QUEENS, NY – Can we get to know each other? is a new participatory performance work and installation by Queens-based artist Eleni Theodora Zaharopoulos. Consisting of a sprung floor, dance mirror, and ballet barre, it is a small, fully-functional dance studio intentionally placed in a public setting to offer opportunities of exchange between people through dance.

The project takes place, weather permitting, October 12-13, 12-6 PM, at Francis Lewis Park, 3^rd Avenue in Whitestone, October 19, 12-4 PM at Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd in Long Island City, and October 20 and 26, 12-6 PM at Powell’s Cove Park, 130th Street in Whitestone.

Inspiration for the project came from the artist’s interests in stranger interactions, concepts of the private and public self, and a desire to use shared public space as a setting for heightened and unexpected human experiences. Approaches to public engagement will include soliciting dance moves, requesting favorite dance tracks, re-enacting special occasion dances, and various forms of impromptu dance instruction.

The project, funded by a New Works Grant through the Queens Council on the Arts, will be installed in three different city parks in Queens throughout the month of October. Two of the parks, Francis Lewis Park and Powell’s Cove Park bookend the neighborhood of Malba, Queens where the artist grew up.

Zaharopoulos makes site-responsive work in her childhood neighborhood under the title Malba Arts Project. In 2017, she turned her mother’s house into a funded artist residency. Three artists lived with her mother, creating work in response to the environment. The residencies culminated with receptions open to the public. The mission of the Malba Arts Project is to invite the sequestered neighborhood to be in dialogue with contemporary art by localizing it.

Can we get to know each other? will also be a part of Flux Takeover! where Long Island City artist residency and collective art space, Flux Factory, will take over Socrates Sculpture Park for an adventurous afternoon of performance, engagement, and installation activating The 2019 Socrates Annual exhibition.

Can we get to know each other?*

October 12-13, 12-6 PM

Francis Lewis Park

3rd Ave, Whitestone, NY

October 19, 12-4 PM

Socrates Sculpture Park

32-01 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City, NY

October 20 & 26, 12-6 PM

Powell’s Cove Park

130th St, Whitestone, NY

*weather permitting

More information about artist Eleni Theodora Zaharopoulos is available online: https://happyabandon.com/.