JUNE 19: HANGOUT-IEMOS | DOMENICA GARCIA

A performer patiently sits underneath a sign that reads: “Hangout-iemos”, a spanglish phrase that translates to “let’s hangout”.

Hangou-tiemos is an interactive performance piece that fosters and initiates conversation. The isolation caused by the coronavirus pandemic demands for mental health initiatives that provide relief and support. As we collectively recover from the pandemic, Hangout-iemos highlights the importance of talking as a means to cultivate mental well being. This one-day performance art piece is an invitation for strangers to find connection, to feel heard, and to find relief after a long year of isolation.

By Domenica Garcia

JUNE 26: PLATFORM OF POOF | KATE BREHM

The Platform of Poof will birth confounding puppet creatures full of wonder and unreason. A cross between plant and animal, the Poofs are full body abstract puppets which welcome passersby to a personal encounter with curiosity and play. Kate Brehm is a puppeteer and movement director whose company, imnotlost, has been presenting art and theater in NYC since 2003.

By Kate Brehm.

(NEW DATE) JULY 4: NO COLOR GAME | BERDSCARNIVAL (MARAYA LOPEZ)

"No Color Game" is what the artist defines as a “strategy” (an open-ended, shapeshifting object or experience). In this case, "No Color Game" takes on the form of a site-specific ephemeral project where the artist inserts herself into society and creates subtle provocations).

Not quite a performance or installation a strategy is an area between reality and fiction, play and intellect, fragility and crudeness. The strategy will serve as an artist experimental hub during the day; active game at night called “No Color Game” (similar to a carnival game). Over the course of the day Berdscarnival (Maraya Lopez) will make props, engage with the public and read impromptu poetry inspired by her surroundings.

The public will be asked to contemplate what DUMBO would look like with no color. Their answers will help the artist visualize the “No Color Game” which will start in the evening from 7PM-9PM. They will also be encouraged to partake in a live Instagram feed to help document the project and will become an active participant.

Furthermore, local sound from DUMBO and Coney Island will be combined with other sound to create a thought provoking and disorienting experience for the viewer.

By Berdscarnival (Maraya Lopez). Soundtrack in collaboration with Harvey “Ras(X)” Lackey.

JULY 10: OPERACADES | OPERA ON TAP

Inspired by the Zoltar machine at Coney Island and in tribute to our many performing artists who have struggled for work due to the pandemic, OPERACADES creates a unique public performance venue and mobile public art installation. With the OPERACADES, Opera on Tap aims to create an artistic experience that evokes nostalgia for another time and type of performance practice. At the same time, they point towards a future for opera and classical music that puts innovation, community engagement, equity and inclusion at the forefront. Multiple configurations and interactive performance practices for and with the audience in open public spaces will be presented. OPERACADES are a vision conjured by Opera on Tap’s Artistic Director Anne Hiatt, Sound Designer Todd Perlmutter and Production Designer Ramona Ponce. The OPERACADES are brought to life through their partners at New Orleans Opera and their brilliant scenic builder Keith Christopher and scenic painter Nathan Arthur. The Six Foot Platform performance will be the official NYC premiere of OPERACADES.

By Opera On Tap

JULY 24: TAPPING THE SOUL | CAMILA ALDET

The platform is a natural stage for a tap dancer; it is a portal for the artist’s soul to connect to their audience.

Tapping the Soul is a continuous tap dance and musical performance that will bring you back into a vintage world. This experience is led and curated by Camila Aldet, who herself provides a joyous act of tap dance while singing your favorite oldies. Intertwining with guest appearances from diverse NYC top contemporary tap dancers,  passersby will have a unique opportunity to interact and integrate into a world of rhythm.

By Camila Aldet

JULY 31: PARADISE LOST | KATYA GROKHOVSKY

Paradise Lost is a site-specific mixed-media sculptural installation and performative activation, which explores the failing state of the American Dream, deflated promises and tainted optimism of a land of opportunity, through the immigrant lenz. Created from several pre-owned, hand dyed and embroidered vintage parachute canopies, the installation is intermittently activated throughout the day by a dancer, accompanied by sound composition. Through objects, gesture, movement, sound and text, Paradise Lost investigates the artist's journey towards becoming a permanent resident in the U.S and being separated and isolated from her family for several years.

By Katya Grokhovsky. Sound composed by Sarah Martin-Nuss. Dancer: Rebecca Pristoop.

