April 29th, 2010…………..two native New Yorkers, Ed and Koko, put a teepee up in Union Square Park, NYC for people to enter, express their opinions and have their voice heard…
The Teepee project hits Union Square Park to ask the public what they think about Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to limit the number of artists selling their work in the public parks and streets of NYC…
Text by Ed Hess
I started the Teepee Project in order to give the average person a platform to express themselves and have their voice heard. Every time I put on the news, I see the tea party coverage and can’t help but think how their views do not represent me and how else can the average person express themselves without dressing up in a silly costume. So instead of sitting on the couch doing nothing, a friend and I decided to put a teepee up in Union Square Park, NYC to record people on video and get their point of view on various concerning topics of the day. It turned out to be a success and we will continue the grass-roots effort for as long as we can. I am a big fan of Sohrab and his music, ever since we met in Central Park last summer. We collaborated on a short film entitled, Death and the Dancer in September of 2009 – Sohrab created the musical score and I directed. Hopefully, we will work together again in the future as he is an extremely talented musician, artist and activist. He was kind enough to show up at the teepee in Union Square and can be seen in part 3 of the series, closing us out with a beautifully played song…
Date: March 18, 2010
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge
Text by Jim Hoey
It made perfect sense that when I walked into this show, down the stairs at (Le) Poisson Rouge, Mixel Pixel was already on stage in fuzzy animal costumes with guitars and a laptop and a big screen projecting cartoons, and little kids were dancing in the light, encouraged by their way cool parents to run around. Everything was fuzzy and bright, and just a bit day-glo, despite the dark interior.
