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See You in the Streets

See You in the Streets:
Art, Action + Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Book (University of Iowa Press • 2016)

“Every so often it happens. A trigger jolts us out of our day to day lives. Drawing on outrageous energy from one past injustice after another, we cast off the world as it is presented to us and surge forth. Trusting in our own instincts and possibilities, we boldly assert our presence, our voice, our will.”

Coming June 2016


Please also see Chalk, Voices of 9.11, Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition.

“Ninety years before 9/11, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire also destroyed a building in lower Manhattan, also led people to leap to their deaths rather than burn alive, but the culprit in the earlier case wasn’t terrorists, unless you bestow that name on ruthless employers. Ruth Sergel’s moving, riveting, and important book reminds us that ‘in 2011, the year of the Triangle Fire Centennial, 17 people in the United States were killed by terrorism, while 4,609 died in workplace accidents.’”
Rebecca Solnit, author, The Faraway Nearby

“Ruth Sergel has been ahead of the curve for years and this book proves it. We should listen very carefully to what she wants to do next!”
Frida Kahlo, founding member, Guerrilla Girls

“In this passionate book, Sergel, a remarkable activist and artist, writes eloquently about one of history’s worst workplace tragedies—the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. Sergel also explains how art can be used ingeniously to keep memories of that tragedy alive so that we in the twenty-first century never forget the hugely important lessons to be drawn from it.”
Steven Greenhouse, author, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker

“The 2011 centennial commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire led by Ruth Sergel was among the most successful unions of art and social justice I have yet to witness in my thirty-year career. Beautifully written, See You in the Streets offers new generations of social and cultural activist insight into this magnificent model program and ways to utilize the ‘unexpected beauty’ in the world toward social justice.”
Steve Zeitlin, Founding Director, City Lore

Table of contents

Welcome
The Fire
Chalk
Craft
Voices of 9.11
Start Your Engines
Solidarity
Radical Tolerance
Fair Exchange
Leadership
Difficult Memory
Memorial
Sustainability
Acts of Return
The Centennial (Utopia)
See You in the Streets
Appendix

The book includes essays by:
Suzanne Pred Bass, Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, Cheryl Beredo, May Y. Chen, Esther Cohen, Richard A. Greenwald, Sherry Kane, Annie Lanzillotto, LuLu LoLo, Annelise Orleck, Kaushik Panchal, Emma Rosenthal, Elissa Sampson, Andi Sosin + Joel Sosinsky, Ellen Wiley Todd, Mary Anne Trasciatti and Sheryl Woodruff. The introduction is by Anne Valk.

Photographs:
Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, Roy Campolongo, Nathan Farb, Diane Fortuna, Alfonso Guerriero + the Young Historians of PS 126, Heidi Gutman, Marjorie Ingall, Scott Jackson + his class at the Brooklyn International High School, Phyllis Kestenbaum, Serphin + Vincent Maltese, Gary Meister, RJ Mikelson (for Workers United), Shelley Jacobs Mintz, Ileana Montalvo and Vivian Sorenson.

See You in the Streets is a part of the Humanities and Public Life series at the University of Iowa Press edited by Anne Valk and Teresa Mangum. Catherine Cocks: acquisitions editor, Susan Hill Newton: managing editor, Karen Copp: production manager, Rebecca Marsh: copy editor, Laurie Pendergast: index editor, James McCoy: director.

Heartfelt thanks to all who made this book possible.

Please support your local independent bookshop!

Check out Indiebound
Or the University of Iowa Press

But please review it on Amazon to help spread the word.

Gaza Ghetto

Gaza Ghetto

Public Intervention (2014)
Because to be silent, is to be complicit.

A response to Operation Protective Edge/the destruction of Gaza, summer 2014.

One hundred names posted
every
day

Please see the galleries here, here and finally here.

Stay informed: Democracy Now, Mondoweiss, +972.


Please also see Chalk, Voices of 9.11.

Alice in Berlin

Alice in Berlin

Interactive Installation (2012)

It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards – Lewis Carroll

Alice in Berlin slyly evokes our fantasy of childhood innocence to lead the audience on a hallucinatory trip into today’s global chaos. Each scene of the interactive installation builds on the audiences physical participation to question our place in history and individual accountability.

Initially the audience is passive for a short animation as Alice leaps off the page. Alice lures us into a topsy-turvy world where 19th century images collide with iconic moments of the 20th century. In front of the looking glass, fantasy and reality merge as Alice fluidly mirrors the viewer’s every move. A surreal landscape leads to a contemporary world of global change. Alice disappears and we land firmly back in contemporary Berlin

 


Please also see Ethel, Al, Turing Machine.

