K.I.D.S. Has Some Work to Do
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From May 16 to 23, 2009 the Kindness and Imagination Development Society (K.I.D.S.) will partner with Flux Factory to carry out a series of events and actions in parks, on quiet streets, on busy sidewalks, at workplaces, in private residences, in public libraries and museums, and anywhere else the K.I.D.S. can think of to play and work. The series will be characterized by an ethic of generosity, innovation, and open exchange.
The series of activities will be co-produced collaboratively by an open, changeable, and inclusive group of individuals, including you, we hope!
These events will take place throughout Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.
To learn more about the K.I.D.S. and for schedule updates please visit
You can download a PDF of the map and activity book with the schedule for the week. Print out on two sides of a sheet and fold up into a book on your own. Just fold on the dotted lines and cut on the solid line (in the middle of the page), then fold it up into a book with the map poster concealed within!
SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES – MAY 16-23, 2009
Saturday, May 16
1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Union Square steps, 14th Street and Broadway, Manhattan.
Kickoff Gathering for the week of K.I.D.S. Work:
*Emt McEternalMojo leads us in a demonstration and sharing of his encyclopedic knowledge of all known handshake/highfive/hug based greeting variations. Bring your favorite greeting methods!
*Dress up party/imagination bee/costume swap. Bring costumes!
*Temporary fort/environment building exercises with cardboard boxes and fabric. Bring materials!
*Ice cream walk with kick-the-can ice-cream-makers and tin-can-telephones. Bring milk, ice, and empty coffee cans!
*Snacks galore, and much more.
*Get your activity book and guide to the week of K.I.D.S. Work.
Sunday, May 17
3:00 p.m.
Start at 615 West 113th Street, Manhattan.
*Songlines/What A Neighborhood: A singing, ice-cream-making walk around the neighborhood. As we pass sites associated with composers, we will sing snatches of their works. We will carry a banner that reads,
“What A Neighborhood!” (Elizabeth Adams and the Orfeo Duo leading. Contact: elizabethadams@musician.org)
Other days and locations for this project throughout week with improvised songs/music TBA.
Monday, May 18
7:00 €“ 10:00 a.m.
Herald Square, 34th Street and Broadway, Manhattan.
*Farty Party: a pep rally at the entrance of the subway station cheering on the commuters entering/exiting the train. Bring pompoms!
Tuesday, May 19
1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
42nd Street at Lexington Avenue, Manhattan.
*Lunch Time Theater, or Text Me Theater will be an attempt to engage workers to perform their cell phone text messages and twitter updates on a make-shift theater stage that will imitate the soap box platform. Text Me Theater is a way to give office workers a chance to expose inner office conversation, offer the opportunity to exercise a workers’ right to speech, and also call attention to the performative nature of text message language. (Hong-An Truong, Huong Ngo leading.)
Wednesday, May 20
1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
42nd Street at Lexington Avenue, Manhattan.
*Let’s Make Lunch! is a lunch time game with three goals: to engage workers in play; to reveal the difficulty of language and communication in relations of power; and to feed people who need a lunch. (Hong-An Truong, Huong Ngo leading.)
Thursday, May 21
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Nostrand Avenue and Fulton Street, Brooklyn.
*Intermittent balloon parade. Something mysterious will drift down the street. Get a helium balloon and join it! (Diane Dwyer leading.)
Friday, May 22
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Near school at 28-01 41st Ave, Long Island City, Queens.
*Blowup Sale: People will have the opportunity to blow up special balloons with multiple holes, such that a group has to work together to blow up the balloon. In exchange for this special balloon reaching a set size, the participants will get to keep it. (Eva Jung leading.)
Saturday, May 23
1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Meet at the park by the East River, on Vernon Boulevard at 41st Ave., Queens.
Wrap-up Gathering of the K.I.D.S. Work Week
*Seedbomb/kite-building workshop. Build a bird-shaped kite and fly it over a nearby empty lot to drop seedbomb eggs that will grow into wildflowers. (Elizabeth Chaney leading.)
