ASTOR ALIVE!
September 17,  Astor Place, NYC

 


Karin Bacon of City Activators invited PAW to help celebrate the remaking Astor Place, one of one of NYC's most storied cultural hubs.

Inspired by the punk-era East Village wheat-paste poster aesthetic, we led a week of puppetraisings in which local residents and students constructed and layered the 12 towering figures with over 1000 images, sampled from every chapter of East Village lore. Each puppet took on its own identity, as thematic figures emerged from the iconic people, places, and images that constituted a crucible of culture within a block or two of Astor Place.

The result was a parade of walking kiosks – flanked by replicas of Tony Rosenthal's spinning cube and flowing silk banners – impastoed with tantalizing fragments: CBGB and Pyramid Club; Cooper Union and the Public Theatre; pierogis and hamentashen; Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, La Mama and St. Marks, Frank O'Hara and Allen Ginsburg, Leon Trotsky and Emma Goldman, Patti Smith and so on…. The procession set off powered by the samba drums of Fogo Azul and led by the Hungry March Band. En route we were joined by local luminaries Bond Street Theatre and greeted with an explosive finale by Blue Man Group.

Astor Alive was hosted by the Village Alliance and produced by Karin Bacon of City Activators.


Video by Tim Sin

 


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