FIGMENT
Swing Space Resident, 125 Maiden Lane, 9th Floor
A young visitor participates in Roshani Thakore's collaborative piece Unchurned at FIGMENT 2009, which brought over 13,000 people to Governors Island on June 12-14. (Photo by: Lindsay Buckley)
FIGMENT is a free annual weekend-long participatory arts festival on Governors Island. In 2009, FIGMENT's third year, the event welcomed over 13,000 participants, over 400 art projects, and utilized over 300 volunteers. In addition to the weekend festival, FIGMENT's programs in 2009 include the City of Dreams, a season-long exhibition of 16 large-scale interactive sculptures and an 18-hole artist-designed mini-golf course, free and open to the public on Governors Island until October 11.
FIGMENT is about participation. Precisely because it requires interaction between the art, the artist, and the viewer, participatory art can be a vehicle for personal and social transformation. FIGMENT's mission is to provide a forum for the creation and display of participatory and interactive art by emerging artists in a wide variety of disciplines including sculpture, performance, electronic art, and multidisciplinary work while at the same time building community among artists and working to help imagine a sustainable future for Governors Island.
FIGMENT is a project of Action Arts League, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, and is produced by a large team of volunteers.
Thanks to LMCC's Swing Space program, FIGMENT will have a temporary home to work in and to hold team meetings to prepare for FIGMENT 2010, and to organize its off-season fundraisers and events.
