Wild Thing

MOVE ME is a public art project currently taking place in and around our fair city.  The Cambridge Arts Council, the Cambridge Public Library, and artist Roberta Paul have collaborated on this project, which was inspired by Paul's travels to the Serengeti.   The event, which includes a four-week gallery exhibition at the Cambridge Arts Council and a two-week continuous performance in the streets, investigates themes of immigration, national identity, and life transitions through the metaphor of animal migration.

The gallery exhibition will run from April 2-June 15, 2012 at the CAC Gallery on the second floor of the City Hall Annex at 344 Broadway.  The "pop up" part of the project will travel through the streets of Cambridge for several weeks starting with MBTA trolleys on April 9. The wrapped vehicles are meant to surprise viewers and hopefully begin a community dialogue about borders and barriers.  Those of you who use the Main Library may recognize the images that hung on display in one of the windows of the Beech Room earlier this year. 

Cambridge was selected as a starting point for this project because of the diversity of people and cultures found here. Within our 6.3 square miles you will find residents who come from all over the world and speak a myriad of languages. MOVE ME is about hearing the stories of Cambridge residents as they move through and around the borders of their neighborhoods.

The Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge Community Center, and StoryStream Cambridge worked together to the gather personal stories of immigration, migration, and boundaries. Last fall trained volunteers interviewed residents, and if you visit the CAC Gallery you will find that their stories have been integrated into the exhibition.