Is it Art? Peds Artists Cross Aesthetic Boundaries

Author: Abbie Beane

Do you remember this old project? An ongoing performance work founded in 1990, performers dressed in costumes, inspired by pedestrian crossing signs, which appeared in public locations for impromptu performances as well as completely choreographed works for specific venues. We're talking about the Pedestrian Project.

Yvette Helin, a conceptual artist in New York, looked up at a street sign one day in 1990 and came up with this now fairly well-known concept. The familiar "Ped X-ing" symbol, with its generic black graphic, led her to wonder, "Who is that person?" Helin, also a costume designer, decided to "bring the symbol to life" by dressing up as the anonymous figure and cruising the streets. Using Lycra, cotton and polyester costumes and aided by a few grants, her concept then became the Pedestrian Project, a group of nine artists and performers who turned up in public places (like Grand Central Terminal) to address social ills from child abuse to "insane morals." But their evocations weren't always serious. At times they also "went shopping in Beverly Hills," Helin said.

But how should this rather well-known project be interpreted in a deeper respect? Is life seen by these artists as something of a walking shadow, as some in the press claimed? Or it may be as Helin puts it, "that it's ironic. By deliberately becoming nobodies, the Pedestrians have become somebodies. Going out as a generic person gets us tons of attention." And this attention was especially useful in drawing the public's eye to the social issues that the group aimed to address.

A 1995 issue of the magazine Details reported, "A model family hits the streets. At once mysteriously faceless and strangely familiar, these life-size walking icons have made even the most jaded urbanites stop in their tracks." At that time, reported Details, Helin and her troop of five to eight costumed "Peds" made regular appearances in New York, Los Angeles and other cities, mingling with onlookers and performing silent "dances" with synchronized via walkie-talkies hidden inside the Peds' spherical heads. According to Helin, reactions to the performances had ranged from bemusement to outright hostility. During one appearance on the New York subway, a policeman told them it was against the law to ride the trains with concealed faces.

The Pedestrian Project had also gained recognition on several occasions in The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal Constitution after these ambiguous black figures were seen strolling down streets, walking their fake canine counterparts and performing for the public in locals anywhere from Grand Central Station to the World Trade Center.

Yet the question still remains: does this sort of medium have the capability to effectively carry out a more complex, underlying purpose? Or more importantly, was it art?