The Chalkboard Chronicles

The Chalkboard Chronicles is a documentary film about a curated art show, which occurred in 1997 in Soho, NYC. Artist Tom Judd assembled a team of established as well as up-and-coming artists. He created a game where the rules were very simple.

Tom hung 3 chalkboards in the gallery front window of TZ Art at Grand and Wooster Streets. The entire show would be up for 4 weeks. Each week, 3 artists would show up and start work. They each got a chalkboard and some chalk. What they did with those materials was entirely up to them. Their work would stay up for a week. At the end of each week, Tom would erase the boards. The next morning, 3 new artists arrived and began the process anew.

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This documentary short film captures the entire event, filmed over the course of a month. Coupled with modern-day updated interviews with the surviving artists from 2014-15, The Chalkboard Chronicles not only revisits a fascinating art “happening” from a particular era of Soho NYC, but it also explores the deeper connections to the creative process, impermanence in art itself, and the common connections we all share to an iconic symbol from our youth.

ArtYard recreated the original Chalkboard Chronicles project using the same vintage chalkboards from the original installation, and 12 guest artists

Description:

– Three chalkboards will be hung in The Project Gallery at ArtYard. The entire show will be up for 4 weeks.

– At the beginning of each week, 3 artists will show up and start work. They each will get a chalkboard and some chalk. What the artist will do with those materials will be entirely up to them.

– Their work will stay up for a week.

– At the end of each week, the boards will be erased.

– The next morning, 3 new artists will arrive and begin the process anew.