In Search of a Left-Leaning Oyster

In Search of a Left-Leaning Oyster
Canal Street Research Association with Mel Chin

Canal Street Research Association is a fictional office founded in an empty storefront on Canal Street, New York City’s counterfeit epicenter, in fall 2020. Through research, re-stagings, shadow economies, and vacancies, they delve into the cultural and material ecologies of Canal Street and its long history probing the limits of ownership and authorship.
Mel Chin has, for nearly five decades, created singular, idiosyncratic works that hinge on collaboration and manifest as actions, films, or objects, depending on the concept. Chin describes some works as “personal lamentations” and others as prototypes and experiments that engage “people in the process of being a ‘we.’” Turning toxic landfills, prime-time soap operas, and video games into venues for civic action, he has significantly expanded the bounds (and possibilities) of socially engaged art.

“In Search of a Left-Leaning Oyster” was published as part of Triple Canopy’s Immaterial Literature project area, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Tags: Conversation

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