freemobile
Seattle Arts Commission, Hillman City, 2003
Every weekend during the summer of 2003 a custom modified 1968 Chevy step-van toured through one south Seattle neighborhood (Hillman City) as a dynamic venue for exhibiting and distributing local folk and amateur culture. The neighborhood consisted of many new immigrant communities living alongside long-time residents. Like a moving museum that goes out to meet its audience, the truck publicly amplified the idiosyncratic hidden talents and resources of the neighborhood. The truck also became the stage for a weekly interactive performance where people's amateur interests were elevated to public realm. The project presented a model for bypassing the commercial market system of mass-produced goods and services by keeping the entire project within a small radius.
Goods and services included: homegrown pansies, hair braiding, psychic readings, bike repair, dance lessons, bird calls, personalized poetry, crotchet bookmarks, drumming lessons, backyard vegetables, religious rants, and more.