"The Politics of Shoes"

"The Politics Of Shoes" The Politics of Shoes Exhibit @mobius – May 23 through May 31th, 2009
Mobius – 725 Harrison Avenue, Boston MA – www.mobius.org

by Jill Furumoto


The Red Ruby Slipper, a twisted nest of wire coiled,

A powerful red shoe, bigger than you, stands alone at the front door

Let the games begin- here, in a place called

"The Politics of Shoes"

Inside:

View

The defiled sole of a dirty shoe, A

Projectile weapon hurled at George W. Bush-

A dirty sole aimed towards another soul, tainted

with the blood the innocent.

Arrested, the shoe is shuffled away.

Step into the another puddle of sand,

Sand puddles on your shoes

Are tracked as you step across the floor to read about the

The 63 homicides that took place in Boston Last Year.

As you walk away, your footsteps

Drag the dirt around the room. Nobody is safe, even

running leaves traces of the crime scene-and panic spreads like

dust in a windstorm




Women's shoes in the corner window

High heels, pointed toes, fine leather and textiles of varied design.

These women are deceased, but their shoes endure to archive

intimate details of their lust for

beauty, style, fashion, and social acceptance...

I was told that people will judge me by my shoes (and my hair)

After I am dead, what tales will my shoes tell? No one will think much of me.

I didn't bother to dress up my feet. I have tried to free myself of

The Politics of Shoes.

Turn another corner and view- running shoes with steel protracting high heels

Can't a woman be athletic and feminine at the same time?

Where does the politics of shoes end?

Not in my backyard.

We hear these old songs, and we step over torn up sheet music.

Songs of racism and oppression are strewn all over the floor-

While scattered footprints cover their lyrics, the message is revealed

to those who look closely.

The Politics of Shoes-Where does it end?

Maybe with a click of a heel, a video loop

Two shoes knock to together, walk together, try to get along.

But this is not right, this is the bizarre tale of two left feet trying to act as a pair.

I'm ready to go home now, enough of the Politics of Shoes.

The Politics of Shoes: Artistic Profile Sam Tan

The Politics of Shoes: Artistic Profile Sam Tan

by Jill Furumoto

After viewing the Politics of Shoes art exhibit hosted by Jane Wang, many thoughts and feelings and images flooded my mind. There were so many ideas and so much to look at.

As I reflect on my experience with the Politics of Shoes show, a few of the exhibits stood out in my mind. One of them was the piece "63 in '08", by Sam Tan. This piece engaged me, and I immediate felt that I had literally "stepped into the artist's" medium when I crossed a sand puddle on the floor to read the names of the 63 homicide victims in Boston in 2008.

After reading their names, I stepped back across the sand puddle and tried to move on to the next piece. In doing so, I tracked the sand across the floor and realized that I was now part of the art piece. Yes, it made a direct impression on me. The interactive aspect of this piece grabbed me. The violence in the community rubs off on our souls or our soles, in this case, and when we try to walk away, the residue symbolically follows us. This was a great idea, and it made me stop and think about what the Artist was trying to say.

I decided that I would like to learn more about Sam Tan's artistic process and his journey towards making 63 so I interviewed him electronically and was glad he was willing to share some of his thoughts and background via facebook. Here is a summary of the interview.

Question: What is your background? Did you go to art school?

I am largely self-taught and my background was originally in psychology. I've always enjoyed visiting museums and galleries and was intrigued and inspired by the creative journeys that the artists went on. After following the programming of quite a few of the local galleries for awhile, I felt that I had the courage to jump into the deeper and see what would come out of it.

Question: What is your favorite modality?

I don't have a specific modality that I stick to. I don't like to box myself in, and I enjoy shaking things up now and then. That is why I found the open call to participate in "The Politics of Shoes to be appealing and challenging as I have not made site specific work in the past .

Question: What inspired you to do your piece 63?

Some of my work; like abstract biomorphic paintings are more intuitive and fluid in its process while others like “63 in '08” and my other work which involves using gay pornographic imagery are more conceptually based and linear in its process.
I came across the Politics of Shoes through an open call posted on the net.


The inspiration behind my piece was that I had been basically (and continue to be) troubled by the homicides that took place in the city. I wanted to communicate the idea that we are all interconnected to one another even though we may live in much safer neighborhoods that have not been a witness to such crimes.

Question: What are you working on now?

I am currently working on abstract paintings that have collage elements. Its a continuation of the work that I have shown earlier this year at the artists foundation gallery in Boston. I have no plans to make other site specific installations like "63 in '08". Although I could conceivably create variations of that work in the future.

The responses I have gotten from my piece have been good. Because of the sobering content of the piece, some viewers have been moved by it while some others were able to make interesting cross-cultural connections.

Notes From The Curator #1 - Blog Intent

It's June 2nd and sadly, The Politics of Shoes Exhibit is completely down except for some wire hanging from the ceiling and the rolling video station from which I hope to periodically display both videos specifically created for the exhibition and videos documenting the installations and performances in the evenings which may be viewed through the windows of Mobius, 725 Harrison Avenue, Boston MA.

Because of the mad dash nature of how this series of performances and exhibit were thrown together, we were unable to blog in real time as events occurred.

It was always my intention to document the performances and installations as much as possible and blog in reverse so to speak.

Over the next several weeks, I am planning on daily featuring either:

1. one of the installations artists (or in some cases, collaborative teams) in surname alphabetical order

OR

2. one of the performers (or collaborators) from each of the three evenings of performances in order of appearance.

I am hoping the featured artists will upload, add their own stories and particulars/experiences to this blog and that visitors to this blog will add their comments to this documentation in reverse blog.

I also plan to add notes/commentary along the way about the experience of the exhibit and performances and events leading up to the Politics of Shoes as well as articles/reflections/comments from visitors to the exhibit including two invited writers/journalists who are not art critics because I think of this particular exhibit as one that crosses boundaries into disciplines other than the arts. One journalist G. Jeffrey MacDonald principally writes on social and religious issues/news and the other, Jill Furumoto, has written for Spare Change, one of the local Boston papers which focusses on social issues and more specifically, the homeless and disenfranchised in our community.

Thank you for reading and enjoy,

Jane Wang aka angryjane
on behalf of The Mobius Artists Group

ps, I "borrowed" this Daily Dose of Art concept from Liz Roncka's Dance-A-Day