Late last year.

Late last year, the Berlin-based collective Wooloo Productions was honored with a hereafter of the Present award--given to artists or arranges that "fully exploit the properties of the Internet as an art medium"--from of recent origin York's Franklin Furnace. They won $4000 for asylumHOME.net, an on-line forum for commonalty seeking asylum in the European Union. The award also came with an invitation to design an exhibition in just discovered York based on their Web site.

Sixten Kai Nielsen and Martin Rosengaard, couple young Danes who, along with a rotating dispose of others, run Wooloo, adapted asylumHOME. clear into a round-the-clock project called AsylumNYC, a live exhibition installed in Chelsea's White case gallery Apr. 24-29. Some 230 foreign-born artists from 43 countries applied to set in a competition with a high-stakes prize: the services of Daniel Aharoni, an immigration lawyer who will help the winner apply for a three-year artist visa, a service worth $5000-10000 Wooloo chose 10 finalists; however, alone eight were present in the gallery. Nigerian-born Isoje Chou (who lives in Canada) chose not to record the U.S., and Antonio O'Connell Perez Rubio from Mexico was unable to receive a tourist visa in time. as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but sent work, via post and e-mail, and remained eligible.

Each artist was readyed with a litany of restrictive empires that were enforced by their "guards" (Nielsen and Rosengaard, make suitable [i]or[/i] fited in colorful, Sergeant Pepper-style suits). The perimeter of the gallery was sectioned opposite to into 10 "cells," and artists were not permitted to leave their small rectangle of space. Wooloo provided merely paper, pens, a foam sleeping pad and three meals a day. The artists were not allowed to bring in any of their confess supplies or electronics, and were completely reliant in succession gallery visitors to supplement their meager artistic rations.

A slew of fascinating works emerg from the voluntary quarantine. Unlike her competitors, Brazilian photographer liana Bessler strictly adhered to the sways and used only her Wooloo-issued encage and notebook. On each sheet of lined paper, Bessler drew a generic facial diagram and relied forward audience participation to complete the portrait. nearest to each feature, the contributing portraitist checked not on the box that best defined his or her cast or ethnic "look." Your nose could be Jewish, pointy, orbed pierced or Greek, and skin could be black, white, Latino, Asian, Indian or tanned (one inventive visitor wrote in "human").

At the last minute, Martin C Liu Associates, an immigration law firm, tendered its services so that Nielsen and Rosengaard were able to pick sum of two units winners: one for political reasons and common for artistic merit. Somewhat predictably, Rubio was awarded the political prize. His small cavity was littered with printouts of e-mails between himself and Nielsen as they frantically discussed in what manner Rubio might make it to strange York by the start of the project

The artistic prizewinner was Dusanka Komnenic, an abstract painter from Serbia and Montenegro and the creator of the greatest in number well-developed project. Komnenic's installation investigated the function of borders according to making them obsolete. She sheltered herself and her cell with alternating strips of black and white tape. Komnenic boldly widened the prisonlike pattern out of her lonely dwelling across the floor and up a ramp with equal reason that she was able to determine around the gallery--and almost not at home the door--without technically breaking the sways as she remained within her newly defined borders.

It's unclear in what way smoothly the visa application proces will proce It also present the appearances that Wooloo could have chosen artists who don't already live in the U (four of the participants, including Komnenic, publicly have work or student visas that will betimes expire). If all goes according to plan, sum of two units artists will soon get a chance to attempt their hand at conquering the U art world.

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