Onto UM
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On-going site-specific, multi-media and entrepreneurial public artwork created by Jerry Beck in partnership with Ed Marshall. 2008/2009
What happens when you take a visual artist and force him to make poetry, and a poet and force him to make art? UM...What happens when you mix innovative entrepreneurialism with anti materialism? UM...How can a store of products show how the avant-garde can respond to transform a neighborhood with new ideas about the creative economy? UM...In other words, consumerism, public art, and urban development may never be the same!
ONTO UM is an art and poetry project developed by Jerry Beck and Ed Marshall that investigates and celebrates personal and social identity, American capitalism and consumerism, urban revitalization and community activism, and a range of issues surrounding contemporary art and poetry. Adapting itself to a range of forms, an old-fashioned store, this public artwork features: a deli where the public can purchase poetry by the pound; a series of odd consumer items, protest signs dealing with relationships; souvenirs and collectibles.
ONTO UM’s first show included the renovation of a historic building at 155 Middlesex Street in Lowell and featured a series of performances and special eventsincluding the Size Matters: More Poetry, an open-mic-night of short poems exploring the sexual and emotional, love and hate, longing, and missed opportunities. The late-night event also featured belly dancing, edible art, and magic tricks. The Mythic ONTO UM Road Show, was another unique traveling show using two yellow school buses to take the public on a journey to experience an interconnected series of installations and performances in abandoned sites.
