on the street. Thanks for being a good person. / Cambridge — Christine / We were talking outside while a lovely piano duet was going on. I was so nervous I don’t remember much but I walked away thinking, “Well, he was interesting and so good looking.” Regardless, thanks for the smile—it lasted all day. / Arlington — Anonymous / Passed a girl in a green hoodie today. Thanks for smiling!

— Nick / To the girl in a wheelchair at the Harvard T: You’re courageous and so exciting to talk to. I’ll keep an eye out for you at the Head of the Charles.

Hoping you’re well! / Boston — Anonymous / Talked to a girl yesterday and couldn’t have asked for a better new friend. I can tell she is genuine and kind. I’m too shy though.

I don’t know if she’ll like me. God, why the f*ck do I feel so undesirable?

— Anonymous / Girl in a white sweater on Floor 2: You are insanely adorable and so is your bear backpack. / Cambridge — Anonymous / 9:32 on the Common.

You were wearing a Gap 70% cotton 30% polyester red shirt with denim blue jeans. You were approximately 5'3" 5/8 tall, and I’d say 114.75 lbs. You were talking on the phone to your mom, complaining about all the work you have this weekend. Hang in there, you’ll get through it.

— Anonymous / I saw the Loch Ness monster and she was a QT. Call me!!

— Q / Skinny scene, hipster kid who goes by “they” with the round glasses and always wearing plaid—you make me all red. / Dorchester — Anonymous / I have a crush on “DB” but I’m too nervous to let her know.

Sometimes I feel like no girls like me or would ever be attracted to me.

Feel so lonely.

What’s Your Sign? horoscope ARIES / March 21–April 20 You like to control things, but it’s time to go with the flow.

Trust and follow your instincts.

CONNECT: Gemini, Leo DISCONNECT: Cancer TAURUS / April 21–May 21 Listen carefully if someone challenges you, then talk your way out of it. This isn’t a contest.

It’s a conversation.

CONNECT: Taurus, Scorpio DISCONNECT: Aquarius GEMINI / May 22–June 21 Conversations in the workplace could escalate into arguments or people may become silent and withholding. Both are harmful.

CONNECT: Aries, Leo DISCONNECT: Pisces CANCER / June 22–July 22 It’s true: Strength lies in numbers.

To conquer, people must unite.

Accept one another’s differences and work together.

CONNECT: Cancer, Capricorn DISCONNECT: Aries LEO / July 23–August 23 Your closest relationship seems to be fraught. You should work extra hard to try and find out what the problem is.

CONNECT: Cancer, Virgo DISCONNECT: Libra

CONNECT: Taurus, Cancer DISCONNECT: Gemini

SAGITTARIUS / November 23–December 21 Your tendency is to give more than you receive, but this may leave you feeling depleted. Do something nice for yourself.

Visitors to the Common enjoy We Complete,

by Julianne Swartz. By holding hands while sitting on the park bench, they launch a soundtrack that presents a poignant array of messages about human connection.

SETT S AVE .

(B) .

ST

—Rainer Maria Rilke

FEATURED ARTIST

AKI SASAMOTO

F E AT U R E D A R T I S TS

LEE WALTON & JON RUBIN

Event Schedule / Map:

.

(A)

Introduction

FLAGSTAFF PARK

Gallery 344 Cambridge Arts 344 Broadway, 2nd Floor Cambridge, MA 02139

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery Byerly Hall, 8 Garden Street Cambridge, MA 02138

Gallery 344

Andy Graydon: Gathering Note (a facsimile) Gallery 344

Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle SEP 18–DEC 15

JUL 17–SEP 8

Radcliffe Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay) APR 26–JUL 1

Gallery 344 Kelly Sherman: We Were Here— Memories of Cambridge Common APR 24–JUN 30

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

Common Lee Walton & Jon Rubin: When the World’s on Fire MAY 14 –JUN 12 12–2 PM

DAILY EVENT

17 / SUN CLOSING CELEBRATION Common

12 NOON Aki Sasamoto: Food Rental

2 PM Andy Graydon: Gathering Note (a facsimile)

3 PM Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle

Common 12 NOON Aki Sasamoto: Food Rental 12 NOON Allison Smith: Common Goods 2 PM Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle

SEPTEMBER

16 / SAT

Common 6–7 PM Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay) AUGUST

CCVA Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts Harvard University, 24 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138

3 / THU

Common Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay) 6–7 PM 20 / THU

6–8 PM Andy Graydon: Artist Reception 17 / MON

Gallery 344

1 PM JULY

16 / SUN

Andy Graydon: Gathering Note (a facsimile) Common

Common

>

1–3 PM Allison Smith: Common Goods 3–4 PM Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay)

Q.

17 / SAT

DS

Allison Smith: Common Goods Allison Smith: Artist Talk with Cambridge Historical Society

AR

CCVA

Common

RV

15 / THU 6 PM

7:15 PM

Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle 1 PM 14 / SUN

HA

18 / THU 12–2 PM Aki Sasamoto: Food Rental,

Food/Performance Cart

6 PM Aki Sasamoto: Artist Talk

Common

TO

Common

W AN PI AP

Gallery 344

OPENING CELEBRATION Common Lee Walton & Jon Rubin: When the World’s on Fire, Walking Musical Performance Andy Graydon: Gathering Note (a facsimile), Interpretive Choral Gathering Carmen Papalia: Blind Field Shuttle, Eyes-closed Participatory Tour

6–8 PM Kelly Sherman: Artist Reception

13 / SAT

3 PM

4 PM

5 PM

8 / MON

MAY

EVENT LOCATIONS: Hong Kong Restaurant 1238 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138

GE

Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay)

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RID

Allison Smith: Common Goods, Demonstration Common / Conversation with Judith Leemann

EN

MB

6–7 PM

RD

AY

GA

by side can grow.

