Video of the Day: 11 Spring Street Madness

wow, another great NYC event that's too crowded to experience, yaaaaay!

Got in line 11am Sunday. Just east of Bowery on Prince. Waited about 3 and half hours, but it actually went fairly quickly. It was great seeing the people get interactive with the outside of the building... adding their little touches. A bottle of sake also seemed to help pass the time too.

Fantastic show. I feel really lucky to have gotten to see it.

Does this mean we will no longer have to see three new "11 Spring Street" entries on every Gothamist page? Thank f*cking God. Get over it.

i was in town to catch the last two rainer maria shows and caught this on sunday. i waited for 4 hours to get in, but it was completely and totally worth the time it took. i was in the last group of people that got in before the cops forced them to close the doors around 5:20pm. the pieces were breathtaking, and i felt lucky to have been able to witness this once in a lifetime event (considering the rainer maria farewell shows it was a weekend for that sort of experience).

Does this mean we will no longer have to see three new "11 Spring Street" entries on every Gothamist page? Thank f*cking God. Get over it.

I waited about 45 minutes early Friday afternoon... I consider waiting until Sunday and bringing my kids, and am so glad I saw it when I did. I thought it was pretty amazing: real once-in-a-lifetime stuff.

I have pics and commentary here:

http://scoboco.blogspot.com/2006/12/wooster-on-spring-three-day-celebration.html

"what is gonna happen to the art now? did or will the artists get anything in return for this besides some modicum of recognition and the joy of doing art without getting busted? will the 11 spring street owners or someone else reap HUGE benefits from very, very valuable art in the years to come?

i heard that the works will be drywalled over... so the place will be a major collection of complete, fantastically well preserved "street" art of the early 21st century? what is it gonna be worth in 5,10, 20, 30 years from now? who will reap the monetary benefit of that? should anyone?"

for answers, read here. It will be preserved, no one was paid, and it is not allowed to be used for commercial purposes, nor in anyway, without the consent of the artists.

But that's a great question you raised.

"will the 11 spring street owners or someone else reap HUGE benefits from very, very valuable art in the years to come?"

This building has quite a history, and is a great candidate for preservation.

The affluent class who purchase these condos are getting art that is now, and will become, more valuable. Some will no doubt choose to keep pieces exposed during build-outs due to all the value created for the art by recent events...

Hopefully, they are just unwittingly acting as community stewards.

God willing, if this art is still there when it comes time for major redevelopement or demo, the community and legislative bodies can advocate for the building's preservation, along with all the art. Really having no choice but to turn it into a museum open to the public, at least.

If this event was as subversive as it seemed, start keeping your notes now, because they are gonna become very useful in the future.

Either that, or I just made all that up in my head, and everybody involved is gonna slowly but surely piece meal it out on the market.

Was this the last weekend to go see it? I wanted to go next weekend...

www.woostercollective.com basically answers all questions asked above.

I also enjoyed it and liked the vibe however I am reluctant to say it was "amazing". I felt like too many artists just did the same stuff that they would have done on the street. Why not put a little thought into it and do something unique and specific to this opportunity?

well, i LOVE this kind of art, but really feel that it belongs where it first was inspired and displayed... the streets.

so this leads me to some questions, and i simply am too lazy to do the the right search right now (maybe later)...

what is gonna happen to the art now? did or will the artists get anything in return for this besides some modicum of recognition and the joy of doing art without getting busted? will the 11 spring street owners or someone else reap HUGE benefits from very, very valuable art in the years to come?

i heard that the works will be drywalled over... so the place will be a major collection of complete, fantastically well preserved "street" art of the early 21st century? what is it gonna be worth in 5,10, 20, 30 years from now? who will reap the monetary benefit of that? should anyone?

that is why i prefer to keep it on the streets!

I got in line at 1 and was let in at 5:10-- 10 minutes after they were supposed to close. I couldn't breathe as I got closer to the door and almost creid when we got through. The show was insane and I dont't think that i'll ever see anything like it again. I would wait in that line again in a heartbeat.

thank you. i know. why do you think i'm flogging myself at this very moment?

