An interactive art project is waiting at the Dirt Palace in Olneyville Square for a little food. Please Feed the Monster is a collaborative sculpture that can change daily depending on what people “feed” it. But what do you “feed” to a monster?
“The Monster is a sculpture that asks people to offer something that has some sort of significance,” artist Lindsay Wallace said, “It wants something that represents what you might not have been able to verbalize in conversation.”
24 hours a day, seven days a week, the Monster has been waiting for those in the Providence area to come by and offer something. “It is a forum,” Ms. Wallace continued, “it is a place for place for people to come together that isn’t a boardroom or a flyer or post card, it is a physical thing.”
The Monster is a Menajeri Production, a Providence-based collaborative effort that used to be located in the Vingi Building, a large mill space which is now being renovated and converted to condos. Much of what divides the city is “the secret Providence theme” of artists and developers. “For many people in the community – the open forums, community meetings, and press coverage have not altered the results but only changed the dynamics: the conversation stays the same.” Please Feed The Monster is a different way of channeling “the Secret Theme that swirls all around us.”
“The concept of ‘Menajeri’ is a unity that connects points of experience,” Ms. Wallace states firmly. “The idea is if people of various mentalities can offer something to a common entity, then unity is a result of that action.” The Monster isn’t an answer to unite artists with developers, or developers with developers, or even artists with other artists. “Expression is the only common ground,” she says, “So the Monster’s food is expression.” And as she eloquently stated, an expression of dislike – if it has been really considered – is actually an act of love because it is anchored by communication.
The monster itself is a large, sewn mouth made out of bright fabrics and hung outside the Dirt Palace window. Putting your hand through the Monster’s wide lips feels like an act of absurdity. But absurdity, as Ms. Wallace points out, “has been one of the great vehicles throughout history to document progressive thinking.”
You have only a few days left to Feed The Monster. Ride, drive, or walk over to the Dirt Palace to do it in person. If you missed the chance, you can visit www.dirtpalace.org, which could be considered a digital act of absurdity.
