Slop and Spontaneous Society

Jon Cotner will be leading "Spontaneous Society" on June 9, 10, 16 and 17th in different places throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. To give you some idea of what you're in for, read about one of his projects from this past winter.

From Jon:

In February 2011, the day following a blizzard, I took a 90-minute walk around Brooklyn during which every sentence I spoke contained the word “slop.” Here’s a 2-minute mp3 of that walk called “Slop”.

New York City is an infinite zone for walking and talking. On any given day, you can have either sustained or quick conversations – depending on your preference. Many dialogues unfold with people you’ll never see again (in spite of the common farewell “See you later”).

The “slop” walk was designed as an experiment. I’d searched my brain for a word uniting us all, one arousing laughter and frustration, and “slop” is what I came up with. So I hit the slushy sidewalks.

“Slop” ends with a violet-haired hairdresser on cigarette break in front of a slop pile. I said: “It must be nice to smoke a cigarette and contemplate the slop.” Her response: “Exac...you know what? That’s, I thought you were gonna say how beautiful – no, you’re absolutely right. Absolutely.”

I couldn’t have anticipated this response, or any of the others. At bottom “Slop” is a meditation on the city sidewalk’s humorous randomness.

+++
While you're at it, pick up one of Jon Cotner/Andy Fitch's highly praised "Ten Walks/Two Talks" from Ugly Duckling Presse.