Public Art Fund: In the Public Realm: Christine Hill

Press Release
Artist Bio
Sponsorship
Location
Bibliography

Christine Hill "Tourguide?"

installation and performance

June - September 1999

76 Grand Street

Christine Hill, "Tourguide?" Photo: Brent Stirton

Throughout summer 1999, the storefront of Deitch Projects at 76 Grand Street was the center of operations for Tourguide?, Christine Hill's functional enterprise specializing in improvisational walking tours. Acting as a catalyst for new experiences in the Big Apple, Hill and her Tourguide? participants infiltrated the city and engaged in dialogues about New York's inner workings, providing an entertaining and humorous alternative to the popular, commercial tours of New York City.

Hill's selection of sites, provided a counter-cultural experience of New York that most guidebooks do not highlight, and embellished them with anecdotes and group discussion about their cultural ramifications. During the 2 hour tours, groups were guided primarily through downtown locations, but Hill also offered excursions to other parts of the city and augmented the scheduled tours to include guest guides, theme events, treasure hunts and special excursions.

Artist Bio
Christine Hill is an artist, musician and certified NYC tour guide and she has studied Improv with the renowned Upright Citizens Brigade of New York City. Her work has been exhibited extensively internationally in museums and galleries including documenta X, Kassel, Germany and at the Watari Museum for Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan among many others.

Sponsorship
Tourguide? is a project of the Public Art Fund, commissioned through In the Public Realm, a program of site-specific proposals and projects by New York artists.

In the Public Realm is supported with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the City of New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and with generous support from the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The Heathcote Foundation, The Silverweed Foundation, and friends of the Public Art Fund.

Special Thanks to Deitch Projects.

Location
Tourguide? was located at 76 Grand Street.