Émile Riopel
S’il le faut, je me réduirai en cendres pour être sûr que le vent m’emporte
09.11–10.24.2026
Current
karen elaine spencer
Sittin’ with cabot square
05.18–06.23.2017
05.18–06.23.2017
Karen Spencer
the sitter sat. on a bench in the park called cabot square. spanned four months over the summer of 2012, three months over the summer of 2013.
the sitter sat with the park and took care to not “out” the people who lived their lives in public. rather, the sitter recorded the weather conditions, the temperature, the date, and chose a headline from the local newspaper to transcribe with ink on paper. pinning down time. the sitter also wrote one sentence each day inspired by the park. locating human ness.
fast forward to 2014. the park is “refurbished” or as one headline claimed, “had a facelift.” a facelift to the tune of 6.3 million.
grass? nah, lets rip it out. hedges? nope. people can hide shit in there. picnic tables? ha ha… you’re joking right? they gotta go. oh, and of course the benches gotta change. where are those “no sleeping” bars? oh, and the pathway through the park? lets make it concrete and build risers to keep people on the straight and narrow, and don’t forget the skate-stoppers to keep those property damaging skateboarders away. garbage containers? better not have those in the park, they attract canners.
the sitter’s anger at this blatant theft of place from those who had occupied the park led to words spoken. using the one-sentence-a-day from the park as a score, the sitter spoke the words, using the score like riffs. improvised.
