Stop + Drop

As I mentioned in my post earlier today, one of the people I ran into at last night's Swoon opening was Ryan Watkins-Hughes.

Ryan's Shopdropping project is exactly the type of thing I'd like to encounter during an otherwise dismal supermarket experience. He re-labels canned goods and places them back on the store shelves. From his site:

Shopdropping strives to take back a share of the visual space we encounter on daily basis. Similar to the way street art stakes a claim to public space for self expression, Shopdropping subverts commercial space for artistic use. The photographs act as a visual journal of my travels over the past few years. Displayed in nonlinear combinations the images remix the traditional narrative of the passing of time. The vibrant individuality of each image is a stark contrast to the repetitive, functional, package design that is replaced.

I've been known to find beauty in repetitive, functional package design, but this sort of subtle project is right up my alley too. Ryan's issued an open call (deadline November 1, 2005) for Shopdropping. If you're interested in participating, here's the info he sent me last night:

Submit all types of works on paper: photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, computer printouts, etc.etc. but please no cardboard, heavyweight paper, or other "thick" surfaces that won't adhere easily to the cans.
All submitted materials should be 4 inches by 9.5 inches. Please send 2 copies of each submission so that one set can be "shopdropped" into grocery stores and another set can be displayed as a group project in a gallery in NYC.
Include $1 US per submission to help cover the cost of buying canned goods.
Include your name, or alias with your submission, as well as your email address.
Questions?
Email atryan AT relapsed DOT net.

Mail your submissions to:
Ryan Watkins-Hughes// SHOPDROPPING.NET 194 Adelphi StreetFirst Floor Brooklyn,NY11205

Comments

[joey harrison]

I love Ryan's project idea. And I may participate. His description, though, just reeks of artspeak. Good ideas stand on their own. They are immediately evident to the viewer/reader. They don't need justification with vague words strung together in such a way that rearranging them neither enhances or confuses the meaning.
-- This message brought to you by SCUA (Society for Cutting Up Artspeak).

[sac]

Nice, the stock clerks have to reshelve that shit. Grafitti hits at building OWNERS who have little to no day to day interaction with the properties, they are merely revenue generators for them. Shopkeepers and stock clerks, on the other hand, are just trying to make a buck, most of them make barely that, and this little "artistic" experiment is most likely a pain in the ass for them. Also, I agree with the previous poster: what a pretentious twat that guy sounds like from his descriptions.