Created (program/animation) by Ruth Sergel.

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane on Surrealistic Pillow.

Thanks to Peter von Salis, Kay Kastner + Multimedier Schlachthof, Mark Coniglio, Antonia Humm, Victoria Rothe and Helmut Tausentaufeld.

Exhibition: Arcilesi Homberg Fine Art (NYC), Out of Line Gallery (Chicago), Multimedier Schlachthof/ 48 Stunden Neukölln (Berlin).

Voices of 9.11

VOICES OF 9.11

A People’s Archive
(2002 – 2003 | 2011)

Who gets to tell the story of 9.11?
Voices of 9.11 is a unique time capsule of over 500 personal video testimonies recorded in 2002 and 2003. At a time when language to describe the experience was still being formed, we traveled from New York City, to Shanksville, PA, Washington DC and the Pentagon to create this people’s archive.

Voices of 9.11 was explicitly designed to give each individual control of their own story. Inside a private video booth participants could speak for any length of time and in whatever language they felt most comfortable. Voices of 9.11 was created by Ruth Sergel with a dedicated team at here is new york: a democracy of photographs. In 2011 the entire collection was made available to the public online. We do not edit or alter the testimonies.

 


Please also see See You in the Streets, Chalk, Gaza Ghetto, Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition

Please view the collection.

Recordings (2002 – 2003)

Created by Ruth Sergel
NYC Director: Pamela Griffiths
Washington DC/Pentagon: Laura Doggett, Vicki Warren, Lara McPherson
Pennsylvania: Andrea Star Reese
Booth Design: Tim Main
Technical Design & Support: Paul Constantine, David Griffiths, Juan Molinari, Steve Robison, Daniel Valdez.
Additional Support: Martha K. Babcock, Maggie Berkvist, Cynthia Dartley, Abigail Feldman, Kerin Ferallo, Karen Jaroneski, Mary Liao, Rosalind Lichter, Brenda English Manes, Jay Manis, Christine McAndrews, Stephanie Schenppe, Deborah Schwartz, Nelly Sidotti, Fernanda Malarazzo Suplicy, Nancy Tongue, Aaron Traub, Mary Traub, Amy Wentz, Mandy Yu.

Special thank you to Michael Shulan, Mark Lubell, Charles Traub & all at here is new york: a democracy of photographs.

*** * *** * ***
Website (2011)
Ruth Sergel, Jude Calder, Laura Doggett, Pamela Griffiths, Nancy Tongue.
Translations: Lana Cheung, Sherry Kane, Peter von Salis
Additional Support: Magnus Pind Bjerre, Juan Molinari, Aaron Traub.

The 2011 project to bring all of Voices of 9.11 online is made possible by the generous support of our donors:
Anonymous, Martha Ann Babcock, John Barnes, Suzanne Pred Bass, Therese Baxter, Mary Berke, Maggie Berkvist, Lou Blumengarten, Christina Campanella, Roy Campolongo, Sybil Cohen, Theresa Curtin, Suzanne Epstein, Kerin Ferallo, Carol Fleming, Jörg Fockele, Nicole Franklin, Lyn Gale, Brian Garrick, Marsha Gildin, Steven Harkness, Carol J. Howard, Rose Imperaton, Gloria Jacobs, Allison Kestenbaum, Peilin Kuo, Marvin Kupfer, LuLu LoLo, Laura Lomer, Jay Manis, Lynne McQuaker, Carla Meyer, James Miller, Susan Patner, Lewis Rothenberg, Deborah Schwartz, Eva J von Schweinitz, Laura Shapiro, Andi Sosin, Mark Tabashnick, Judith Treesberg, Sheryl Woodruff, Ellen Yaroshefsky, Anna Yusim, Lori Zaumseil.

Special thanks!
Tricia Clark
Barbara Vyden
Vicki Warren

Thank you to Steve Brier and the September 11 Digital Archive and Marilyn Kushner and Jennifer Schantz of the New-York Historical Society for their support of this project.

Voices of 9.11 has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris) and the New York Historical Society.

How many testimonies are in the collection?
Approximately 550

How many hours of recordings?
Aproximately 120 hours

Where were the recordings made?
Voices of 9.11 was created at here is new york: a democracy of photographs in two locations: a temporary space on 6th Ave + 42nd Street and at 118 Prince Street. Additional recordings were made at the Staten Island Historical Society. A mobile team traveled to Shanksville, PA. The Voices of 9.11 video booth was at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC in Fall 2002 and inside the Pentagon in January and February 2003.

