JUMP: war

JUMP (2008) is a collaborative project with Asherah Cinnamon, Stefanie Loeb, Nina Petrochko, Martha Piscuskas in which they jump rope in a public area while asking each other questions. Their questions held topics about war. They wanted to inspire discussions about war by presenting a visual expression with multiple points of view. The artists invited the public to jump, turn the rope, or ask questions in order to introduce many points of view about the war in Iraq. They aimed to bring this discussion out into public to contradict our "isolation and emotional numbing toward the Iraq war".

I think this is a creative way of producing temporary public art that can impact the public or get them involved. War is a topic that every individual has an opinion about, and bringing it out into the public as a sort of "game" makes it less intimidating. I think these artists did a great job of allowing the public to express their opinions or ask questions with ease.


"The artists jump rope while addressing questions to each other in a traditional call and response format. These questions elicit feelings and memories related to war in general and the Iraq war in particular. The project began with collecting many lists of words associated with war, from a wide variety of individuals and group representing differing points of view. This ongoing list informs the questions that are verbalized during the act of jumping. The physiological act of jumping counteracts the lethargy of powerlessness that people often feel in the face of war and large social issues. The public is invited to turn the rope, jump rope, ask questions or watch."

There was an installation documenting this Public Art Performance on the front window of Congress Street in Portland in summer 2008.