DUALISM IN AMERICA

“Dualism in America” for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum (the only National Historically Preserved Tenement Building in the United States) was Wendy W Fok’s first commissioned installation in New York City, as the solo commissioned artist in the highly selective competition for one of the two annual exhibitions for the museum, which was held from January 2005 to June 2005.

Culture surrounds the areas that create scale and urbanity. The request for proposal for the museum was to identify “what it means to be American?” and “who decides who is an ‘American’ and who is not?” Once known to be New York and United State?s Gateway to America, the proposal combined the thoughts of American Mass Consumptionism and the dualistic American values [the American dream vs/ the American reality], objectively contrasting and comparing the “American Dream” [which for many immigrants was the reason to migrate to the United States].

In addition to the installation, this project specifically integrated the community into the project. There was an inclusion of a 24hour pictorial documentation of two selected immigrants working in the Lower East Side of New York City, using photographs taken by the immigrant which was incorporated into the final exhibition. This gave an ‘insiders’ perspective into the life of an immigrant of New York Ciy, which gave a clearer perspective of the actual “American immigrant experience.”

This was an Open Competition within the United States, and chosen from several established professional installation artists, architects, and designers.
This project was made possible by the New York Historical Society / NY Arts Fund / National Trust for Historic Preservations / Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum:
To promote tolerance and historical perspective through the presentation and interpretation of the variety of immigrant and migrant experiences on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a gateway to America. A New York City Museum that tells the stories of immigrants who lived in 97 Orchard Street, a tenement built in 1863 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
Press Release – October 29, 2004 – In Dualism in America, artist Wendy Fok contrasts the internationally held conception of lush American Life with the harsh realities with which new immigrants are often confronted once here. Fok explores this contradiction through a juxtaposition of common American consumer products that represent the United States to the outside world, with photographs taken by immigrants of their day to day lives. The exhibition will tie previous immigration streams with today’s new immigrants and focus on their shared perceptions of a land where ‘the streets are paved with gold’ or perhaps, bottles of designer water.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s storefront and its four large windows serve as a public art showcase to the street, and serve as a 24 hour free exhibition. For Dualism in America, the top windows will be filled with water bottles with labels depicting various aspects of the fantastical notions of plenty that characterize America’s image around the world. One side will feature bottles showing labels with the modern ideal, while the other window will feature the ideal of the past. The street level windows will feature a photo sculpture that will depict modern life, visible in fragments. The combined effect will highlight the reality that lies underneath the gold paving stones of popular imagination.

ClientLower East Side Tenement MuseumLocationNew York City, USAYear2005StatusComplete