11/17: CITY/ things you can put in your mouth

Rogelio Maxwell presents CITY/ things you can put in your mouth
Wednesday, November 17
Sunrise to Sunset (6:53am - 4:53pm)
at locations throughout DC
and streaming live at the WPA office at 2023 Massachusetts Ave NW
in conjunction with Catalyst: 35 Years of Washington Project for the Arts

On November 17, Washington artist Rogelio Maxwell will carry out CITY / things you can put in your mouth at locations throughout the DC area as a part of Catalyst: 35 Years of Washington Project for the Arts. As part of the project, Washingtonians are invited to ponder the meaning of art and to celebrate the profound, the compelling, and the beautiful in everyday acts of ordinary people.

How to participate
You are asked to spend a part of the day, or even just a moment, taking part in this work by photographing or videotaping yourself either thinking about art or creating what you consider to be art with the number 35 visible somewhere within the frame.  A '35' for participants to use can be downloaded from the Catalyst website. The action you take as part of the project is entirely up to you. It might be as simple as brushing your teeth or drinking a cup of tea. To contribute still images documenting your participation, add your images to the project's Flickr Group. If you are not able to upload images to Flickr, they can also be emailed to submissions@wpadc.org. To contribute video documenting your participation, upload your video to YouTube and then email the URL of your uploaded video to submissions@wpadc.org so your video can be added to the project's YouTube playlist. On Wednesday, November 17, images and video sent in by participants will be streamed on the Catalyst website.

About CITY/ things you can put in your mouth
Rogelio will start at dawn at the National Cathedral which as the highest building in DC, receives the first light of day. He will proceed across the four quadrants of the city, shooting video of himself and other participants engaged in the simple acts of life; they become living sculptures in the tableaux they create. Rogelio will visit as many as 30 places before sunset on November 17. His progress across the city will be streamed live at WPA's office at 2023 Massachusetts Ave NW.

City living is, in its essence, collaborative. And this project will involve the collaboration (either intentional, or just through the act of being) of the sentient beings and energy of Washington, DC.  Rogelio suggests that if this work of art were made of metal stretched thin to cover his itinerary, the piece would approach the size of DC itself. CITY / things you put in your mouth honors the 35th anniversary of WPA by noticing, and acknowledging, the acts of DC's citizens as they go about their lives on an everyday fall day.

About Rogelio Maxwell
Rogelio Maxwell is a multimedia artist, fusing painting, drawing, and music with performance, film, and video to create a "living tableau." Born in Panama and raised in Brooklyn, Maxwell has worked as an artist and musician in Washington, DC for almost 30 years. His photographic and video works have been shown at the Hirshhorn Museum, his performance art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and his music has been performed at the National Building Museum and WPA among other venues. He was the director and curator of Hardart Gallery from 1976 to 1985 ("the District's foremost underground artists' group" -Washington Times). Maxwell was nominated for the Mayor's Art Award for Excellence in Artistic Discipline and has served as a Commissioner for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities since 2008. He is currently working on a video documenting the last 50 years of art in Washington, DC.

About Washington Project for the Arts
Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) is an independent, non-profit 501 c(3) organization whose mission is to provide essential resources to support the creative spirit and success of regional artists. We present contemporary art through imaginative and provocative programs; and we connect artists with the community in both traditional and unexpected ways.