Interview with the Artist

This interview conducted with Rosemary Feit Covey, artist, by Susannah Parnin at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, July 3.2007.

S. What is the 0 Project

R. The 0 Project is an interactive installation art piece involving participation worldwide. It can be projected indoors and on buildings and can be printed any size. Thematically it expresses the voicelessness we all often feel about some of our deepest concerns. These concerns may be addressed if the cause is obvious or there is money to be made by bringing attention to the issue. Whole corporations will be formed and the mass marketing consumer culture will even sell greeting cards to promote a specific agenda. However, if your concerns are more subtle, personal or cannot be addressed in a massive manner the 0 Project may offer you a forum. The image acts as a catalyst and therefore has been made available for any imaginative or artistic use by the viewer. These responses accumulated become the evolving core of the project.
S. Is this the only meaning for the project?

R. No, art is always open for interpretation. Some have seen the image as relating to the Holocaust, younger people have mentioned zombies. It is also ambiguous whether the expression of many causes, speaking at once does not eventually lead back to voicelessness. Artistically, I have always felt kinship with Edvard Munch and this piece is a direct homage and reply to The Scream. As that scream has been used both seriously and to the point of cliché in the form of rubber dolls and tote bags so, hopefully, The 0 Project will also raise both serious issues and fanciful responses both from the art work and the nature of the project.
S. How has the image been used or displayed so far?

R. It was first exhibited indoors at the 2006 National Juried Competition, Works of Art on Paper at Long Beach Institute of the Arts and Sciences, juried by Carter E. Foster, Curator of Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art.

In October the 0 Project will wrap the outside of the Arlington Arts Center for five months. The piece printed on DuPont™ Tyvek® banner media will be 15 feet by 300 feet long. The 0 image was selected as an outdoor sculpture project over hundreds of other applicants in the mid-Atlantic region. The Arlington Arts Center will host a series of programs for adults and children, during the period the piece is on display, in conjunction with the theme of the project.

Another truly amazing use for the project kicked off in June. It can viewed on 2nd Life a Internet based alternative reality, involving 7,000,000 plus people worldwide. On 2nd Life a whole world of possibilities exist with competitions, gallery exposure and constant additions to the project. The 0 Project on 2nd life will weave the alternative world and the real world together at the opening in Arlington. If you want to understand this you will have to come and see it.

The 0 Project is also being used by a rock band, in the Netherlands and a gallery in Toronto will project the piece and have a concurrent exhibition with the opening in Arlington. It has inspired music and written work and this is just the beginning.
S. How did you come up with the original concept?

R. The art work was designed as a drawing. Originally I meant the drawing to be a design for a print. I was working on a photo copying machine to see if it joined together in a repeat pattern correctly, when I realized the original drawing was stronger thematically than the planned engraving. It grew literally from there.

I had done printmaking on DuPont™ Tyvek® a product made by DuPont. I love it’s durability and paper like surface and thought it might be perfect for creating the piece to hang outdoors. When I started searching for others who had used DuPont™ Tyvek® as a banner product, I found very few large scale examples. I contacted DuPont and explained my proposal for using DuPont™ Tyvek® in this manner. They were intrigued and have provided the product and much assistance. I was also helped by a wonderful woman at Hewlett Packard. She personally believed in the project and worked with me finding a printer with the imagination and large scale printers necessary to produce the art work. Scott Snoyer who owns a FASTSIGNS franchise in Antioch Tennessee was kind enough to do the printing pro bono. All these companies made the idea a reality and I am extremely grateful.

The projection is a flash video made from the art work.
S. How do we get involved with the Project?

R. The O Project is still underfunded, so that is a major concern. We are hoping to have many children’s workshops, a speakers corner (like the one in London) and a catalog connected to the Arlington Exhibition of the piece. Arlington Arts Center is a 501c3 charitable institution and will accept donations.
Artists can send art work to the project website in response to the piece or the theme of voicelessness. The same thing applies to music and written response