“Tomorrow is the Question” for “A Lot of People” • DOEprojekts participates in Rirkrit Tiravanija’s exhibition at MoMA PS 1, NYC

How to “be” in the last few days of 2023? In late December, we decided to contemplate the “tomorrows” of 2024 – along with/in “A Lot of People.” 

 

Thus, it is fitting that DOEprojekts (Deborah Adams Doering and Glenn N. Doering) explored and participated in artist Rirkrit Tiravanija’s exhibition titled “A Lot of People,” on display at MoMA PS 1, NYC, until March 4, 2024.

Above: A video still from DOEprojekts YouTube channel: https://t.ly/PbiAR

 

Part of the exhibition includes an installation of a ping-pong table with “Tomorrow is the Question” silkscreened in bright yellow on the surface. Tiravanija has exhibited ping-pong tables that visitors can play on since 2008. The tables are silk-screened with “Tomorrow is the Question” in various languages, depending on the location of the exhibition; the statement is one that Rirkrit took from a 1959 jazz album by Ornette Coleman.

Tiravanija’s first installation of this Spanish-language table was in Mexico City, where students of artist/professor Julius Koller arranged themselves in a large question mark in 1978 (seen in large photo-image at right).

We also participated in his project “Untitled 1992-1995” (sometimes called a “situation” by Tiravanija) that offers visitors two versions of Thai Green Curry, one made with Thai ingredients from a specialty grocery store and the other with ingredients purchased from a local New York supermarket.

Above: Glenn is served one of the two versions of Thai Green Curry.

Above: Deborah prepares to eat one of the two versions of Thai Green Curry.

Above: “Untitled 1992-1995,” Tiravanija’s project re-enacted at MoMA PS 1, NYC, in 2023. 

 

Tiravanija has stated “I have, more or less, used the kitchen and cooking as the base from which to conduct an assault on the cultural aesthetics of Western attitudes toward life and living. In the communal act of cooking and eating together, I hope that it is possible to cross physical and imaginary boundaries” (from MoMAPS1.org). We enjoyed eating the two curry dishes in the museum’s gallery turned “community space.”

Other interactive opportunities at MoMA PS 1 included an opportunity to create a visual response to the exhibition and a choice of herbal teas one could prepare for themselves in an orange tent. Orange (or saffron) cloth is often worn by Buddhist monks in Thailand, Tiravanija’s place of birth.

 

We wish our blog readers and DOEprojekts’s supporters a very Happy New Year 2024! We look forward to more interactive projects in the coming months.

"Celebrating 40: Exhibition" • 40 years, 40 works, on 40th Street, New York City

On Sunday, October 1, 2023, Deborah (Adams) and Glenn N. Doering celebrated 40 years of married partnership by displaying 40 of their collaborative artworks (DOEprojekts Art Collaborative) at 410 W. 40th Street in NYC.

Above: “Serviette, Red and Gold,” detail, part of a series of 12 works. Coreforms embroidered on antique linen napkin from Glenn’s paternal grandmother’s trousseau. 

This blog post features excerpts from the essay titled “Coreforms and Keywords: Celebrating 40,” by Neil Tetkowski, a visual artist with social, cultural, and global concerns. Known for his works in clay, he is active in sculpture, installation art, painting, and curating. Tetkowski lives in New York City. Photos by Deborah and Glenn Doering (with select photos by guests of “Celebrating 40.”)

“To flourish and to survive, we humans have invented an endless array of possibilities for language, using both images and words. The artists Deborah Adams Doering and Glenn N. Doering, working together under the name DOEprojekts, have distilled their visual world into a basic language of forms.”

Above left: Deborah and Glenn wearing Coreform-printed shirts during the opening of “Celebrating 40.”  Above right: “Celebrate” Blueberry Cheesecake (by Connie Brown), with wine selections. 

Above: “Coreform Camp Shirts,” detail.

Above: Archival prints that are part of the Print and Drawing Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

“These Coreforms (horizontal and vertical lines, circles, swashes, and points), as well as cultural keywords (e.g. “Home,” “Community,” “Collaboration”) are the foundations of their art practice.”

Above: “Celebrating 40” installation of small sculptures, each featuring Coreforms, by DOEprojekts.

