WHAT?

Have you ever wanted to sit in your car while singing Row Row Row Your Boat, with a video camera trained on you? Now is your chance!

HAPPY CAMPERS, when finished, will be a multi-channel digital video. Six video monitors will be arranged in a campfire circle, projecting inward. Appearing on each monitor will be a series of individual motorists (including YOU), each singing a few choruses of Row Your Boat. Voices will interweave: the result will be at times harmonious, at times cacophonous. In any event, it will be fun for participants and audience alike.

WHEN?

You can sign up for your very own half-hour time slot, at your convenience. Click the CALENDAR on the right side of this page for available days and times.

WHERE?

The video shooting will take place in the Kingfield neighborhood of Minneapolis, in a two-car garage that I’ve rented especially for this project. Download a map and directions HERE.

WHY?

Every half-baked 21st Century conceptual art project begs the question: WHY? (Or, as my Uncle Melvin remarked, “For this they gave you thousands of dollars?!) HAPPY CAMPERS is a conceptually layered project that examines the isolation of the automobile in our complex age. Many of us have personal ideals that place high value on the natural environment – at a time when global warming poses a growing threat – but the realities of contemporary life do not always permit us to act in accordance with our ideals. We find ourselves in rush-hour traffic, alone in our automobiles, adrift in a sea of other motorists. The prevalence of cars occupied by solitary drivers during peak commuting hours is a problem that most motorists are aware of, but feel personally incapable of alleviating. Hence, stop-and-go traffic conditions occupy the realm of collective denial…”What problem? “ At these times, stuck in an interstate logjam, the lyrics ring eerily true: … Life is But a Dream…

HAPPY CAMPERS is intended, above all, to offer genuine enjoyment for those who participate as well as for those who visit the finished, public presentation. Likewise, I hope the project BLOG will become a forum through which people of many different backgrounds can have an informal conversation about automobile dependence in a world whose natural resources we are rapidly depleting. I invite you to share personal stories of victory and defeat on the HAPPY CAMPERS blog.(I pray that some veteran car-poolers will share their stories… and perhaps even bring a carful to the video shoot!) HAPPY CAMPERS will only succeed with your participation!

EXHIBITION

All of the video sequences (of people like YOU singing Row Your Boat) will be shot throughout the month of June 2012. Next, the sequences will be edited into long-playing digital video loops. Ultimately, HAPPY CAMPERS will be exhibited publicly in the Twin Cities! At present I am still looking for a venue for the 2013 debut of HAPPY CAMPERS. Please contact me if you would like to suggest a location, and stay posted on this website for updates.