WE RESPOND 2020
A Chance to Listen and a Chance to Respond to 2020
By Janaki Ranpura with Katherine Wilkinson | November 1 - December 31, 2020
“We Respond” is a new digital art piece showing at ZAZ 10 Times Square through November and December 2020. It presents over a thousand quotes from all over the US on monitors in Times Square; each quote comes from one-on-one interviews asking people to respond to the last year.
The rhythm of our lives has been interrupted, and we’ve started to see things differently as a result. At the beginning of the year, it was because of the COVID pandemic, then it was our reckoning with racial injustice and, most recently, political chaos because of the presidential election. In the midst of change, how do we move forward? What do we hold on to? How can our new perspective shape a better country? The defiant and vulnerable voices of a nation come together to suggest an answer in “We Respond 2020.”
Based on an initial concept conceived by physician Marsha Gordon and Broadway producer Susan Gallin, artist Janaki Ranpura and theater director Katherine Wilkinson conducted over one-hundred and forty extended interviews throughout the year. From those, Ranpura and Wilkinson pulled quotes that express a range of deeply felt and sometimes humorous reactions. People express grief, and they also express growth. Many talk about ways they have changed and what they hope to bring forward into the future. They talk about vows made for their personal lives and fears for the planet. They share their feelings while on a journey through a new landscape.
This pandemic is lasting longer than we imagined, and we need stamina to stay optimistic in the months ahead. “We Respond 2020” is an art piece to help manage the difficult emotions we’re all experiencing in these times.
Website: www.werespond2020.com • Instagram: @werespond2020 • Facebook: We Respond 2020
Project Story
In May of this year, two friends, producer Susan Gallin and Dr. Marsha Gordon, noticed they had an opportunity to change their habits because of the disruptions of the pandemic. They wanted to ask others, “What do you vow to change?” They brought technology artist Janaki Ranpura into the conversation. Janaki interviewed thirty people around the country, asking questions and listening as people recounted how they were getting through the pandemic. She made a list of quotes that summarized what she was hearing. Through this process, Janaki met theater director Katherine Wilkinson, who was also interviewing people around the country and had interviewed over a hundred people. The two found that they were able to access authentic voices during their interviews by using careful, active listening. They combined their material into “We Respond.”
Susan met Tzili Charney, the director of ZAZ10TS gallery, and introduced the idea of projecting quotes to her. Janaki and Katherine prepared the interview material they had gathered into a format able to be displayed on ZAZ10TS’s monitors. Janaki designed the content and worked with Limei Wang and the gallery media team to display it. Janaki is designing an evolving online catalog for the work and has enlisted Dan Borgen of Platteville Web Solutions to build it.
360 DEGREE VIRTUAL Exhibition
"We Respond 2020" at 10 Times Square Virtual Visit
We Respond 2020 360 Degree Virtual Viewing at the Lobby of 10 Times Square
CREATIVE TEAM
Janaki Ranpura
Janaki is an American artist who frames social and ecological traumas through participatory installations. Her practice is centered in technology and community. She has exhibited at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, amongst others. She is a Macdowell fellow. Her training is in interdisciplinary strategies for creative work, with degrees from Yale University and Imperial College London. www.janakiranpura.com
Katherine Wilkinson
Katherine is a Brooklyn based director & writer. Katherine has spent the last decade creating new ensemble-driven performances throughout the US and abroad. She uses imagination, creative communication, intuition, and chest-pounding-jump-squatting-energy to build trusting communities and invigorating transformative experiences. She has an MFA from Columbia University. www.katherinewilkinson.com
Susan Gallin
Susan has been producing theater On and Off Broadway and the West End for over thirty years. She presents work that sparks audiences to re-examine their ideas and perceptions. A career highlight was being part of the original Angels in America producing team, a play that proves theater can change lives. She is the first recipient of the Robert Whitehead Award for Outstanding Producing.
Marsha Gordon, MD
Marsha is a physician and art lover living and working in Manhattan. She is interested in how various art forms including music, theater and the visual arts affect health and wellness. She believes that compassionate listening may play a role in healing. She is working to promote awareness for the urgent need of federal funding to support research on viruses.