Artists will respond publicly to Zoe Leonard’s “I want a president” on the High Line (photo by Timothy Schenck)
Who: Eileen Myles, Justin Vivian Bond, Sharon Hayes, Pamela Sneed, Wu Tsang, Fred Moten, Nath Ann Carrera, Morgan Bassichis, Mel Elberg, Malik Gaines, Alexandro Segade, Layli Long Soldier
What: Artists respond to Zoe Leonard’s “I want a president”
Where: The High Line, Chelsea Market Passage, Little West Twelfth St.
When: Sunday, November 6, free with advance RSVP, 1:00 – 3:30
Why: In 1992, as Bill Clinton was battling incumbent George H. W. Bush for the presidency of the United States of America, artist Zoe Leonard delivered a passionate declaration about what kind of a leader she was hoping would take on the most powerful job in the world, a person who has experienced the trials and tribulations that everyone does. Her treatise began, “I want a dyke for president. I want a person with aids for president and I want a fag for vice president and I want someone with no health insurance and I want someone who grew up in a place where the earth is so saturated with toxic waste that they didn’t have a choice about getting leukemia. I want a president that had an abortion at sixteen and I want a candidate who isn’t the lesser of two evils. . . .” Now, just two days before America goes to the polls to vote in the most contentious presidential election in history, a group of fellow artists will come together on the High Line, under a large-scale version of Leonard’s typed letter with cross-outs, sharing their thoughts and ideas in response to the proclamation. “I am interested in the space this text opens up for us to imagine and voice what we want in our leaders, and even beyond that, what we can envision for the future of our society,” Leonard said in a statement. “I still think that speaking up is itself a vital and powerful political act.” From 1:00 to 3:30, Sharon Hayes, Fred Moten, Wu Tsang, Morgan Bassichis, Mel Elberg, Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade, Layli Long Soldier, Pamela Sneed, Eileen Myles, and Justin Vivian Bond and Nath Ann Carrera will get their turn at the bully pulpit for special readings and performances. (Myles, who ran for president in 1992 as an independent, is scheduled to go on at 3:00.) Leonard’s commissioned work, displayed on the western pillar of the Standard, will remain on view through November 17. Admission is free with advance RSVP.