~JOSH HARRIS/ONDI TIMONER/MEET THE ARTISTS/SUNDANCE
ONDI TIMONER. I think she was all of 26 when Josh tapped her to head the 24/7 QUIET FILM CREW !!
he saw some of her early uncut DIG! footage and that sold him right then and there. turns out she was one of the most important young artists at QUIET – she caught the scene at the time & gave voice to our futuristic visions – now, 9 years after the fact – with – WE LIVE IN PUBLIC. it doesn’t just give shape to the guru-like internet prophesies that Josh intuitively tapped and made real, she also caught the man – and the parties – whether the huge chaotic crowd scene at QUIET, or just Josh and Tanya in the Spring St. million dollar loft . . . . and the way things are going, forget the internet, Facebook, reality shows, steaming web video and all – our MAD MAX downtown ground zero – doesn’t seem to be to far off – as the Big Apple takes a big big hit – in the current big depression-era crunch. talk about hard-core wild streets. never mind the homeless tent cities of California – even scrappy L magazine – is talking about the next wave-take over – looks to be the hard core downtown artists, are eyeing Brooklyn’s going nowhere – half built – waterfront luxury condos for squatting rights !! source: ADAM BONISLASKI, ‘BOOM OR BUST?” “New York Artists Prepare for the New Depression”. he ends his article thus: “… there could be a lot of abandoned condo buildings dotting the East River waterfront in the not-so-distant future. If nothing else, artists could set up studios in a few of them as squatters and save themselves a little on rent. [says artist NOAH FISCHER], ‘The important thing is not to be scared. If you’re scared. you’re not going to enjoy being an artist.’ ” – THE L MAGAZINE, MARCH 18-3, 09. PAGES 18-20.
watch: MEET THE ARTISTS: ONDI TIMONER on ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’/SPECIAL THANKS SUNDANCE !!
ok. that’s me.
NANCY SMITH aka artloversnewyork.
I was there at the beginning. one day l’ll tell my story !!
I had a lot to do with the overall concept, ran around like crazy as Josh’s assistant and put up my own art – since we couldn’t leave and I had no materials there – I made paper lanterns out of scraps and wrote ongoing – 5 word – ‘twitter’ commentary – on ‘found’ white ‘performance’ fleece – quilts !!
see some of my paper lanterns – here !!
that’s my kid, THEO. he was 11.
he came with me. it was Xmas holidays and school was out !!
like I said, COLUMBINE had just happened – and yo, the good kids need to know how to shoot too.
and yeah, I got called into his Middle school principal’s office – to explain the situation – “they were prop guns for a movie shoot ?” when pix from QUIET hit the NEW YORK POST, NEW YORK MAGAZINE, THE OBSERVER and just about every other rag in town !!
the ‘QUIET’ dining room – by OWEN BUSH !!
this, and the following frames – are from the SXSW (SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST) YouTube clip: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC !!
JOSH HARRIS – and at right, you can just make out – ALFREDO MARTINEZ.
you’d have to have say ALFREDO was the candy man. His shooting gallery and Owen’s dining hall – were the 2 key elements that juiced up the event – big time !!
It was Alfredo – who introduced me to Josh, as the ‘QUILT’ expert !!
Josh was really into old American quilts. the patterns. the sampling. the origins. the record keeping. as he said, upon being presented with an early 20th Century Mennonite cabin log patchwork quilt – “are you telling me I am looking at a religious artifact ?” – like I said Josh got stuff – right. right away, and then he took the keys and ran.
‘QUIET’ – GUNS, QUILTS & FOOD – there you are – primal America at it’s frontier best !!
watch: WE LIVE IN PUBLIC/SXSW !! on YouTube !!
JUDGECAL.
Josh’s bodyguard & resident hipster. he ran the extreme video games & brought on the VAMPIRES !!
they weren’t bloodsucking – they just liked to party down hard !!
ALEX ARCADIA – he built the Meditation temple – complete with live goldfish swimming around it in a custom-built moat !! and piped-in – Arcadia-world self-composed music.
LEO KOENIG !!
Josh wanted a young, ultra hip, and super-connected art world curator for a small in-house gallery set on the main floor. and to act as spokesman. Alfredo tapped Leo. he was cute, smart, only 22, and his dad ran the German Contemporary Art World – for real, and keep the capitals. I had to second the appointment. I had my doubts, but Alfredo, made it clear in no uncertain terms, that if I didn’t second his choice, I was dead. who’s gonna argue with a manic artist running a shooting gallery loaded with big assault rifles. not I. so I did. the minute Leo was installed – our names, as founding artists, even as participating artists, disappeared from the press releases. what else is new ?
part of the 90+ artist crew in the Japanese style Pod Hotel, built by JEFF GOMPERTZ. you can see Josh in the movie detailing – that he also wanted it be like: NAZI concentration camp death camp bunkers.
MARK ENGER of EXPLODING SKY !! stumbling drunk or what – he still produced for the crew. he’s the guy who silkscreened the ‘target’, as in gun target – embellishments on the crew’s in-house gray work shirts, the standard issue QUIET uniforms – how many you got Mark to put on your shirt – was a real sign of status. and, way before there was a TARGET big box store !!
since the place was open to the public 24/7 – and crowded is not the word – serious crowd hazard is the word – you had wear a work uniform to get around to your job, to eat, and to gain entry to the pod hotel. that was our identity badge.
which to leads – yep BUSTED !! and closed down, by the NYPD (police dept), the NYFD (fire dept) and FEMA in a coordinated raid, one morning shortly after Jan 2nd. FEMA sent in under-cover suits. as if !! early on to see if we were a MILLENNIUM suicide cult ala JONESTOWN !!
WE LIVE IN PUBLIC – ONDI TIMONER’S story of the “greatest internet pioneer you’ve never heard of” – and the oracle-like hardcore downtown NYC artists he ran with. funded and fueled, and let it all hang out, brains, sex, fights, and open to the public – 24/7. QUIET the MILLENNIUM PARTY – was literally open to the public, although it was also in-house surveillance wired – ‘WE LIVE IN PUBLIC’ – proper – the JOSH and TANYA solo project at Josh’s personal loft at SPRING & BROADWAY – was not open to the public in the conventional senses – but it was open to the public via a million cameras – everywhere and we mean everywhere – via real time web streaming on the infant internet.