*Play with portable lawns and gardens and put mud and grass in your shoes (Emcee C.M. and Caroline Woolard leading).
*Get your feet washed afterwards (David Sutcliffe leading).
*Play music on fences with sticks.
*Spontaneously innovate card games while walking around the block.
*Rolling ball of people growing bigger like a snowball game (Jorge Rojas leading).
*Show and Tell of things that happened throughout the week, things made while at work, pictures printed by a someone special, somatic treasure map dolls, etc.
*If you have filled up your activity book through attending all the events, pick up your prize: a K.I.D. KIT to go.
*Raffle to win a K.I.D. for a day!
All Week
*Make Other Things While At Work: Make whatever you want or need while at your job this week, and bring it for Show and Tell on Saturday, May 23.
*Film From: Take your camera and load it with a roll of film (or use a disposable camera if it’s easier). Take pictures of whatever whenever wherever however. Take as much time as you need. You can forget about it and rediscover it, take a picture a day, go through a roll in two hours, whatever. When you finish the roll, unload your camera, take the roll, put it in an envelope and mail it to someone special. Friend, lover, neighbor, grandparent, pet fish, teacher, stranger, admirer. Before you send it off write a letter to the someone special about whatever, as open or as detailed or as mysterious or as perplexing as you want to be, and put it in the envelope with the roll of film. Mail it.
The someone special should develop the film.
The someone special will have your prepared photographs, a piece of you.
The someone special should do the same.
The someone should bring the pictures to the show and tell at the end of the week, on Saturday, May 23.
*The Electric K.I.D.S. performance exchange with Bulgaria: A pre-selected group of people will be performing actions based on (mis)interpreted instructions sent back and forth between Sofia and NYC.
*Somatic Treasure Maps Project: Caroline wants to hear about your aches and pains. Please tell her about every single event that ever affected your body with great detail. She will listen to everything you have to say about life’s passage and the marks it leaves behind. You are free to talk for ten minutes or two hours, without interruption. While you will be talking, she will be busy taking notes on a sheet of paper, recording your story with words and images. On Saturday, May 23rd you will be able to receive drawing for a doll, a 3-D map of your aches and pains. The doll will be yours to keep, your secret portrait, your somatic treasure map. (By Caroline Boileau. Ongoing at all K.I.D.S. locations)
*What are “Spiritual Problems”? Julia writes, “I don’t know, but I think I have some… If you’d like you can call me to speak about ‘spiritual problems’ in whichever way occurs to you: as a topic, if you think you have some, other ways… I will be around to speak on Friday the 22nd and Saturday the 23rd in the evening from 6-10pm at (484) 432-1898. If you miss me or would rather, you could write me an email: juliakathrynrich@gmail.com. My name is Julia.”
The K.I.D.S. so far:
ELIZABETH ADAMS
JEAN BARBERIS
MICHAEL BERENS
AMANDA BOEKELHEIDE
CAROLINE BOILEAU
CHRISTINE CARUSO
ELIZABETH CHANEY
PEDRO DOS REIS
DIANE DWYER
TED EFREMOFF
SAM EKWURTZEL
CORDELIA ERICKSON DAVIES
KIM ESSEX
GREEM
TAKASHI HORISAKI
ASHLEY HOWARD
TIM HYDE
EVA JUNG
EVAN LAURENCE
ALAN LUPIANI
BRYAN MARKOVITZ
MARY IVY MARTINS
EMCEE C.M.
ANDREW MCMULLAN
BRENDAN MCMULLAN
EMMETT MCMULLAN
HUONG NGO
REBECCA PARKER
DOUGLAS PAULSON
JULIA RICH
DIANA RO
JORGE ROJAS
SHALIN SCUPHAM
ERIN MARIE SICKLER
DAVID SUTCLIFFE
CHEN TAMIR
JADE THACKER
CASSIE THORNTON
KYLE TRIPLETT
HONG-AN TRUONG
SARAH VALERI
JOHN WALKER
CHRISTINE WANG
NADIA WILLIAMS
CAROLINE WOOLARD
