World Financial Center Weaves Art In The Name Of Community
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The Winter Garden at the World financial Center is frequented by business people and many other kinds of New Yorkers, but artist M. K. Guth is displaying a performance art piece that is connecting these diverse populations. NY1's Arts reporter Stephanie Simon filed the following report. Artist M. K. Guth is an expert at braiding and weaving but she prefers when others do it for her. In her recent work of performance art at the World Financial Center, "This Fable Is Intended For You," Guth choreographed two dozen volunteers of all backgrounds to weave together various shapes.
"These 24 individuals are each wearing a backpack with 33 feet of braided chord on each side, so 66 feet, and another short piece of braided chord in the backpack," says Guth. "As they move through the Winter Garden and shift locations, they connect to each other through the braided chords and create geometric forms that mimic the architectural lines of the Winter Garden."
Guth says the work creates what she calls the "ambience of community." She spent weeks in Downtown Manhattan weaving together donated materials to form the chords.
There are similarities between Guth's current work and her work exhibited at the 2008 Whitney Biennial.
"So this project I did for the Whitney Biennial in 2008 called 'Ties Of Protections And Safe Keeping,' people would come into the Park Avenue Armory, write on a piece of flannel what they thought was worth protecting and that was woven into an ever-growing braid that eventually became a third of a mile long," says Guth.
"This Fable Is Intended For You" culminates in an exhibit on display in a gallery above the Winter Garden. It is all on display through through January 24, but those who miss it can always see something artsy at the World Financial Center for free.
"It's one of the most beautiful public spaces in the world and we take that beautiful space and make art in a variety of spaces including the Winter Garden," says WFC Executive Director of Arts Debra Simon. "We work with a wide variety of visual and performing artists to animate the public space, and not only make it beautiful, but make it a place where people are exposed to art they might not ordinarily see."
Since the World Financial Center uses the arts to build community in a place of commerce, Guth's work is especially fitting.
"This Fable Is Intended For You" is on display through January 24. For more information on art exhibits at the World Financial Center, visit
www.artsworldfinancialcenter. For more information on Guth, visit
www.mkguth.com.