One hundred seven stories high over Manhattan, a group of diners at the World Trade Center’s skyscraping restaurant Windows on the World downed their digestifs, took a last glance at the stunning lightshow below, and crowded into a waiting down elevator. The doors slid shut. The elevator didn’t budge. Someone stabbed irritably at the button. Nothing happened. Somebody got the doors open and the passengers free. “The elevator’s out,” one of them huffily informed the white-jacketed captain. The captain shrugged toward the nightscape outside, gone suddenly inky black. “So’s New York,” he replied. – from “Heart of Darkness,” Newsweek, June 25, 1977
65 | 77 | 03 | - is a meditation on the blackouts which have occurred in New York City over the last forty years. From the relative social harmony of the mid sixties to the period of unrest and economic stagnation which followed in the next decade, each blackout unfolded in a different socio-economic context. Based on interviews and news accounts of each event, Liz Glynn staged a two night performance exploring the social dynamics of a city gone dark. On the first night, visitors were invited to Workspace, which was set to resemble a 1960s style Italian red-sauce restaurant, complete with waiters. When the lights went off, guests were locked in. The heat wave spiked, and the dinner lasted over six hours. Guests eventually found their way home. The next night, the abandoned restaurant was looted in the spirit of 1977.
65 | 77 | 03 | -
One hundred seven stories high over Manhattan, a group of diners at the World Trade Center’s skyscraping restaurant Windows on the World downed their digestifs, took a last glance at the stunning lightshow below, and crowded into a waiting down elevator. The doors slid shut. The elevator didn’t budge. Someone stabbed irritably at the button. Nothing happened. Somebody got the doors open and the passengers free. “The elevator’s out,” one of them huffily informed the white-jacketed captain. The captain shrugged toward the nightscape outside, gone suddenly inky black. “So’s New York,” he replied. – from “Heart of Darkness,” Newsweek, June 25, 1977
65 | 77 | 03 | - is a meditation on the blackouts which have occurred in New York City over the last forty years. From the relative social harmony of the mid sixties to the period of unrest and economic stagnation which followed in the next decade, each blackout unfolded in a different socio-economic context. Based on interviews and news accounts of each event, Liz Glynn staged a two night performance exploring the social dynamics of a city gone dark. On the first night, visitors were invited to Workspace, which was set to resemble a 1960s style Italian red-sauce restaurant, complete with waiters. When the lights went off, guests were locked in. The heat wave spiked, and the dinner lasted over six hours. Guests eventually found their way home. The next night, the abandoned restaurant was looted in the spirit of 1977.