IdeaNEWS took place in 2009 and 2010 with the goal of each year creating a concrete form to the Culture Push credo of active participation.

IdeaNEWS 2010: Treasure Hunt T-Shirts

WHAT: Secondhand silk-screened T-shirt, unique edition, hand-printed by Culture Push. Wear this T-shirt and follow the clues through a series of urban environments tucked away in plain sight, with a little something to look forward to. The tag on the back of the shirt contains your first clue. Leave the ticket attached, it will come in handy at the end of your hunt.

WHERE: Lower Manhattan, NYC.
 
WHEN: The treasure hunt began on April 1st and ended May 31st, 2010.  It could be completed in a day or two.
 
WHO: Silkscreen design by multi-media artist Geoffrey Hendricks, a member of Fluxus. First clue image by Serra Bothwell Fels. Produced by Culture Push with generous donations from T-shirt owners, collaborating venues and volunteers.
 
WHY: Why not?

The following were clues for the treasure hunt:

CLUE #1: Go to 141 Wooster St., #2B.  It is open Weds. - Sun. 12-6 PM. Ask the person at the desk for the next clue. REMEMBER! Leave the ticket attached to your t-shirt. You will need it at the end of the treasure hunt.

CLUE #2: Head over to Rivington and hang a left, down the alley of Free Men, buildings cleft,  up the canyon walls, a sign, a rag, your next clue hangs likes a flag.and LOOK UP. 

CLUE #3: You're almost there. Walk slowly to the west on the north side of Prince St. Do you see a fruit? Are you at a store that sells red fruit? Or, if you have a portable gadget, you don't have to go to the fruit store. Either way, go to the website.

CLUE #4: As indicated, just go to the website on the banner. (pssst.  It's 172 Allen St.) (pssst, pssst.  The section in demand is rather low, so duck.)

CLUE #5: Go to a Green Oasis. Look for a small white wooden sign on the ground to right of the Western gate. It will show your next destination. Please put the book back in the Ecology section and shhh, don't tell the clerk. 

CLUE #6: Go to 77 Delancey St. The entrance is on Allen St. (image titled “clue six2”) Cut the denim ticket from the label on your T-shirt and use it at the long counter you see there. 

IdeaNEWS 2009: Right now, I feel 2009

Right now, I feel 2009 is a handwritten passage of one individual's reflection on how they feel at the very moment asked. We requested an email response from different professionals around the world to reflect on their perception of 'now' by describing their current biggest concern in their professions or within their project. We asked them to write 1-2 paragraphs and tag these thoughts with their professional title(s) (however they identify themselves) and the name of the place(s) they work or reside (however specific they want to be). This casual email exchange was entered in a limited number of archival books, hand-written word by word by the Culture Push directors.

Right now, I feel 2009 is a casual survey of where people are in different sub/cultures. It is personalized and given importance due to the now-diminishing 'work' of handwriting. Do we not maintain sanity by referring to professional voices as oracles of this fast-changing map of the world? (i.e. New York Times, TV news…) Different combinations of such personal references form odd little images of this world in each of us. Just like stone etchings form our image of the ancients, the physical 'work' of handwriting may speak to an older, but quite recent, sense of time. It questions what an archive might be.

The sale of limited editions of this art product will take place at designated venues and/or on a request basis through our website. How do we determine the value of a work of art, or a personal history? We based the price of each edition on the minimum hourly wage in New York City at the start of 2009 ($7.15 per hour of writing). By assigning this arbitrary price, we highlight the ridiculousness of pricing objects with indeterminate value. This is a satirical reaction to the fame game played that assigns different levels of reliability to random information scattered about the world. Based on what?

Specifically: We emailed a group of people who we felt confident would contribute to the diversity of professions/places, and asked them to send the inquiry to one other person they know. We collected a total of 50 replies by combining the first and second degrees of our connections. While the entries seem diverse, we are also quite aware of who we could not make contact with: farmers, police, fire fighters, politicians, prisoners, calligraphers, handicapped people, people living with diseases or hunger, and so forth. The submissions are listed in chronological order to how we received them, and they are unedited. 

Read the submissions here.