In addition to the performances and events listed below, look for these park installations in the Cambridge Common, May–September 2017: (A) Kelly Sherman, poetic memory banners; (B) Paul Ramirez Jonas, contributory monument; and (C) Julianne Swartz, interactive bench.

CA

T.

wonderful living side

PARK INSTALLATIONS:

ACHU

CAMBRIDGE COMMON ON S

distances continue, a

.

(C)

MAS

CONNECT

A PUBLIC ART PROJECT PRESENTED

BY CAMBRIDGE ARTS, CITY OF CAMBRIDGE

PISCES / February 19–March 20 Emotional ties are strong, but don’t let them bind you to old bad habits. Keep moving forward.

Common Hong Kong Restaurant

E ST

human beings infinite

CONNECT: Aries, Sagittarius DISCONNECT: Taurus

4 / SUN 1–3 PM

W

OUS

AQUARIUS / January 22–February 28 It’s best to surround yourself with positive people who believe in you and support your efforts.

Bring balance and harmony to your life.

1 / THU

.

RH ATE

LIBRA / September 23–October 23 You have strong opinions, but that doesn’t mean everyone needs to hear them. Avoid lecturing others if possible.

JUNE

VE

CONNECT: Aquarius, Scorpio DISCONNECT: Libra

MASS

DA

CONNECT: Pisces, Cancer DISCONNECT: Gemini

Common

OR

CAPRICORN / December 22–January 21 Fearful of approaching someone about an important subject? If you overcome your fear, you have a good chance of bridging the gap.

Aki Sasamoto: Food Rental Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay), Collective Theatrical Performance Xaviera Simmons: Number 22 (Overlay)

NC

VIRGO / August 24–September 22 You find it difficult to connect with certain people, so it might be best to give yourself some time alone.

SCORPIO / October 24–November 22 Give yourself time to think deeply about your values and what you want out of relationships. Don’t be hurried into decisions.

ISSUE 4 / 4

between the closest

CONNECT: Aries, Libra DISCONNECT: Pisces

CONNECT: Gemini, Libra DISCONNECT: Cancer

PERFORMING THE CAMBRIDGE COMMON

is accepted that even

CONNECT: Gemini, Libra DISCONNECT: Scorpio

20 / SAT 12–1 PM

1–2 PM

4–5 PM

CO

Once the realization

PLEASE NOTE: The event schedule is subject to change.

Confirm at cambridgeartscouncil.org or facebook.com/cambridgeartscouncil

IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTISTS:

CONVERSATION: THE LANGUAGE OF THE COMMON LETTER TO THE EDITOR (DIS)CONNECT FOOD RENTAL LOST / FOUND? WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE TAKE WHAT YOU NEED: GIVE WHAT YOU CAN MISSED CONNECTIONS: THE ETERNAL AWKWARDNESS OF SUCH WHAT’S YOUR SIGN? HOROSCOPE EVENT SCHEDULE / MAP

ANDY GRAYDON PAUL RAMIREZ JONAS CARMEN PAPALIA AKI SASAMOTO KELLY SHERMAN XAVIERA SIMMONS ALLISON SMITH JULIANNE SWARTZ LEE WALTON & JON RUBIN EDITORS: Dina Deitsch and Lillian Hsu ART DIRECTOR: Rick Rawlins DESIGNERS: Kelsey Arbona, Michael Coleman, Will Currier, Joseph DeSouza, Alexandra Fletcher, Melinda Freund, Joab Garcia, Jacqueline Gold, Caitlin Kalafus, Anya Piatrova, Matthew Reilly, Daniel Seaward, Katherine Shannon, Jaxy Stewart, and Michael Talbot

Common Exchange is a specialedition newspaper that serves as a companion to a series of interactive public art performances, installations, and exhibitions that present responses by ten contemporary artists to the historic site of the Cambridge Common.

accessibility and connectivity to surrounding neighborhoods for pedestrians and bicyclists. It is on this occasion that we celebrate an improved civic space at the heart of the city with a unique suite of public artworks.

The four issues of Common Situated at the heart of the city, Exchange revolve around themes the Cambridge Common, like addressed by the public artworks: all public spaces, only acquires sound, histories, access, and meaning when citizens use it. (dis)connection. The newspaper is Since its early days dating back available at selected park benches to the 1600s, when it was a place on the Common and in various for livestock grazing, and during public buildings around the city. subsequent periods when it beWe hope that you check out the came a site for military training Spring–Fall 2017 schedule of and housing, a place for concerts events and exhibitions and all and protests, and parkland for issues of Common Exchange. Visit contemplation and play, it has us online for more information. remained an important communal space that houses and reflects CambridgeArtsCouncil.org the changing temperament of f @ CambridgeArtsCouncil t @ CambridgeArts public participation in civic life over time. # CommonExchangeCambridge # PerformingTheCommon In 2016, a renovation of —Lillian Hsu, Director of Public Art the Common brought many and Exhibitions, Cambridge Arts improvements and increased its

As the city’s official arts agency, Cambridge Arts commissions temporary and permanent public art throughout all neighborhoods of Cambridge. We are pleased to present Common Exchange— its exhibitions, performances, installations, and newspaper. The newspaper is produced through a collaboration of the Cambridge Arts Public Art Program, curator Dina Deitsch, and Lesley University College of Art and Design (LUCAD).

SPONSORS: Common Exchange is made possible through multiple partnerships and sources of support, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Cambridge/ Agassiz/Harvard Community Culture and Recreation Fund, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Artists Resource Trust Fund of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Community Design Studio of LUCAD, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Massachusetts Cultural Council, VIA Art Fund, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, First Church Cambridge, Holosonics, and the City of Cambridge.