9-16-2004 The Pant's Collection- Joan's Commentary

This highly planned experiment was meant to expose the amount of waste from the galleries on Providence’s Gallery Night. We stopped at The RISD Museum, The Providence Art Club, RISD Works, The Arcade, Exposed, AS220, and Sol Koffler. Hardly any of us had trash in our pants after the gallery stops. From an environmental point of view, this was a good thing; but from an artist’s perspective, this was a disappointment. The reason for the lack of trash was the lack of people in the galleries. Why isn’t the community taking advantage of this free, monthly exposure to the Providence Art scene? How can we change that? I think if we could include local music into Gallery Night, more people would get involved. What are your thoughts?

After the Sol Koffler Gallery, the group of nine split up, and infiltrated the city. The fashion show had no trash cans, so half of the group was used as mobile receptacles. The other half roamed the streets and walked through Kennedy Plaza, picking up litter and talking to passers-by. When I got back to the RISD ISB gallery, all the pants were filled. I piled the pants filled with waste in the corner, and went downtown again to celebrate. I was planning to hang the pants the next morning.

I got to the gallery at 9 am on 9-17-2004, and the pants were gone. They had been thrown away. I tried to get them from the compressor dumpster with the help of a RISD Custodian, but it had been emptied that morning. I was advised to put a note on the art work next time. I would have loved to see the filled pants hanging in the ISB Gallery Space, but the most important part of this project was to make the community think about waste. Overall, this act of public dissent was a success, even though it did not fold out as planned.