What is included in each post?
The date of the recording
The location of the recording
The V# of the recording

What’s a V#?
The V# indicates where the recording was made NYC (V0000-V0327), Staten Island (V0400-V0413), Shanksville, PA (V1001-V1010), Washington DC (V2000-V2092), Pentagon (V3000-3133).

What was the technical set up of the video booth?
Download V911 Tech Schematic

Where is my testimony?
You can search for your testimony on the Voices of 9.11 website by typing your name in the search box on the right.

Can I get a digital copy of my testimony?
Yes! We greatly appreciate all who participated in the project. Please contact me to request a copy of your testimony.

I would like to add a written update to my testimony
Please do! Simply email me the text you would like to have added.

Can I get a copy of someone else’s testimony?
No, we only provide digital copies to the people who participated in the project.

I would like to have my testimony removed from the website.
Please contact us and we will remove your testimony.

If you have other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition

Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition

(2008 – present)

In preparation for the March 2011 Centennial of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Ruth founded the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition in 2008.

Over a three year period, the Coalition grew into a national network of over 250 partners who created hundreds of educational, activist and artistic actions across the country. The focus of the Coalition was on a legacy of the fire which is no less true today then in 1911 – that your choice as an individual to be active or passive in civic engagement has a direct impact on our broader community.


Participating Organizations A Besere Velt (A Better World): Yiddish Community Chorus of Boston Workmen’s Circle • Adelphi University • Alta Gracia Apparel • American Experience, PBS • American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark • American Labor Studies Center • American Society of Safety Engineers • Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama • Ann Maria Bell • Annie Lanzillotto • Archbishop Carney High School • BAAD! • Babcock Galleries • Barre Historical Society • The Bay Ridge Historical Society • Timothy Beaty • Berkeley City College’s Arts and Cultural Studies Department • Boston College Department of Theatre • Bread and Roses Centennial Committee • Bread and Roses Heritage Committee • Brooklyn College Alumni Assoc. Mid-New Jersey Chapter • Brooklyn Historical Society • Brooklyn Women’s Chorus • Brotherhood Synagogue • Jane Bugnand • Caraid O’Brien • Carolina Center for Jewish Studies • Center for the Study of Labor and Democracy • City Reliquary Museum & Civic Organization • Coalition For A New Village Hospital • College of Staten Island/CUNY • Dean’s Circle, NYU • Def Dance Jam Workshop • Department of Romance Languages/Hunter College, CUNY • Diane Lutz • Dianich Gallery • Downtown Art • Drama Bookshop • Duane Cook • East Harlem Preservation Inc. • Education & Labor Collaborative • Elaine Ocasio • Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts • Experimental Geography in Practice • First Class PR Agency — Hofstra University • The Forward • Frances Perkins Center • Friends of the Bowie Library • Gettysburg Stage • Global Education Motivators • Gotham Center for NYC History • Greater Astoria Historical Society • Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition • Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation • Grey Art Gallery, New York University • Hebrew Free Burial Association • Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation • Cynthia Impala • Injured Workers Unite Coalition of ConnectiCOSH • Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights • International Labor Rights Forum • IS 190 – Class 002 • Italian American Writers’ Association • J. Taylor Finley Middle School • JCC CenterStage • Jewish Community Action • Jewish Labor Committee • Jewish Women’s Archive • Jews for Racial and Economic Justice • Joyce Gold History Tours of New York • Juan Morel Campos Secondary School • Judea Reform Congregation • Kavana Cooperative • L Cunniff Productions • La Fuente: NYCPP and LICPP • Labor and Working Class History Association • LaborArts • LaborFest • Lallan Schoenstein and Gary E. Wilson • Latinas Against FDNY Cuts • Levy’s Unique New York • Looking for Lilith Theatre Company • Los Angeles LaborFest • Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy • Lower East Side Tenement Museum • LuLu LoLo Productions • Lyric Stage • Manhattan Choral Ensemble • Memory Melody • Merchant’s House Museum • Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America • Metropolitan Klezmer • Meyer London Family • Microrevolt • Mount Sinai-IJ Selikoff Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine • Murphy Institute for Worker Education/CUNY • Museum at Eldridge Street • Museum of the City of New York • My New York City Tours • Nassau Reading Council • National Labor Committee • New York City Fire Museum • New York Labor History Association • New York Society for Ethical Culture • New York State Department of Labor • Roger Newell • NewFilmmakers • Next Generation Bay Area • Nina Haft & Company • NOW – NYC • NYS Communist Party • NYS Immigrant Action Fund • Occupational and Environmental Health Center of Eastern NY • Open Ink Productions • Parachute Project • Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee • Pipe Nozzle • PS 65 Bronx, NY • Remember the Women Institute • Rory Lancman, NYS Assembly • Safety Priority • San Francisco Mime Troupe • Sheep’s Nose Farm • Sisters in the Building Trades • Society of Fire Protection Engineers – Metropolitan NY Chapter • Brian Spaulding • St. John the Divine • St. John’s University – Staten Island Campus • Stanton Street Shul • Staten Island Democratic Association • Staten Island OutLOUD • Street Pictures • Street Vendor Project • SUNY Albany School of Public Health, CPHCE • Suzanne Beahrs and Dancers • SweatFree Communities • Tellers2 • The Actors Company Theatre • Theater for the New City • Theorizing Women’s Activism • Ti Piace Italian American Presentations, Inc • Todd Mountain Theater Project • Tottenville High School Women’s Chorus • Triangle Concert • Triangle Jazz Project • Triangle Letter Project • Triangle Project LLC • Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial • United National Anti-War Committee • United University Professions/Stony Brook • University of Iowa – The Labor Center • University of Iowa Theater Department • Annie Schneiderman Valliere • W4 New Music Collective • West End Synagogue • Widener Triangle Centennial Committee • Women and Gender Studies Program at Hunter College (CUNY) • Women’s City Club of New York • Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring Michigan • Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring • Worksafe • Yeshiva University Museum

