Clothing, body and context. These three elements combine in the creative activism of Julia Mandle, who makes live, site-specific art that interrupts the public sphere and activates people to engage it in novel and meaningful ways.

Mandle is founder and director of Julia Mandle Performance, a Brooklyn-based, experimental arts organization that promotes performance art as a critical tool to reconnect us in the everyday and inspire our participation in the local environment. Mandle's work has explored issues of urban identity, civic responsibility, and community renewal, posing questions like "How do we, through our daily activities and thoughts, affect the environment around us?"

Her public performances are intended to arrest the passerby, inviting her/him to pause, tune in and question the information or context at hand. Performers donned solid chalk shoes (invented by Mandle) to slowly trace the outlines of forgotten historical sites in Lower Manhattan and Queens (for the projects Kalch 1998 and Hustle 2005). Bright orange costumes worn during over a hundred performances helped focus public attention on the future of a busy, but oft-overlooked Brooklyn neighborhood (Variable City 2003). While painstakingly embroidered and embellished clothing and cloth napkins urge people to consider their participation in democratic society (Chicky Meal 2007).

Mandle's unique methods for slowing down the public were enough to get us interested. But it is her dedication to deep research, participatory processes, and community-building-- and not least the mindfulness that pervades every stage of her work-- that makes her a shining example for these pages.

Julia Mandle Performance >