Photo: Katya Grokhovsky, Fantasyland, 2021, images courtesy of Smack Mellon. Photos: Etienne Frossard

AUGUST 7: SPACES BETWEEN | HOLLY HEIDT

What exists in the space between us? Five women mark time and space through a precise schedule of movement experiments lasting 9 hours. What they do will repeat from hour to hour as the sun moves across the sky, descends, and sets. Various people will enter and exit the intersection, bringing with them their thoughts, feelings, desires, and personalities. How does the shifting environment around and within the movers, affect each hourly repetition? Let’s witness this constant feedback loop between ourselves and what surrounds us. Where do we stop and where does the rest of the world begin?

By Holly Heidt in collaboration with the other four performers: Chloe Benitez, Alexandra Carter, Nicole Fuentes, and Tamara Leigh. 

AUGUST 14: RATTLE CHANDELIER | CHERYL THOMAS

Get up-close, personal and experience the unusual combination of Gourds, beads and Crystals that form the “Rattle Chandelier” and feast your eyes on the characteristics of eight Orisha, beaded in the colors that represent them.

By Cheryl Thomas

AUGUST 21: PENNANTS AND POETS | JENNY POLAK

Pennants and Poet is an installation and spoken word poetry event. Together with poets from the Fortune Society’s Writers’ Group, Jenny Polak will install 50+ pennant flags on the platform, each one printed with a poem or message from people who have been or are incarcerated. The Pennants were developed through meetings between Writers Group and Hour Children Working Womens’ Group participants and artist Jenny Polak in summer 2020, with additional poetry contributed by people in NYC jails in fall 2020. The combined messages form a powerful and moving collective call for an end to mass incarceration and empathy with the millions affected by it. The pennant form, with its nautical and sporting associations, together create a resilient and celebratory image.

By Jenny Polak

AUGUST 28: BRAVURA OUTBREAK | ART IN ODD PLACES

Bravura Outbreak by Art in Odd Places (AiOP) is a joyous, raucous mashup spectacle of intergenerational, culturally extravagant performance and installation projects presented as a continuously running radical runway fashion show. It’s time for a thundering experiential competition in a time of crisis expressly conceived for the Six Foot Platform stage! AIOP has a celebrated history, ranging from an occupation of 14th Street from Avenue C to the Hudson River as a runway; its May Day Protest Runway in Union Square; and AiOP 2019: INVISIBLE’s Promenade of Visual Flâneurs /Flâneuses across the length of 14th Street each day of the festival.

By Art In Odd Places

SEPTEMBER 4: SEA SHE | MARINA CELANDER

In SEA SHE, theatre artist Marina Celander will move and live on a six foot platform throughout the day. Sea She feels the proximity to the East River and feels drawn to her body of water flowing just beyond our postcard picture vantage point on Washington St, but she cannot leave her platform. She is the embodiment of all water; she flows and exists everywhere, yet she is trapped. Sea She is surface and depth; liberation and fear; ancient, yet always present. The music and soundscapes that accompany her moves are composed by Swedish composer Fredrik Söderberg. Magdalena Gomez, writer, spoken word artist, weaver of words and sounds, and poet laureate of Springfield MA, created the textual layers for our performance. Fiber artist Thomas Victor designed and handcrafted the Sea She costume.

By Marina Celander
Photo Thomas Victor

{RESCHEDULED} SEPTEMBER 18: THE INVISIBLE SCULPTURE | YESEUL SONG

Can you trust something that you can’t see? When an object does not have a form but is perceivable, does that object “exist”? What if there is an art object that can be “seen” by senses other than vision?

Invisible Sculpture On Wheels an experiential multi-sensory sculpture installed on a cart. The sculpture isn’t visually discernible, yet has a spatial form and occupies space. The viewer can perceive the sculpture through sound feedback that responds to their hand gesture and movement. As the sound changes, the audience senses the boundaries of the sculpture’s form.

After the experience, they’ll be invited to make physical versions of the sculpture using a handful of clay (individually wrapped to avoid Covid concerns). The “visible” sculptures made by the participants will become a collective perception of the invisible sculpture celebrating individual differences and diversity of human perceptions while questioning the idea of “normal” and “truth”. Will everyone see the same sculpture?

By Yeseul Song. Sound design collaboration with Jesse Simpson.