June 22, 2010 is a day to go down in history. On this seemingly normal Tuesday traders, workers, and tourist's on wall street didn't know what was in store for them. Franklin Furnace funded this particular street performance and as an intern I had the wonderful opportunity to attend, hand out the artist cards and await the press. We started at the Franklin Furnace office and I met Dread and the crew. Martha Wilson and I left first and got to Wall Street where we waited on the steps of the Federal Hall for Dread to emerge from the subway station.The whole performance was planned perfectly. Everyone involved met at the steps to wait for Dread. To the general public we were only a group of people on Wall Street with no intentions of "disorderly conduct". Shortly before Dread arrived, a fire truck had stopped on the corner. I thought it may have been an omen, but it was just an opportunity for tourists to take pictures. Then came Dread wearing a shirt with safety pinned bills ranging in domination from $1s to $20s, a total of $250.00. He was prepared with a metal bucket in which to put the bills after set aflame. There was also a bucket of water just in case the act was stopped due to safety issues or arson. This act of lighting money on fire is an allegory for the stock market where billions of dollars can vanish if the market dips. Dread came singing "Money to Burn" in a tune that I later found out can be traced back to the rag sellers of early urban America. We discreetly followed him as he walked in front of the New York Stock Exchange and lit the first bill. He asked the public if they too had money to burn and a few volunteers burnt their own bills. I joined in with a limp dollar bill which would not light successfully probably due to the fact I had it in my palm for a few minutes. That was anti-climactic but the event otherwise was not. The act of burning money, which is federal property could or could not be deemed illegal and no one knew exactly what was to happen if and when the police got involved. In fact, bail was set aside if imprisonment occurred. What was fun for me was listening to the reactions of the viewers. I had my sketchbook with me and wrote down some quotations. "Why don't you give that money to charity? Or those affected by BP" one British woman said. "He's burning perfectly good money, they better fucking arrest him" said a man in a designer suite on his iphone. And the classic "What's going on?" One man came up to me and simply asked "Why is he doing this?" A lot of people just walked by, probably in a rush and thinking, "Eh whatever, it's New York." Even a bike tour passed through.
The performance lasted for a good 30 minutes until the cops interfered and formed a circle like sharks around Dread asking him to stop. The best part was they really didn't seem to know exactly what to do as it's not everyday they deal with people burning dollars in front of the Stock Exchange. They had to call the authoritie's authority. A very scary lady cop told people they were blocking the walkway and to move. Really though the cops in their circle were blocking the walkway but that's not something you can tell them. The authorities did their thing and gave Dread a ticket for "disorderly conduct". Dread left with his bucket singing "Money To Burn" which was a great way to exit the scene of the crime, that is if it is deemed a crime. Witnessing this event was amazing and I loved the piece. I think it made enough of an impact to those on Wall Street although their minds are like brick walls. The fact that the press did not arrive and that it did not become more of an issue I think was better than it becoming a huge ordeal. Dread made his visual protest and was able to leave respectfully. Afterwards we went to lunch and it was an honor to dine with the artist, his family and Franklin Furnace staff.
On the train ride home to Yonkers I drew in my sketchbook on the page for press information that never happened.
At the same time I was sketching, a song which I think may have been The Roots was playing on shuffle on my ipod and one lyric spoke out to me. "When there's nothing else to burn you have to set yourself on fire." I thought it was a great line to sum up the day.
To check out Dread Scott's other works and to learn more about "Money to Burn" please visit his website at http://dreadscott.net/. To view the video of Money to Burn click here. Thanks for reading the Franklin Furnace Blog, please become a follower if you have a blogspot or google account!
- By Andrea Lynn Anastasia Bartunek
-Franklin Furnace Intern and street art enthusiast
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