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For immediate release Public Art Fund Tourguide? Where Exactly Are We Going? Visit and learn about unique and obscure pockets of New York City ranging from the "door to nowhere" on Avenue A to the City's fanciest McDonald's! Enjoy conversing with your tourguide about what these locations mean, and think on your feet! New York City - Beginning on June 18th artist Christine Hill offers an innovative way of exploring overlooked angles and aspects of New York City through her latest art adventure entitled Tourguide?. Commissioned through the Public Art Fund's In the Public Realm program for young artists, Christine Hill presents her first large-scale project in New York City following on the heels of her populist installation entitled Volksboutique at documenta x in Kassel, Germany. Further developing the ideas behind this improvisational installation cum used clothing store, Hill continues to challenge the boundaries of contemporary artistic practice by creating Tourguide?, a functional enterprise, specializing in walking tours. Through this ambitious project for the Public Art Fund, Hill acts as a catalyst for new experiences of the Big Apple, infiltrating the city and engaging the Tourguide? participants in a dialogue about the New York's inner workings, while simultaneously providing an entertaining and humorous alternative to the sanitized, Disney-fied commercial tours of New York City. Throughout the summer months, the storefront section of Deitch Projects at 76 Grand Street functions as the center for operations of Tourguide?, set up to compete with the Visitor's Bureau at 42nd Street. Hill's tour, a live form of variety show, takes her customers to visit locations and New York characters one would not ordinarily encounter. Hill says, "Tourguide? functions as a continuation of my work with how one presents oneself and how an "artwork" relies equally on the audience as on the creator for its success and-more directly-as a reflection of my obsession with variety show television, improv theater, and specifically, Late Night with Conan O'Brien. This project is designed to provoke interaction between people and subjects to yield a shared experience that could be significant in its impact upon their daily lives. Or, it could be just a really good time. As an Improv Theater, the constant addition of new information "expands the game of the scene" and hence, each tour, despite adhering to Tourguide?'s established route, contains the possibility to encounter an infinite amount of information." Hill's primary goal is to engage participants on the tour by combining anecdotes, stories, and reflections with specific destinations, bringing to light the more complex subtleties of New York's neighborhoods and businesses. Simultaneously, she highlights the presence of this wealth of information in daily life, and how it can be discovered and used within a group dynamic. She presents site-specific information ranging from the sociological to historical, from the humorous to the thought-provoking, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, to discussions of art and beyond. A Selection from the Tourguide? Site List:
Hill's selection of sites provides a counter-cultural experience of New York that most guidebooks do not highlight, and embellishes them with anecdotes and group discussion about their cultural ramifications and possibilities. During the two hour tours, groups will be guided primarily through downtown locations, but Hill will also feature excursions to other parts of the city during the 3 and a half month run of Tourguide?. In addition to the regular tour program, Tourguide? will augment the scheduled tours to include Guest Tourguides, Theme Events, Treasure Hunts, and Special Excursions. Background on Tourguide? Tourguide? Information and Schedule: Tourguide? Headquarters: 76 Grand Street (at Wooster) in SoHo, NYC! Tour price per person: $12 Thursday 1 pm/4 pm Please call 212.802.7383 (Tourguide? hotline!) or visit
Christine Hill is an artist, musician and recently certified NYC tourguide. 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 - most recently at documenta x in Kassel and the Watari Museum for Contemporary Art in Tokyo - and featured in numerous publications. In earlier projects Hill made use of everyday objects as artistic material, running the gamut from masseuse or waitress to lead singer in the band "Bindemittel," and by doing so posed the problem of how to categorize her production (as business, entertainment or art), or even Hill herself (worker, rock star, or artist). In establishing this situation, Hill relinquishes control over her artistic "product" and Tourguide?, like her other improvisational businesses, relies on the active interaction of participants for its existence and success. "If we alter our frame of reference for a moment and turn from a
particular performance to the individuals who present it, we can consider
an interesting fact about the round of different routines which any group
or class of individuals helps to perform." In the Public Realm is made possible through the support of the New York State Council on the Arts, A State Agency, The City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, The Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, the Silverweed Foundation, and friends of the Public Art Fund About Public Art Fund # # # Contact:
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