Tagging the Social Contract 2007
How does our behavior change from one space to another? In the final semester of their government class, twenty-five seniors at the Heritage High School in East Harlem investigated the meaning of the social contract and its translation into contemporary spaces in New York City with CUP artist-educator Cassie Thornton. The team defined the Social Contract as a silent contract in which people sacrifice individual freedom for the betterment of a larger group. The team observed public and private spaces where invisible rules maintain a status quo. They went to an episcopal church, a Kennedy Fried Chicken, the mall, the last car on the 6 train, and a basketball court. After collecting evidence (photos, video, audio) of the spaces, each space was labeled or ‘tagged’ with a list of behaviors. The resulting website displays images of different locations tagged with the behaviors spotted there.
Participants
Cassie Thornton, Teaching Artist
Valeria Mogilevich, Project Manager
Dan Nichols, High School Teacher
Shyla Rao, Heritage coordinator
Resources & Links
Organizations
| Heritage School (HS 680) | The Heritage School was founded in 1997, focusing its curriculum on the arts. CUP has worked with classes at Heritage since 2002. |
Projects/Pieces
| Social Contract in Space website | This website is an interactive database of behavioral observations, photos, videos, and drawings. |
Related projects
Tagging the Social Contract is also related to
Chew On This
Prison City Comix
The Connection between Abandoned Buildings and Homeless People
