Artist Turns Love Stories From 14th Street Passersby Into Quirky Videos
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- If you've seen some guy wearing red walking up and down 14th Street in recent days speaking love song lyrics into his iPhone, don't be alarmed.
He was actually looking for your stories of failed relationships and bad dates, and which he has been turning them into video shorts using tiny dolls as puppets. It is all part of his multimedia art project, "No Re-Enactments without Permission."
Artist Rory Golden began a mission this past Friday to collect stories from passersby on 14th Street. He has walked up and down the thoroughfare reciting love song lyrics as if he were talking on the phone, but actually looking for the permission of passersby to reenact their love stories in all-doll video form, the Art in Odd Places Festival explains.
Along with Golden himself, passersby on 14th Street also might have spotted accomplices with iPads screening some of the videos, and instructional postcards on mini-kiosks. The artist has also set up his Web site to receive story submissions online.
As for the videos, Golden said on his Web site, they are "low production value, high drama soap opera-esque, mini-vignettes that capture pivotal moments or dramatic incidents from people's lives. The videos (each under one minute) attempt a humorous take on such experiences, providing liberation from the past and relief."
One of the sample videos embedded on Golden's Web site showed a male doll representing a "sex addict" who stole a woman's furniture returning to ask her to help him move, prompting a far-from-receptive response from the female doll.
Golden began his project this past Friday, also strolled the streets on Sunday and Tuesday. He was also set to walk 14th Street this coming Friday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
His effort was part of the Art in Odd Places Festival, a series of art and multimedia installations, mobile studios and other attractions from end to end along 14th Street, through Oct. 15.
