Visitors to this year’s Armory Show–a contemporary art fair held on Piers 90 and 92 in Manhattan–will pass by a series of stands on their way inside, manned by art institutions and publications. One of these, the Swiss Institute (SI), is a nonprofit gallery in Soho, and while it isn’t offering art for sale, it is sponsoring performances by two Brooklyn performance-art collectives: Red Shoe Delivery Service (RSDS) and New Humans. According to curator Gabrielle Giattino, the idea is to “connect the other parts of the armory with our booth, the Swiss Institute and the streets of New York.”
RSDS, which bills itself as “art that moves you,” is the outgoing project of multimedia artist MK Guth in collaboration with Molly Dilworth and video artist Cris Moss. They first hit the streets of New York last summer in a van emblazoned with a simple red logo (actually a magnet stuck to the side), offering to drive people anywhere in the five boroughs with one stipulation: prospective riders had to select a pair of customized red shoes from a suitcase in the back of the van to wear for the duration of the trip. (Guth creates everything from sneakers to pointy-toed Prada knockoffs). Passengers agreed to be videotaped clicking their heels while saying, “There’s no place like…,” filling in the black with their destination; one woman memorably asked for a lift to Trump Tower to get her eyebrows done.
