My Name Is Daniel Dean

The "Screamer" performance - DC version

2009-06-17T13:04:00.002-04:00

this a short photo animation of me wearing the "Screamer", completing a part of our Scream at the Economy exchange peformance. In this action, posted an open call for people around the world to contribute an expression of anxiety, anger and frustration about how the current economic situation is affecting them. We gathered these screams and collaborated with several music composers to produce songs out of these screams. These songs are carried by and broadcast out of the Screamer in front of financial and government institutions that are marred by irresponisibility or complicity in the global economic meltdown. The above is in front of the U.S. Treasury.

see more photos here

Thinking about reading and...

2008-12-09T10:29:00.000-05:00

Tactics refer to the opportunistic manipulations offered by circumstance.

The Talk - pics

2008-10-21T14:44:00.001-04:00

The Chalkboard Talk , The Intersection of Art & Society, was a success in bringing together several folks from differing experiences (and those who came to watch) to talk about what this topic means to them. I coordinated this topic and participants in conjunction with Floating Lab Collective. There will be video documentation forthcoming so anyone can listen in so check back or bookmark this site. See more photos here.

The Chalkboard Talks (reposted from Floating Lab Collective blog)

2008-10-21T14:00:00.003-04:00

Chalkboard Talks are a series of thematic conversations where we invite 4 or 5 people to have a conversation with one another regarding a particular topic. These people have experience regarding the topic, though hopefully that experience is broad and from multiple perspectives. The Talks are an attempt to bring together several folks from both art & other arenas to initiate a conversation and see what happens as it evolves. We're thinking about the work we as artists do surrounding relationships, culture, aesthetics and life and what people are interested in saying about it, what ideas may emerge when several get together to consider it.

The Chalkboard Talks will happen as a sort of performative thing at a set of tables and chairs specifically construction for the Talks. Painted in blackboard paint so they can be utilized as a recording surface and exist as a record of thoughts generated. This is the beginning of the series, so it will take place in the galleries at American University's Katzen Art Center where the tables currently are on display in conjunction with the group exhibition Close Encounters, an extension of the Provisions Gallery Brushfire Initiative. This conversation series will continue beyond this show as its own piece reenacted in multiple contexts with a variety of interested people.
Schedule
Oct. 4 - "Silence"

Oct.18 - "The Intersection of Art & Society"
Participants Include:

Katzen Opening - pics

2008-10-01T13:50:00.001-04:00

see more here and here

Close Encounters @ the Katzen Art Center

2008-09-19T13:49:00.000-04:00

Floating Lab Collective is in the group show Close Encounters at American University's Katzen Art Center from Sept. 13 - Oct.26, along with the likes of Jenny Holzer, Nancy Spero, Yoko Ono, the Beehive Collective and many more great artists all attempting to visually and conceptually address issues at the heart of society & culture today. Curated by Don Russell and Neils Van Tomme from Provisions Library and is part of Brushfire, a national arts initiative focusing on social activist art in the crucial run-up to the Nov elections. All the work is great our work is the culmination of what we have created so far as part of the 43.5 Actions In USonia project - which is ongoing.

[container(space)]

2008-09-16T09:02:00.012-04:00

containerspace.org - website
[container(space)] -blog

ContainerSpace is an adaptive reuse project that has converted a used shipping container into prototype for a zero-carbon, mobile gallery and community use space. It challenges the traditional gallery model with sustainability, mobility and access.

Contact :: please email human <@> containerspace.org

In collaboration with Tom Nutt, we have completed a year long project to convert an old shipping container into a model of small-scale, off-grid sustainable reuse to support the presentation of art and act as a social catalyst. It will remain a part of the expanding efforts of GMU's School of Art. However, it will also remain a place of experimentation and self-determination by being entirely managed by the students there. ContainerSpace will host international artists, visiting artists, writers and and any other person or group that we see fit to invite to be a part of the project.

Read full .pdf proposal here

Recycling & sustainability will feature large in this project. Recycling the container itself into an exhibition space but also utilizing recycled and found materials throughout this process. This aspect is in keeping with GMU's President Merton's commitment to make the university zero emissions in the near future.

Placemaking Project

2008-09-09T12:48:00.006-04:00

Finally, I am returning to a project I started in the spring but put aside for a bit to attend to other things. Here is a photo of the project; imagine you are standing in front of it. This project acts primarily as an exercise for me to investigate places/spaces that exists near my sphere of travels. The idealist in me sees neglected, out of the way or otherwise underutilized spaces that lie at the periphery of public awareness. In a hopeful act at redemption for these spaces, I photograph them with a Polaroid Spectra, then use the resulting unique image to create a sort of memorial. I then place this plaque-like memorial back in the spot from which the picture was made to activate and mark it for consideration as a unique space.

See fuller documentation of this project at the blog "http://placemakingproject.blogspot.com/"

Bartering In The Land of Abundance

2008-08-31T13:51:00.004-04:00

Bartering In the Land of Abundance(click to read more about it) , Our show at Transformer Gallery was a success! Over a hundred people from seven neighborhoods participated in a (mostly) anonymous exchange of objects for which the gallery acted as a meeting point & exchange location. Read about the project in the Washington Post's Weekend section (you may have to log-in to read it :( ) The conversation continued on the street afterwards by discussing what object this person or that had traded, what they had brought, the stories connected to them and why those who participated decided on that over something else. This really turned into a portrait of the people who donated items for barter and of those who came to trade their own for the objects in the gallery. I happened to recognize a few things and know who chose those things to bring home which completely blew me away! That these tenuous connections were made through this project, and that I happened to be there to illustrate the connection made this a great succes for me. (We were supposed to deinstall that show Saturday night but Transformer requested that we leave it up until Tuesday.) Floating Lab also made a small limited edition of silkscreens celebrating the Barter show that are available for $50/ea. We are making & selling these as a way to support future projects.

ubiquity

2008-08-30T00:31:00.000-04:00

seems like it's everywhere these days.