“Bodega Booty” was a recreation of a New York City bodega, with authentic shelving and reconsituted convenience store products. The exhibit was interactive, and functioned as a love poem to bodegas, while also raising awareness of the energy created by these idiosyncratic community centers. Visitors to the show encountered shelves with typical convenience items, including milk, candy bars, tylenol, and toilet paper.
The packages had been emptied of their contents,
de-branded and painted white. Instead of content descriptions or directions, the label affixed to each product described it through a short haiku-like poem. Shoppers were invited to bring their desired purchase
to the cash register, and gain ownership over it for $10, which was then donated to the community-building arts programming at Buzzer Thirty. Inside each package, like prizes in a Cracker Jacks box, were digital photos of the original contents which could be framed or mounted as desired by the purchaser. Audio of interviews with local Astoria residents about their favorite bodegas played on a loop in the exhibition space.
Bodega Booty (1.8MB)
Excerpts from audio track, 2:41 running time
You will need RealPlayer, or WinAmp to play the excerpt.