Between the Door and the Street

Artist: Suzanne Lacy
Location: Brookly, NY, U.S.A
Year of completion: 2013
Researcher: Megan Guerber

Created in partnership with New York-­‐based public art organization Creative Time and the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, the project’s performance only lasted one day but was the result of months of conversations, outreach and research.

Over the course of five months, Suzanne Lacy met with a group of nineteen female activists. These advisees assisted her in mapping out important issues related to gender politics today. These women also played a large role in finding activist groups to participate in the stoop conversations. In all, 78 groups were invited, each of which secured performance participants.Great effort was put into finding diverse groups of women in order to represent as many perspectives as possible.

The steps of the Brooklyn Museum were covered with feminist questions in correlation with the project. Questions included “Who watches the kids?” and “Is race a feminist issue?” These questions served as a prelude to important topics discussed during the upcoming performance.

On October 19, 2013 Between the Doors and the Street took place across 60 stoops for an hour and a half. 389 participants were present. Each stoop had a “guard” who was given cues by Lacy to signal a change in discussion,although few groups chose to follow the cues and instead let the conversations develop naturally. Conversation groups consisted of 4-­‐7 people. The public was invited to gather around each stoop and listen in to the conversations taking place, however the conversations were “closed” to outsiders and visitors were only invited to participate by listening in.

Participants wore yellow pashminas to help visitors identify them. At the close of the conversation, groups then turned to the audience to see if anyone had any questions or wanted to continue the conversations. Tables were brought to the center of the street where mini doughnuts and hot cider were provided. Musician AroojAftah performed, giving the close of the project a warm and festive air.

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"Between the Door and the Street" was successful in bringing together a large and diverse group of women to talk about feminist issues. An estimated 2500 visitors listened in to their conversations. The project sparked much debate and controversy, bringing to light the complexities of both public art and activism. Because it relied heavily on volunteers, economic disparities were overlooked in the project’s organization. Some participants struggled to find childcare and Creative Time was called out for not considering the needs of mothers during a feminist project. While this created some negativity prior to the performance, it was perhaps the spark of this controversy, and the many feminist conversations it inspired nationwide, that was the project’s greatest success.

Over the course of five months, Suzanne Lacy met with a group of nineteen female activists. These advisees assisted her in mapping out important issues related to gender politics today. These women also played a large role in finding activist groups to participate in the stoop conversations. In all, 78 groups were invited, each of which secured 4-7 performance participants. Great effort was put into finding diverse groups of women in order to represent as many perspectives as possible.

Partners: Creative Time and Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist art at the Brooklyn Museum. Lead project support for Between the Door and the Street was provided by Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, Stephanie Ingrassia, Katie Michel, Barbara Nessim, Mary Jo and Ted Shen, Ellen Taubman, Ippolita Rostagno, Carol Goldberg, Diana Wege Sherogan, Annette Blum, Judy Cox, Louise Eastman, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Toby Devan Lewis, Brooke Garber Neidich, Pamella Roland, Martine Trink Rubenstein, Victoria E. Schonfeld, Elizabeth Smith, Frederieke Taylor, Barbara Tober, Donna Harkavy, Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz, Claudia Baez, Riva Blumenfeld, and Margaret Sullivan. The site of the project was secured thanks to the The Park Place/Underhill Avenue Block Association.

All copyright belongs to Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University.

Progress Agency