Urban Backstage

2014 / 2015 // iLAB Residency

Sites: Public space along the East River waterfront including its water infrastructure
Principal Collaborators: Clarinda Mac Low, Elliott Maltby, Jeremy Pickard, Julie Kline, Rachel Stevens, Shawn Shafner

Urban Backstage explored spaces in the city that, through accident, intention, design, loss, and/or neglect, allow urban residents to remove their masks, to make mistakes, to hide and/or expose thoughts and actions that may not be allowed elsewhere. The collaborators investigated this backstage quality in the waterfront and urban infrastructure of the Lower East Side, where the mechanics of the city are
generally hidden. In the same way that the distinction between back and front stage is often blurred or eliminated in contemporary performance, this residency generated movement toward making visible these supporting services of the city.