Sponsors Albert Catalano • American Social History Project • Andrea Coyle – Lower East Side History Project • Andrew + Miriam Sanello • Annmarie Brown • Barbara Burrell • Barbara Campbell • The Bay Ridge Historical Society • Beatrice Vargas, in memoriam • Bill Russo • Blair Brewster • Bricklayers & Allied Craftsworkers Local 1 NY • Brindle-Khym Family • Burt Swersey • Carol & Harold Sader • Charles Levenstein • Chelsea Reform Democratic Club • Ching Wong + Mary Yee • CSEA • Cynthia Drew • David Kook • David Prouty • David von Drehle • Diane Fortuna • Dianna Maeurer • Donna Nevel • Edgar & Gladys Romney • Elaine Ferranti-Kenndy • Ellen Wiley Todd • Ethix Ventures Inc. • Family of Rose Schneiderman • Fashion Institute of Technology • Gennaro Pecchia • Hal Tepfer • Hanna Griff-Sleven • H. Theodore Cohen • Harry Robbins • Henry Street Settlement • Heriberto Vargas • Italian American Writers’ Association • Janet E. Garvey • Jo Ann E Argersinger • Jo Hamilton • John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, CUNY • Joyce Mendelsohn • Judith Polson • Judith Stonehill • Kate Bostock Shefferman + Jesse Shefferman • Kevin Foley • Labor – Religion Coalition of New York State • Labor and Working Class History Association • League of Women Voters of the City of New York • Lee Feuerstein • Lynn Steuer • Maria Elena Capaldo • Maria La Russo • Marian Gray • Marise Hausner • Martha Fleischman • Mary Hirsch • May Ying Chen • Nancy Lorence • Nassau Reading Council • Natalie Sosinsky • National Consumers League • New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) • New York State United Teachers • Norman Reisman • NY/NJ Regional Board Workers United/SEIU • Paradiso-Parthas Press / Feile-Festa • Rekindling Reform • Robert Forrant • Rosemarie Ottomanelli • Rosina Cirrito Descendents • Roy Campolongo • Ryan Heffernan • Save Chelsea • Social Democrats, USA • Socialist Party of New York City • Steven & Ellen Eshchuk • Susan Cowell • Susan Lee • Suzanne Wasserman • Tom Lansner • Turning Point Acupuncture • UNITE HERE • United College Employees of FIT • United Jewish People’s Order • Veemin + Kitty Yee • Walter McClatchey, Jr • Washington Square Hotel • Washington State Coalition of Labor Women • Women’s eNews

Change Agents 21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund • American Society of Safety Engineers • Rachel Bernstein • Linda Bertoldi & W.A. Bogart • Blowback Productions • Louis Blumengarten • Change to Win • Esther Cohen • Cooper Union • HBO • Evelyn Jones Rich • Judson Memorial Church • Sherry Kane • Kheel Center – ILR School, Cornell • Labor Arts • Daniel Levinson Wilk • Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America • New York City Central Labor Council • New York Council for the Humanities • New York University Community Fund • Sidney Hillman Foundation • Suzanne Pred Bass • Schwarz Family Foundation • Adrienne Andi Sosin + Joel Sosinsky • Sparkplug Foundation • Sheryl Woodruff • Workers United, NY NJ Joint Board • United College Employees of FIT

$700 billion for the arts… Because we’re too big to fail!!

