DIY: Text Machine - Spring 2011

The Public Space Assignment

Nicole and I decided to hang wishes on a tree and make a sign inviting people to tie their own wishes to the tree.

Easter Sunday ten a.m.

Last night a performance artist helped me install my work for the MFA show. I asked him what performance art was, he said to him it was not so much doing a performance for the public, but repeating the same action over and over, like hanging a picture.

So I cut wax paper into strips, wrote my wishes onto them and then tied them on the tree. Then I tied a sharpie and blank wax paper to the tree, for the public to write out their wishes and tie them on the branches. Mostly since it was Easter Sunday, families walked past me, after getting out of their cars and bundling in warm coats. I’d left my coat at home, which was a mistake.

A man pushing a stroller with two youngsters came over and said his son, who looked to be about three, wanted to know what I was doing.

“I am tying my wishes to this tree,” I said. “Do you have a wish?”

At first he smiled and said he didn’t and then his father said he was making a wish for Evie, his baby sister asleep in the double stroller by his side.

I plan to go back at three and see what the latest developments are over at the wishing tree.

Here’s the text I generated for the assignment, I made up new wishes as I went along. Thirty, oops, I mean 28, wishes or so

I wish I were thinner.

I wish I was already retired.

I wish I’d join the peace corps.

I wish relationships were easier.

I wish I would cook an entire dinner for one person.

I wish I was single.

I wish I was married.

I wish my thirteen-year old dog would die.

I wish my dog would live forever.

I wish I knew where I was going.

I wish I didn’t have to move ever again.

I wish the Koch brothers would support another cause besides the Tea Partiers.

I wish I could still get my degree in a month without attending another class.

I wish I watched the sun rise out of Lake Michigan and the sun set every day.

I wish I knew where I’ve been.

I wish I didn’t love chocolate.

I wish I had a home where I would live every day for the rest of my life.

I wish I had made more than one friend in the last two years.

I wish I had to pick one job from three offers.

I wish I’d used the money I spent on tuition to buy a new house.

I wish my sister was speaking to me.

I wish my brother was speaking to me.

I wish my sister-in-law was speaking to me.

I wish I could win an award.

I wish I was the president of the United States.

I wish that Libyans were free from dictatorship,

I wish the United States would not be at war.

I wish I had enough money to be able to retire.

I wish I’d figured out a lot who I was a lot sooner than yesterday.

I wish I’d already done my taxes.

I wish I wouldn’t have to die alone.

I wish I knew how to love myself.

I wish I couldn’t remember what my life was like when I was growing up.