Get Garlic, Go Wireless on Rockaway Beach
These events accompany the inclusion of Garlic=Rich Air (2002–2003) by Shu Lea Cheang in the online exhibition Net Art Anthology and the gallery exhibition “The Art Happens Here: Net Art’s Archival Poetics.
Garlic=Rich Air
July 28, 4—6pm
Beach 98 St & Shore Front Parkway
Rockaway Beach, NY
Shu Lea Cheang’s Garlic=Rich Air proposes that it is the year 2030, capitalism has crashed, organic garlic is the only currency, and community wireless is the only internet. Originally created in 2002, the work exploded Cheang’s science fiction filmmaking practice into a many-layered, participatory experience.
Rhizome staged an installation based on Garlic=Rich Air for the 2019 New Museum exhibition “The Art Happens Here: Net Art’s Archival Poetics.” For this 2019 edition of the project, artist Melanie Hoff was commissioned to create a new garlic trading game, Garlic Trust. Playable on smartphone, Hoff’s game is based on the Trust Game, which was developed by economists to study the role of trust in economic relationships.
Join Cheang, Hoff, and Rhizome in Rockaway Beach on July 28 for a “real-time fictional scenario” based around an electric cargo tricycle adorned with the slogan “GET GARLIC. GO WIRELESS,” fitted with a local wireless network, and carrying hundreds of bulbs of freshly harvested garlic intended to give rise to a lively barter-based micro-economy. Garlic earned in-game may be traded for real bulbs in a virtual-to-physical exchange, and participants will be encouraged to continue the trading from there.
The garlic for this performance was planted last fall by mycologist Erwin A. Karl at CycleX, a not-for-profit farm and media lab founded by Cheang in Andes, New York, and will be harvested alongside a public event on the farm on July 21.
CycleX presents OPEN FARM
July 21, 5–8pm
Andes, New York
Set up as a non-for-profit land trust, CycleX designates its 23 acres of farmland in collective organic farming and cross-disciplinary artistic activities. CycleX seeks venturesome farmers and partners to plan, grow, build, and harvest the rich soil land. In this event, join Shu Lea Cheang and the CycleX community to “walk the fresh meadows, drink beers, talk veggies, and think diversities.”
RSVPs appreciated: [email protected]
Garlic=Rich Air was originally commissioned by Creative Time with support from the Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund for Independent Media.
Garlic Trust credits
Front-end design: Pat Shiu, Associate Director, Design, Webrecorder
Technical development: Mark Beasley, Senior Front-End Developer, Webrecorder
Melanie Hoff received support for Garlic Trust as part of the Rhizome Commissions Program, which is supported by the Jerome Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.