“Coreforms and Keywords are the common thread that unites DOErings’/DOEprojekts’ collaborative way of creating, living, and engaging the broader world around them. The exhibition “Celebrating 40,” featuring works using DOEprojekts’ Coreforms and Keywords, marks 40 years of artistic collaboration, as well as 40 years of marriage, with 40 artworks exhibited on 40th Street at the Metro Baptist Church in New York City’s “Hell’s Kitchen” neighborhood.”

410 West 40^th Street, Metro B. Church, “Celebrating 40” art in background.

“DOEprojekts’ intent is to elevate consciousness and bring people together through art. The artists have referred to themselves as “subtle activists.” They say, “Our work does not communicate an angry spirit; it doesn’t hit you over the head. It doesn’t scream at you.” Rather, the viewer finds an underlying spirit of reconciliation and healing in their art.”

410 West 40^th Street, visitors/guests discuss “Celebrating 40” art works.

“Their work intends to engage people, prompt introspection, provide an opportunity for self-evaluation, and encourage fun, yes, even fun! After all, what is life without some playful levity, especially during a 40-year relationship?”

 

“In order to materialize a universally intuitive concept, artists must transmute the physical into something else, something we call art. Deborah and Glenn achieve this transmutation, and it can be seen by viewers, participants, and collaborators in a variety of settings.”

 

“The artwork of DOEprojekts in all its many formats and media very naturally brings people together. I am taken by the love seat covered in fabric in the center of their home, complemented by their other works.”

“Coreforms” applied to various objects in the Doering’s home in New York City.

“The fabric pattern is an endless repeat of their Coreforms. Two people may want to sit on these carefully designed symbols; it is fair to surmise that the “sitters” might not give conscious attention to the pattern. But the artful ambiance is evident just the same.” 

“Bead Mandala” (left) and “Wishing You Well” (right)

“’Bead Mandala’ (above left) is a simple work of concentric rings of beads, created and displayed in Doerings’ dining room. The title speaks to ideas solidified by psychologist Carl Jung, who wrote, “Because there are innumerable things beyond the range of human understanding, we constantly use symbolic terms to represent concepts that we cannot define or fully comprehend.” The rich array of cultural meanings for circles include healing, journey, resolution, and infinity. Circles are a universal symbolic form, one that is essential to DOEprojekts and their language of Coreforms.”

 

“’Wishing You Well’ (above right) is a related piece with an even more symbolic approach; we could call it a mandala as well. In this case, the circle is made up of 20 actual chicken wishbones and a 21st broken wishbone in the very middle. (The wishbones were collected over the years by DOEprojekts). The implication is that one wish of good will put things right for 20 others: this time it’s an animal sacrifice for the benefit of twenty others. (It is important to note that sacrifice of one on behalf of many, is a “core” Judeo-Christian concept). All of this may be a reminder that life is temporal and that twenty-one creatures have already been healed into the singular spiral of the universe.”

 

DOEprojekts (Deborah and Glenn Doering) in relationship with Coreforms.

“Language and communication are indeed an endless invention to connect and to feel connected. Deborah and Glenn, as DOEprojekts Art Collaborative, have used their Coreforms and Keywords to unlock the universal qualities that make us human.”

“Art as language … in the future there will only be art.

This common language will carry the message of love.”   

~ Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931)

Cashmere to the Rescue-d: "500 Dumped Cashmere Sweaters Available for Artists"

On August 1, 2023, Deborah and Glenn, lead artists of DOEprojekts Art Collaborative, received the following email from the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, who forwarded it from Eliza at www.ooloop.co, an online company that offers recycled, organic clothing.

“500 Dumped Cashmere Sweaters Available for Artists”

“Hi Artists, 

I [Eliza] have rescued several hundred brand new black cashmere sweaters from the landfill, and would love to find some artists to upcycle them into art. The story goes, a scotch company bought the sweaters wholesale from [a prominent clothing company], however didn’t get their preapproval on a small logo they embroidered, so the [prominent clothing company] ordered the scotch company’s 500 sweaters to be destroyed; they wouldn’t even allow them to be donated. 

The scotch company reached out to me because I founded a website for sustainably made clothing called OOLOOP.co (which actually started out as an art project), and we sell recycled cashmere. So I offered to take them and try to find artists that would elevate and transform them.”

After a brief application process, DOEprojekts was chosen to receive 22 sweaters by the end of August for “artistic upcycling.”