Thanks for spoiling it for the rest of us, Anon. You're a real asshole.

that was shittiest video i've ever seen thanks to that soundtrack

I must confess... my friend and I waited in line for over two hours. When we hadn't even gotten to Rivington and Bowery yet and it became apparent that we weren't getting in because the line was so long... we casually cut the line on Elizabeth and walked into the show without incident or injury. Thank you to the people who let us cut the line.

I'm so glad I did. I'm still feeling guilty. But it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

thank you. now, i'll go flog myself.

i got there saturday morning at 10:30 and was inside at about 11:25. it was spectacular inside, so glad i got there early. i went by on sunday at 4:30 and the energy on the street was amazing. what a great sight.

We got there around 2:50 and joined the line at the corner of Elizabeth and Prince. We left at 4:50, and at that point we were just on the corner of Bowery and Spring--so a good two blocks and hundreds and hundreds of people away from the door. The line stretched way past us, too. They were telling us starting around 3:30 that there was a good chance we wouldn't make it in, but it seemed worth it to wait just in case.

We were very, very disappointed not to make it in. I really wish the hours could have been extended somehow, or that it could have been planned to be open for longer, or that they had rushed people through so that more people could view it, even for a few minutes.

I went on Sunday and got in after 2 1/2 hours. It was totally worth it.. took about 180 photos with my girlfriend, saw some amazing work- so much better than anything I've seen in Chelsea or Williamsburg over the years.

#2- The reason it wasn't so packed inside was because on floors 2,3,4,5 there's no subfloor beneath the existing/decaying 1" thick planks. Hench the massive 4" thick microlams that were used as makeshift paths spanning between joists on the upper floors. Even with those though, it was a wise idea not to let too many people up at a time...

Also, I heard a rumor that when the owners renovate, they will simply fur out the interior walls with drywall/insulation, and leave the art intact beneath that- resembling some kind of weird time capsule. Doesn't really sound believable, but can anyone confirm or refute this?

Just like Bossa Nova sounds best in Portuguese, Hip Hop sounds best in English.

We got there around 10:15 on Sunday morning and got in at about 11:50 (I was keeping track of the time b/c my gf had to be at work for 1:30). We were about half a block down Bowery from Spring when the doors opened.

WOW!!! That is some crazy line. I am lucky I went down on Friday afternoon and only waited for about a half hour. What a fantastic turnout!

Here are my pics of the art:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bomboloni/sets/72157594423610111/

I got off the 6 at spring st at exactly 2:13pm and waited in line (the end of which was located at Prince & Elizabeth) until about ten after 5. At that point I was still a good 100 or so people away from the door, and we had been told numerous times that we weren't getting in. It's such a shame that they couldn't keep it open any longer.

Did anyone who waited after they supposedly stopped letting people in actually get in? I almost don't want to know.

umm...everything indented and beyond on my comment above was spoken by Mark. I fukced up the blockquote tag.

Also, for whoever is interested, I have a boatload of material I hope to have posted by tonight. Lots of great video with the artists and of the art.

I showed up Saturday at 11:15. It took about 1h30 to get inside starting from the corner of Bowery and Spring. They could have fit more people inside. It seemed like they were only allowing about 100 people total on the upper floors, hence the slow line.

what a show, eh? The fact that so many came to see and be a part of speaks volumes about what people desire, and the community the wish to live in.

Mark from the Wooster Collective was very perceptive in his analysis on the huge response from the community when he said today on his site,

"All weekend people asked Sara and I - "Did you know that Wooster on Spring would be this fucking huge? They expect our answer to be something like -

"How can you ever anticipate that kind of madness? Of course not"

But in truth, we knew all along that it was going to be this big. Because for years there has been this pent up demand for a weekend like this, not only in New York, but in other cities all around the world. If you are a part of the contemporaty urban art scene, then you know that the crazyness of this weekend is only the tip of the iceberg.

We've known all along that people need to create art not because they are allowed to, but because in their heart, all they need is to be recognized for being a human being on this planet just like everyone else.