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Witness

Witness

Public Intervention (2025)

Since 2014, I’ve marked the name of each person Israel kills in Gaza and posted the image to social media as part of Gaza Ghetto. In 2025, as part of a Muslim-Jewish residency with LABA Berlin I created Witness, a light box in the shape of the land, with over 8500 names. The lower section of the piece is purposely left empty and will be filled over the course of our exhibition.

Witness is on exhibition from October 23 – December 14, 2025 at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin.
I will be in the gallery every Thursday at 2:00pm to add names to Witness.

Your presence would be warmly welcomed.

The Gaza Ghetto project continues.

Please also see Chalk, Voices of 9.11.

The Cooperators

The Cooperators

Documentary Film (2024)
A collaboration with the Penn South Archive Project

Audience Award Winner, Workers United Film Festival

The whole thing about ‘no affordable housing.’ This is it! They did this experiment in 1962. It worked perfectly and they never repeated it.
– Ira Glasser, original cooperator

In 1962 the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) opened Penn South to provide affordable housing for working people within walking distance of New York City’s garment district. Sixty years later, current residents of the coop recorded oral histories with the original residents to create a permanent record of this bold experiment in cooperative living.

The Cooperators weaves the oral histories into a collective testament to the power of social unionism. Early on the cooperators realized they needed to elect an all-resident Board, established their own power plant, designed and built a playground and created the first NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) that remains a model in the nation.

Through fierce disagreements, humor and a lot of heart, Penn South has remained a beacon of the possibilities of social unionism and affordable housing in New York City.

Please also see Belle

We felt then and we feel now that we should have more housing for middle and lower income residents in New York.
– Velma Hill, cooperator

People like to say that the affordable housing crisis is impossible to solve. Penn South proves them wrong! We made The Cooperators to preserve a record of this extraordinary counter example – a co-op in the middle of New York City that provides community and affordable housing to thousands of people.

We document the history of working peoples’ achievements, which are so often not recognized. Living in an affordable cooperative makes it possible for us to engage in activities that benefit Chelsea and beyond. The legacy of social unionism continues to inform the culture of Penn South. We offer The Cooperators for free screenings to individuals and groups organizing in their communities. Contact us for more information.

Awards:
• Workers United Film Festival 2024
Audience Award for Documentary Short

Screenings & Presentations (2024-2025)

• Institute for Public Architecture (IPA)
Governor’s Island Block House

• SUNY Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies

• Penn South
Screenings and New Cooperator Orientations

• CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
“Building Community Through Social Unionism”
Collaborators: Tammy Arenstein (Coordinator of Path Home), May Chen (former VP, ILGWU)

• NYU Gallatin
“Storytelling as a Tool for Organizing”
Collaborators: Lyn Lewis and Rob Robinson (New School Housing Justice Project), May Chen (former VP, ILGWU)

• Urban Academy High School
Rachel Birdsall, Teacher

• Wellfleet Library, Massachusetts
Hosted by Colette Swietnick

• Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
Daniel Levinson Wilk, Professor of History

• New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)
Ana Djordjevic, Labor Educator

• Pratt Institute
Social Justice/Social Practice Minor
Caitlin Cahill, Professor of Urban Geography & Politics, Co-Coordinator,

• PSC-CUNY
Professional Staff Congress
Ana Djordjevic, Brooklyn College

• DSA at Rutgers University Labor Center
Aaron Bernstein, Organizer

• Brooklyn College – Macaulay Honors College
Professor Veronica Manlow

• The Living City Project
Tanya Gallo, Co-founder, Gap Year Program

• CUNY Graduate Center
Susan Opotow, Professor of Critical & Social Psychology  Morningside Heights Coop

• Hunter College (CUNY)  Laura Wolf-Powers, Associate Professor of Urban Policy & Planning

The Cooperators:

Andrew Alpern, Bertha Bendick, Eric Darton, Katya de Kadt, Margo DePaola, Bernie & Paulette Esrig, Millie Glaberman, Ira & Trude Glasser, Norman & Velma Hill, Susan Immergut, Georgia Keghlian, Albert Machlin, Walter Naegle, Pauline Rothstein, Harold Vander Malle

A film by Ruth Sergel & The Penn South Archive Project

Co-coordinators: Tracy Gross & Trudy Rudnick

Margarita Aguilar, Cara Aloisio, Christiane Bird, Silvie Bird, Leah Cooper, Bea Corbett, Peggy Crull, Lisa Ellis, Olive Eng, Sonia Goldstein, Liz Greenberg, John Harris, Nancy Kurtz , Loraine Machlin, Deirdre May, Walter Naegle, Lynne Oddo, Susan Ortega, Joan Ostroff, Bridget Robinson, Pauline Rothstein, Ellen Semel, Fiona Shuldiner, Gail Siegal, Wendy Silva, Colette Swietnicki, Abby Tannenbaum, Liz Taub, Thelma Thomas, Rena Zager

