The Market of Toys

A three-part exhibition by the seminal Polish artistic collective Akademia Ruchu, "The Market of toys" included live performance, video and printed material, the first time an exhibition featuring all three elements was presented in the Crossroads of the World. The performance series was composed of four distinctive, minimalistic, single-element actions representative of Akademia Ruchu's forty years of experience working in the public realm. These austere, participatory interventions simultaneously contrasted and emphasized the vibrant character of Times Square and its dense multitude of visitors. The performances were complemented by video chronicling some of the collective's seminal performances. These 30-second videos played every five minutes on ten CEMUSA newspaper kiosks located between 34th and 48th Streets. A printed exhibition in the form of a newspaper that documented Akademia Ruchu's deep history of socially and politically driven public performances was distributed to visitors. Known as the "theater of behavior," Akademia Ruchu has been a political sounding board in Poland since its establishment in 1973 in Warsaw.

Presented in partnership with Performa 13 and the Polish Cultural Institute of New York