Todd Shalom (Elastic City)

When You Cut into the Present the Future Leaks Out

Todd Shalom works with text, sound, and image to re-contextualize the body in space using vocabulary of the everyday. As founder and director of Elastic City, Shalom leads his own walks, collaborates with artists to lead joint walks, and works with artists in a variety of disciplines to adapt their expertise to the participatory walk format. Shalom often collaborates with performance artist/director Niegel Smith. Together, they conceive and stage interactive performances in public and private environments. Shalom is also a ringleader of Willing Participant. Willing Participant whips up urgent poetic responses to crazy shit that happens. In response to the Old Bronx Courthouse, Shalom led two participatory “Poetic Justice” walks on May 30th. Participants responded to the Melorse neighborhood of the Bronx and its abandoned courthouse through a variety of poetic prompts. Techniques from sound, movement, ritual and photography helped to frame the area, and perhaps each other, anew.