Re-recording Mixer & Sound Designer

Avi Zev Weider

Images

courtesy of The Cooperators

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives, Cornell University

NYC Municipal Archives

St. Eleftherios, Greek Orthodox Church

Workers United

Doug & Rick Acosta

Jane & Dan Acosta Collection

Maggie Block

Judith Eisenberg

Jeff Dullea Garden Collection

Joe Raskin

Susan & Jack Raskin collection

Lois Weiss

Robert & Rose Zelman documents

Film Excerpts

The Earth and Its Peoples, Library of Congress

Urban Oasis, J. Phinias Antonoffsky, Cindy Holden

Rocket Man, Doug & Rick Acosta

Art at Penn South

Serena Jost, Song: Silver Star, Publishing: Private Pocket Music (ASCAP)

Harriet Kriegel, Domestic Tranquility

Gary Schoichet, People at Work

Music

Wurk (Which Side Are You On) Linqua Franqua

Thank You

Workers United

Rustin Foundation

Holy Apostles Church

Institute for Public Architecture

Andrew Tilson and the Workers United Film Festival

Tammy Arnstein • Cole Cahill • May Chen • Esther Cohen • Eric Dirnbach • Bill Even • Michelle Fiordaliso • Pamela Griffiths • Jamie Haft • Nina Haft • Richard Harkness • Sherry Kane • Edgar Romney • Naomi Schiller • Natalia Shevin • Amy Starecheski • Liz Taub • Caitlin Zaloom

Special Thanks

The Kheel Center

Steven Calco & Curtis Lyons

Jude Calder

This project was supported by grants from:

The 21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund & The Lily Auchincloss Foundation

The Penn South Archive Project is an initiative of Penn South Social Services
Gary Schoichet, President
Matt Kahn, Executive Director
Anna Crull, Graphic Designer

Gaza Ghetto

Gaza Ghetto

Public Intervention (2014 – present)

 

There should be a word for it.

Earlier this summer I was sitting in a Berlin cafe with two other Jewish women. We each had a story about the moment when it happened. For me it was taking a language class and meeting a young man from Gaza. For the woman from Frankfurt it was while living in Jerusalem. A gear click-turns and the hazy fantasy of Israel is gone, replaced by something harsh and clear and true.

Question:
Am I living in alignment with my own values?

Gaza Ghetto was originally created in 2014 as a response to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. I wrote the name and age of each person killed in Gaza on my arm, photographed it and posted the image to social media. Israel killed roughly 2200 people that summer, most of them civilians, 548 were children. Since that time hundreds more Palestinians have been killed.

I used to believe that genocide was hard. Now I know that it is easy. An information bubble, an ‘other’ is all it takes. People line up to take the leap, contorting their beliefs like a pretzel to not confront the obvious.

The Gaza Ghetto project continues.

 

Please stay informed:
Democracy Now! has been doing exceptional work with Palestinian reporters.
The Electronic Intifada
Mondoweiss
Forensic Architecture
Al Jazeera
+972 Magazine

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917-2017 by Rashid Kahlidi

Follow journalists in Gaza:
Bisan
Hind Khoudary
Motaz Azaiza

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 Al, Turing Machine, Ethel.

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).

Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition

Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition

Public Intervention (2008 – present)

In anticipation of the 2011 Centennial of the infamous fire, Ruth founded the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. 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. Over a three year period, the Coalition grew into a national network of over 250 partners who created hundreds of educational, activist and creative actions across the country. You can see a full listing of Centennial events here.

The Coalition continues today to spearhead the movement to create a permanent memorial to the Triangle workers.

If you’re in a coalition and you’re comfortable, you know it’s not a broad enough coalition.
– Bernice Johnson Reagon

Please also see See You in the Streets, Chalk, Voices of 9.11

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

Alchemy of Light

Alchemy of Light

Performance (2010)

Alchemy of Light melds 19th century illusionism with current interactive technologies to depict the life of the legendary magician Torrini as a parable from a time when our lives first became mediated by machines. In the 19th century, Torrini, always at the forefront of technological development, was renowned for his astonishing illusions. One evening during a performance he accidentally killed his own child. He spent the rest of his life vainly struggling to conjure back his lost family. Alchemy of Light guides the audience through a series of 7 interactive installations which use live and virtual encounters with the Torrini family to explore the seduction and limits of technology.

Please also see: Magic Box, Boo!

Video projected from ‘magic lantern’ during performance of Alchemy of Light.

Alchemy of Light was developed through residencies at Here Arts Center (NYC), Digital Performance Institute and Squeaky Wheel. Work-in-progress showings were held at Here’s Culturemart and as part of LMCC’s Swing Space program. Funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Schindler Stiftung.

$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

$700,000,000,000 Billion for the Arts was launched as part of an NEA funded residency at the wonderful Squeaky Wheel. 

Please also see Chalk, Gaza Ghetto

Thank you Dorothea, Jax, Mark, Ryan, Tammy, Brian, Jan, Brenda, Ruth & the wonderful arts community of Buffalo.

Magic Box

Magic Box

Interactive Installation (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 can see through to the other’s eyes, while watching a film that is completely invisible to the other viewer. 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 breach 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 

Arduino code
Isadora patch

Logo for New York State Council for the Arts

Ethel

Ethel

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. Ethel moves her hand to trigger short video clips about her life. She then invites the audience to use their hands to reveal more of her story.

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

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. Renowned 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

Created by Ruth Sergel + Gian Pablo Villamil

Exhibition ITP Spring Show (2007)