You, Specific or General draws from two parallel archives of materials related to the contemporary speculative economy. The collectively written audio track draws from foreclosure and other legal documents received by Boston area residents resisting displacement: each instance in which the word “you” appears has been isolated, recombined, and read aloud by these documents’ recipients. The visual track draws from Hollywood films, TV shows, and YouTube videos, which key into the ways that real estate speculation and displacement are encoded in the cultural imaginary. Composed entirely of these found materials, the project excavates the ways that power is exerted in our contemporary moment through words, images, and sounds.

 

The piece is part of a larger body of collaborative public projects developed with members of City Life/Vida Urbana, a community organization that works with homeowners and tenants in Greater Boston to resist displacement. Text and audio by Ray-Ray Farrales, Heather Gordon, John Hulsey, Carolyn Lomax, Ken Tilton. Video by John Hulsey.

 

John Hulsey brings many years of experience designing and implementing large scale  community-based   public art works  using projection and sound.  Notable examples include 72 Hours and Letters to Bank of America, both of which featured projections  on  buildings  in public  spaces,  and Noises Over Norwell, a project that used  pirate  radio. Hulsey's technical skills include all aspects of videography, public projection, audio­ visual installation, and sound design. In addition, he is experienced in a variety of fields  such as  performance,  writing,  recombinatory poetics, and painting. He was trained at Harvard University and the University of Paris III, and has worked as an artist, video maker and film editor in Boston since 2007. His works have been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Vice, Creative Time Reports and The American Prospect among other national and international publications.