In September, our diligent research on how to best transform the sweaters began. After finding “Cashmere Revolution” on Etsy and looking through a number of different configurations of their cashmere patches, we chose a multi-color striped patch that would colorfully embody both vertical and horizontal lines, two of our five Coreforms. 

The patches arrived in late September, beautifully cut to our specifications, easy to permanently apply with a household iron. Thus, we were able to cover the logo of the scotch company and transform the sweaters.

We donated individual sweaters to out-of-town not-for-profit organizations, but the bulk of the 22 sweaters went to the Winter Clothing Closet (WCC) at Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries in Hell’s Kitchen Manhattan, NYC. Kathleen “Kathy” Conry, one of the regular volunteers at the WCC, agreed to pose with a selection of the sweaters. She told us that these would “fly off the shelf” when patrons of the WCC would arrive each Monday from November 2023 to March 2024.

Kathy asked to take a photo of Deborah holding up one of the upcycled 100% cashmere sweaters – all of them were sized “Medium” and could be worn by any gender.

Before the first Winter Clothing Closet opened to patrons on Monday, November 6, Deborah took photos of the tables with upcycled/donated clothing. Have you ever purchased Bombas-brand socks? Bombas promises to donate one pair of socks for each pair of socks purchased.

The Winter Clothing Closet is where some of your one-donated-for-one-purchased Bombas socks are delivered in a variety of sizes! DOEprojekts Art Collaborative wishes you a warm and creative winter – please consider artistic upcycling of your gently used clothing! Keep in touch with us through DOEprojekts@gmail.com.

"Going Dutch" Part 2 -- DOEprojekts in Amsterdam and other artful cities in the Netherlands

DOEprojekts (Deborah Adams Doering and Glenn N. Doering, lead artists) brought their creativity and Coreforms to Amsterdam, Delft, Amersfoort, and other cities in the Netherlands during June and July 2023.

One of our most memorable experiences of the summer was participating in a porcelain tile workshop at the world-renowned Delft porcelain craft-factory, founded in 1653. It is almost impossible to visit any historical site in the Netherlands without the well-known Delft blue-on-white tiles, vases, dinnerware, figurines, etc. In many ways, Royal Delft is synonymous with historical Dutch aesthetic.

We were advised to bring sketches of what we hoped to paint on our tiles to the workshop. Both Deborah and Glenn's designs used DOEprojekts Coreforms (circles, horizontal and vertical lines, swashes and points) as a point of departure. 

The leaders of the workshop gave us some basic instruction and a short period of time to practice with a small brush and the dark-blue-ink-like paint on porcelain scraps. It was difficult to gain even a small amount of skill with the brush, paint, and the texture of the tile. Eventually, we had to accept that our efforts would be imperfect, and we began painting on our 5" x 5" porcelain tiles.

After transferring our sketches to the porcelain, and practicing with the brush and ink-like paint, we were able to create designs that integrated both our DOEprojekts' Coreforms and the Royal Delft tile aesthetic. During the process, and after we had completed the painting, we took photos -- our blog readers can see that the paint looks almost black. We had to leave the tiles to be kiln-fired in Delft. The paint becomes "Delft blue" after firing.

Above left: A welcoming wall displaying Royal Delft porcelain plates.
Above right: Deborah and Glenn with their painted, but not yet kiln-fired, tiles. The tiles stayed in Delft for firing, and we continued our creative adventures in the Netherlands.

Approximately two weeks after we returned to the US, our kiln-fired porcelain tiles arrived from Delft. Overall, we were please with our nascent efforts practiced within the time frame of the workshop -- just 3 hours total.

While we waited for our tiles to arrive, we created a "tulip tower" (shown behind the tiles above). Our "Coreforms Tulip Tower" is based on a pattern that we purchased in the Netherlands -- again, we combined Coreforms and the Delft aesthetic. We used Yupo synthetic paper and Sharpie markers to create our "DOEprojekts Coreform Tulip Tower."

Another memorable adventure for DOEprojekts was traveling to Amersfoort, the Dutch city where Piet Mondrian was born. The Dutch spelling of Mondrian is Mondriaan -- Piet dropped the second "a" when he immigrated to New York City. The city of Amersfoort created a museum in the Mondriaanhuis (the house where Mondrian was born and matured into a young adult). The Mondriaanhuis is a small museum that is an unexpected delight.

