Proposal: Aporia Audience: A Plinth in the Hood

Joe Bochynski

Describe your idea.
I double-dog dare you to pick up a copy of Artforum (a respected magazines in the art world), and first only look at the artwork. Conjure up what you think the artist is trying to say. Then, read the text that accompanies the image. Even if you intemperate the image accurately, You likely will struggle to understand the text, let along how it relates to your own life.

How will you use your grant?
I want to poke around at this divide between much of what you see and read in the high art world, and the actual people and issues of your neighborhood. I want to construct a temporary white box gallery in a empty lot within Dorchester—a neighborhood with issues far removed from the art world. On each wall would be a piece of contemporary art. During the 'exhibition', the white box will likely be damaged from the elements as well as vandalized. The artwork will likewise be destroyed or stolen. The box acts as a stranger in a strange land, speaking a foreign language. Through activating a dormant space, the project highlights the often uselessness of an art world that forgets it has a responsibility to a larger public.

What is the expected status of your project by the next Feast?
The major cost of this project is renting a site for a period of two to four weeks. I am in contact with the Five Streets Neighborhood Organization in Fields Corner about one of several possible lots to rent for approximately $250. The cost of constructing the actual white box, four unconnected wall panels facing each other with no roof, is estimated at $138.44. The total estimated cost is $388.44