By the Fine Thread of Text Messages

Following The Man of the Crowd is a co-located, 24-hour following piece conducted by Glowlab’s Christina Ray and Lee Walton in conjunction with Spectropolis: Mobile Media, Art and the City. It’s a 24-hour walk in which two participants, linked by text messaging, drift separately through the city in an alternating pattern according to the movements of strangers. Based loosely on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Man of the Crowd” and inspired by Vito Acconci’s 1967 “Following Piece,” Ray and Walton have developed a collaborative performance that involves following strangers over a 24-hour period. Working as a team connected only through text messaging, the two will alternate turns following selected strangers through New York City.

Date: October 2 - 3, 2004; Time: 10am - 10am; Location: starting at Doma Caf?, 17 Perry Street at 7th Avenue; end location unknown. Participate! Sign up at Dodgeball.