Thursday is a Work of Art Participants Walking through Downtown Hartford
PhotographerPhotographed by
Wayne Fleming
(American)
Date1978
MediumPhotography; color slide on plastic in cardboard mount
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of Robert Gregson
CopyrightCopyright held by the Connecticut Historical Society. See object file for copyright transfer forms.
Object number2015.99.2.3
DescriptionSlide depicting a group of men and women, some in costume and wearing hats, one woman wearing a ball gown, walking down a sidewalk carrying balloons and props, including two cardboard cut-outs painted red and shaped like hands with pointing index fingers. One man carries a guitar case. One cardboard sign reads, "NAME EXCH[ANGE]".
Collections
Label TextThursday is a Work of Art was a public art program in downtown Hartford that took place for eight weeks in the summer of 1977 and 13 weeks in the summer of 1978. Every Thursday, people who lived, worked, shopped, and socialized in the city were confronted with public performance art that changed each week. The art was sometimes political, often controversial and confrontational, and was meant to inject some life into the city center. It was created by Sidewalk, Inc., an offshoot of the Knox Foundation (a Hartford-based non-profit), and was funded by Knox, the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), and local corporations, including United Technologies.
CETA was a federal law that provided money to train unemployed people for public service jobs, and in 1977 and 1978, the state of Connecticut received $3 million from CETA to employ people in the arts.
For two summers, Sidewalk, Inc. relied on CETA funding to bring its irreverent “art attacks” to people in Hartford, challenging them to interact with the city in unusual ways. The program was both loved and hated – the Hartford Courant covered it extensively, seemingly delighted by how silly and interactive it was, and simultaneously published letters to the editor in which people decried it for being trivial and making a mockery of one of its sponsors, United Technologies. In 1979, the CETA money had all but dried up, and United Technologies declined to renew its support of Thursday is a Work of Art.
NotesSubject note: This slide probably shows Thursday is a Work of Art participants walking to the opening ceremony. In Bob Gregson's video (https://vimeo.com/12575676), the same group can be seen at the 07:30 mark, then at 07:40 Ed Stivender appears, welcoming spectators to the opening ceremony.CETA was a federal law that provided money to train unemployed people for public service jobs, and in 1977 and 1978, the state of Connecticut received $3 million from CETA to employ people in the arts.
For two summers, Sidewalk, Inc. relied on CETA funding to bring its irreverent “art attacks” to people in Hartford, challenging them to interact with the city in unusual ways. The program was both loved and hated – the Hartford Courant covered it extensively, seemingly delighted by how silly and interactive it was, and simultaneously published letters to the editor in which people decried it for being trivial and making a mockery of one of its sponsors, United Technologies. In 1979, the CETA money had all but dried up, and United Technologies declined to renew its support of Thursday is a Work of Art.
Status
Not on view