All three of Mondrian's art studios -- Amsterdam, Paris, and New York City -- have been recreated to scale in the museum. Visitors are invited to walk through each of his studios. As one walks through the studios, various projections of Mondrian (or rather an actor playing Mondrian) come and go on the walls.

Above: Deborah drinks coffee and converses with a projection of Mondrian in a re-creation of his Paris studio.

Above: Glenn pauses at the top of a circular staircase in one of the large rooms of the Mondriaanhuis. In the background, a timeline shows photographs and reproductions related to the life of Mondrian and the development of his distinct artistic style.

At the end of our self-guided tour of the Mondriaanhuis, we participated in a number of creative opportunities offered to visitors.

After viewing and "making" in Mondriaanhuis, we treated ourselves to "Mondriaangebakje," a cappuccino, and a latte macchiato. Sweet treats concluded our sweet experiences!

Back in the US, soon after our time in the Netherlands, we were treated to a "sweet treat" experience creating Coreforms on cookies provided by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Above: We creatively merge Coreforms and Mondrian-aesthetic at MoMA!
A wonderful way to end our Summer 2023.

We look forward to more sweet experiences in Fall 2023! Thank you to our blog readers for following along.

"Going Dutch" Part 1 -- DOEprojekts in Amsterdam and other artful cities in the Netherlands

DOEprojekts (Deborah Adams Doering and Glenn N. Doering, lead artists) brought their creativity and Coreforms to Amsterdam and surrounding cities in the Netherlands, during June and July 2023. Our trip was both a wonderful opportunity to be inspired by visual objects and experiences, past and present, and also a way to integrate our Coreforms into our travels.

Before our trip, we designed two slightly different T-shirts, influenced by Dutch artists Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). Our Coreforms (circles, vertical and horizontal lines, swashes and points) diverge from Mondrian's well-known visual system of horizontal-vertical lines and primary colors. DOEprojekts-Amsterdam logos extend Mondrian's visual aesthetic by adding circles, points and swashes. DOEprojekts does not (yet) limit our color palette to any specific colors.

Above: Standing in front of Piet Mondrian's last painted work "Victory Boogie Woogie" at Kunstmuseum Den Haag (Art Museum of The Hague, Netherlands) wearing our custom designed T-shirts.

Our close-up photo of Mondrian's "Victory Boogie Woogie" -- Mondrian was still painting on this canvas when he died in 1944. Some of the adhesive tape that he used to keep his painted lines straight remain on the canvas.

Above: Deborah stands behine the "Welcome to the Art Museum of The Hague" sign. "Wat fijn dat u er bent" translates "How fine that you are here."

Kunstmuseum Den Haag offered a number of ways for adults and children to creatively participate in "art works." After viewing the M.C. Escher exhibition, we sat with others and built a variety of structures, and used materials provided by the museum to create two of our "Hybr" forms.

Above: Temporary wood structures with DOEprojekts' Hybr forms in Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

Above: Empty sculpture niches at Kunstmuseum Den Haag allowed DOEprojekts to become part of the art, with Glenn holding one of our Hybr squares. 

Both the Van Gogh museum (dedicated to the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh and his contemporaries), and the Stedlijk Museum (featuring Modern and Contemporary Art ) offered opportunities for interaction by DOEprojekts.

Above: Main atrium in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Various details of Van Gogh's paintings are enlarged and projected on the atrium walls by museum curators (upper right).

Above: In the Van Gogh Museum, DOEprojekts (Deborah and Glenn) were invited to respond to various artistic prompts. Coreforms were a part of our responses.

Above: At the Stedlijk, Glenn and Deborah participated in the SoundLab, where visiting artists and others explored how shapes and sounds are connected.

Above: Deborah experimented with Coreforms' sounds in the Stedlijk's SoundLab.

There was so much to explore in Amsterdam and surroundings -- we rode almost every day to a new museum or public creative venue such as Vondel Park on the bikes provided by our host.

In a subsequent blog post, we will highlight two other unique experiences in the Netherlands -- participating in a workshop where we applied our Coreforms to the centuries-old process of creating porcelain tiles in Delft. We also visited Mondriaanhuis (Mondrian's House) in Amersfoort. Thank you to all our readers for following along!