Wall Street Crab Feast:
A Participatory Performance Trafficking in Vernacular Culture
On a Saturday afternoon in June, 2000, at the height of the world stock market boom, I held a crab feast at the rooftop space of the artists’ collective 16 Beaver Group, located just two blocks from the New York Stock Exchange in the heart of Manhattan’s Financial District.
The event brought the marginalized culture of my hometown Baltimore into the midst of the global economy’s command center. A traditional backyard crab feast is as much a social space for community and family discussion as it is a meal. Artists from around the world - including Finland, Japan, Italy, Germany and Ireland - were invited to take part in the free event.
