Day Job: American Peril

Weekdays from 10am to 6pm

Performances: December 18th - 20th
Closing Party, January 26th, 6-9pm

FREE

chashama 266
266 West 37th Street
New York, NY
 

Day Job: American Peril is a performative installation that uses the form of a retail clothing chain to examine the inner workings of overt marketing strategies, blue-collar labor and the rising dissatisfaction of society's work force. This project will recreate the interior of a common, youth oriented clothing store that combines high-minded business practices with ad campaigns that appeal to the public’s worst instincts. Using the exhibition space as it was originally intended, this installation aims to provide an alternative view of America's favorite pastime: medicating psychic ills with retail therapy.

 

This project features day-long choreographed movement cycles derivative of the tasks assigned to a sales associate in a clothing story, highlighting the performative aspect of labor by interacting with physical materials in the space. The "shop girl" will embody both the aesthetic and the attitude of the company she represents. She is the living proof that the "products" will make you happier, cooler, and more sexually appealing. In essence, she is another commodity, perhaps unattainable, not for sale. The performance component of this installation will deal with the actual labor, both physical and emotional, involved in working an eight-hour shift at a clothing retailer, and being on display. 

 

Leah Braun Aron is an emerging young artist whose previous performance works include participation in Creative Time's 59th Minute Series, and "Cake in the Rain," an original piece performed at The Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. This spring she will begin workshopping an original one-woman show with performance artist Karen Finley.

 

Mark Shaw an award-winning creative director and artist, brings over 20 years of experience to Day Job: American Peril with his creation of the original photography, video, and environmental graphics. Shaw's last public art project was a large-scale photo and video installation at Grand Central Terminal in 2006, entitled The Sandhog Project. He is a founding partner of Sweet Taste ­an international consulting, design, and production company working in the contemporary art and commercial industries.