A new development

A couple of months ago there was a call for proposals to be part of a show called Training Room in Kansas City. The show's description was:

"CP seeks proposals for temporal, site-specific activities for the Training Room, a project organized by Michael Schonhoff as part of his upcoming exhibition You’re Such A Good Sport (Paragraph/Project Space, March 19 - May 6, 2010), which explores and mines the visual language of sport, sports culture, and gamesmanship. For this project, Project Space will become a publically accessible site for short-term (1-2 day) projects that exemplify ideas of “training” or “practice,” and are inspired by or address the subject or language of sport(s) in some manner. Proposed activities might range from using the site as a short-term studio, or for an installation, presentation, performance, and/or event. Artists will be responsible for providing all necessary equipment, props, or supplies, and returning the room to its original condition for the next artist."

I thought it sounded like an interesting show that I wanted to be part of, but it was at the same time as my residency in Toronto. But then I started thinking that my residency in Toronto was a perfect example of a type of practice, so I sent in this proposal:

"During the first two weeks of Training Room I will be doing a residency at the Free Gallery in Toronto. For the residency I will provide my skills as a free handyman to people in Toronto, the project is called Build Something Together. I did the same project at the Greenlease Gallery in Kansas City last year.

While in Toronto I will be posting all of the building activities online multiple times a day with Twitter, YouTube, and a blog. After the first day of documentation viewers will understand how the Build Something Together service provides a practice of skill sharing and relationship building.

For Training Room I would like to place a computer connected to the internet in the gallery. The computer will update every time I post something and gallery viewers can watch my routine and track the results. On March 28, 2010 the residency will end and the computer will be removed from the gallery.

My residency in Toronto is from March 14-28.

The length of my presence in Training Room would be from March 19-28."

My proposal was accepted and now the residency is more interesting than what I had first imagined. The remote gallery connection and the individual project grants of $120 are two awesome developments for this!