The ICA Boston's Teen Arts Council invited me to create an indoor and outdoor participatory environment with my collective New Craft Artists in Action for the museum's summer Teen Night. The teens had chosen the theme "Outside the Lines" for a party that would also be the kick of for the national Teen Convening Conference. Under my creative direction the NCAA created an immersive installation throughout the museum’s indoor and outdoor public spaces. This installation was inspired by the conference theme and brings together designs and ephemera from other fitting NCAA projects. Visual elements and activities playfully challenge and pull from an array of athletic tropes: high school spirit, athletic court designs, mediated movement in public spaces, and commercial sports identities. In these contexts, moving “Outside the Lines” is likened to thinking outside of the box- revolutionizing and rewriting the rules of the game according to the values and needs of a new generation of makers and players. Our participatory installations featured the following NCAA-hosted activities.
1. ICA ALL-STARS PHOTO BOOTH: Choose from a bunch of cool props to take team photos with your friends! Or get your sports mug shot taken when handed a yellow card from referees
2. NET WORKS SPIRIT-FINGER KNITTING: Learn to knit cord using only your spirit fingers! Tie them together to make colorful basketball nets for public hoops suffering from “Empty Net Syndrome”
3. ANARCHY ACRONYMS: Use sidewalk chalk to re-imagine what the world’s leading athletic institutions could stand for
4. OUTSIDE THE LINES: Mix and mingle on the ICA’s back patio
5. ANTIDESIGNS- PENANTS ON DEMAND:
6. TROPICANA BWOY: Spinning classic jock jams and beyond
7. HALF TIME SHOW CHEERLEADERS
Thanks to NCAA Players Taylor McVay, Samantha Fields, Mary Provenzano, and Zach Naylor for busting it on our 160' temporary floor mural and other installations (poster designs above by Taylor McVay)