Over this summer, one night a week, you could find Jeffrey Packard's Cafe Thou Art in the small park at St. Mark's Church. It might still be there.
Packard sits with friends and passersby on folding chairs, by a neon sign, a pink flamingo, and a miniature mini-golf course (there's only one hole). If you stop and look curiously at it for a moment, he'll invite you to take a swing. It's not an easy shot.
On the Cafe Thou Art homepage, Packard writes, "The idea of the café is to create a place where people can meet. In its simplest form, the café consists of 2 chairs, a table, the lit neon sign: 'Café Thou Art' and refreshments and of course, mini-golf. The installations are sculptures that assemble time, space, and people. They are constructed in the Public domain to express the openness and expansiveness of hope in humanity."
It's a rare experience to sit and talk to strangers in a city where cafes are filled with laptops and cell phones--but even this installation has a live stream.
no, no, no, no,
ReplyDeleteSee, now the yunnies have discovered this place, and next thing you know they'll be serving cupcakes and fro-yos and a permanent brunch with signature cocktails, and will be filled with laptops and cell phones, and this place will be booked for a private bachelorette parties. Or maybe the hipsters will congregate here and plan their next "Art Party".