$700 billion for the arts… Because we’re too big to fail!!

Public Intervention (2010)

Who does more for America –
banks or the arts??

Tired of writing those grants? Juggling day jobs? There is another option!

Join the movement to make the case –
We’re too big to fail!

1. Draw ARTIST on a piece of paper
2. Take a picture of yourself
3. Post the picture on our Facebook Page

 


Please also see Chalk, Gaza Ghetto

This project was launched as part of a NEA funded residency at the wonderful Squeaky Wheel. Thank you Dorothea, Jax, Mark, Ryan, Tammy, Brian, Jan, Brenda, Ruth & the wonderful arts community of Buffalo!

Magic Box

Magic Box

Interactive Documentary(2009)

Magic Box melds 19th century illusionism with current technologies in the guise of a pre-cinema device. The box hangs from the ceiling with brass viewing tubes on either end. Peering inside the device, each participant watches a film that is completely invisible to the other viewer. At the same time they can see right through the box into each others eyes. Levers on the side of the box allow the participants to select which of four films they will view. If both move to the end position, their hands will touch.

Each film inside Magic Box depicts a different aspect of 19th century hope and confusion that emerging technologies might at last allow us to cross the life-death divide. For the participant, Magic Box creates an intimate interaction with a stranger to probe the dissonance between real and virtual human connection.

 


Please also see Alchemy of Light, Alice in Berlin.

Magic Box has exhibited at the at the Shift Festival (Basel), 3LD Art & Technology Center, ITP Spring Gallery and the Hudson Guild Gallery (NYC).

Created (program/camera/edit) by Ruth Sergel

Performers: Luigi Coppola, Johanna Levy, Clara Palavesin
Music: Erik Friedlander, Michael Montes
Carpentry: Paul DiPietro

Magic Box is supported by a grant from the Experimental Television Center’s Finishing Funds program which is supported by the Electronic Media and Film Program at the New York State Council on the Arts. Thank you to ITP and 3LD Art & Technology Center

ETC Logo NYSCA logo

Arduino code
Isadora patch

Ethel

Ethel

Live Interactive Documentary Performance (2007)

Created with Ethel Greenbaum, 89 years old.

Viewers enter a room where Ethel sits quietly at a dining table. Raising her hand, the table becomes a projection surface. Her movement triggers snippets from her life story. The audience is invited to use their hand movement to hear additional stories.

The memorabilia of Ethel’s life fades away. Ethel stands & for the first time directly addresses the audience:

We’re all human beings. We’re all one. You have to keep your spirits up. Without love a person cannot live. Its just beautiful to be here and see this crowd of people. Young ones and an old one like me and a middle-aged one and a baby that is the most precious thing of all. I see every color here, every nationality here, and that’s what this world needs. Love in many many ways. You can love a husband. Partners can love each other. You can love an animal but the basic thing of a life is to love and be loved by a human being and to love them in return

Ethel thanks the audience for attending and passes out chocolates and copies of a love letter she wrote to her late husband.


Please also see Belle, Al, Turing Machine

Created (program/camera/edit) by Ruth Sergel
Performer Ethel Greenbaum

Thank you Fay Greenbaum & Luke DuBois.

ITP Spring Show 2007

Created (program/camera/edit) by Ruth Sergel
Performer Ethel Greenbaum

Thank you Fay Greenbaum & Luke DuBois.

ITP Spring Show 2007

Turing Machine

Turing Machine

Interactive Documentary (2007)
Created in collaboration with Gian Pablo Villamil.

Turing Machine utilizes a re-purposed typewriter as a model Turing Machine to depict the life of Alan Turing, the father of modern computing. Reknowned for his role in breaking the infamous Enigma code during World War II, Turing was later persecuted for his homosexuality.

For more information on Alan Turing please visit the Alan Turing Scrapbook and the Turing Archive for the History of Computing.

 


Please also see Ethel, Al

ITP Spring Show (2007)

Created by Ruth Sergel + Gian Pablo Villamil

Exhibition ITP Spring Show (2007)