Congratulations to d.k. Pan, a deserving recipient of a 2011 Stranger Genius Award!
D.k. has masterminded all kinds of brilliant, subversive, funny, charming, pioneering (and I could keep piling on the superlatives) projects from The Bridge Motel to My Mother My Father to Free Sheep Foundation to.
I was thrilled to have him create 66 Ways of Water Magic for TLW.
In this work, Dk in collaboration with NKO – working together as Free Sheep Foundation, created a participatory and performative work that took into consideration The Walk as pilgrimage and ritual. They hand-silk screened t-shirts emblazoned with “Time is Memory” in large block letters. Each Walker received a t-shirt with another Walker’s name printed on it’s wrapper along with a bottle of water. Each Walker needed to find the recipient of their t-shirt and then design a water ritual for them. However, a walker couldn’t give away the shirt until they got their own.
Photo: Susan Robb
D.k. set the ball rolling by pouring the bottle of water of my head, giving a slight bow, and handing me my shirt. I then had to find the owner of the shirt I was in possession of and likewise devise an exchange. These ritual exchanges ranged from the personal to the timid to The Fern Dance™
Video Still: Webster Polk
You can celebrate d.k.’s genius at The Stranger Genius Awards coming up in September and be sure to check out the show d.k. and NKO will be curating for City Arts Festival in October.