Christopher Mikael CarstanjenBroadway between W 119th St and W 118th StHeart Four · Location 405 · Drawn July 2004Download photograph 1Download photograph 2Download photograph 3Download photograph 4Download photograph 5Download photograph 6Download photograph 7Download photograph 8Download photograph 9Download photograph 10Download photograph 11Download photograph 12Download photograph 13Download photograph 14Show all 14 photographsVideo podcast0:00This reclining figure was drawn in the middle of the street.0:03At Broadway and West 119th Street,0:07there is a low, knee-high, yellow concrete wall on the south side of the street.0:13There's a bench facing the surface that we drew on,0:16and the top of the wall is aligned with a serrated, blunt, metal edge0:21to discourage sitting or lying.0:25This is Christopher Mikael Carstanjen.0:28He was drawn in July of 2004.0:32His drawing is counting one person.0:36In September of 2001, I had my studio in Jersey City with my comrade Rob.0:44And I had before me a PC from 1997 that was...0:49Little Lady?0:50[unclear] that her name?0:50Little Lady?0:51That was Little Lady.0:52The little lady had a Pentium 1-133 tucked away in its interior and was not really...1:03It's a good computer. In fact, it lives to this day. It still does its job. We use it for testing.1:09That computer is our what America might be using computer.1:13And so that computer still is our barometer for how our webpages behave.1:20Presuming that everybody has the lowest common denominator of technology.1:24Everyone has, hopefully at their worst, that computer.1:28And so that computer also only has a 28K hookup in the back.1:35So it's very slow.1:37Oh, yes.1:40The first decision was, my computer is not going to cut it.1:44I need to buy another computer.1:46How did you find it? What money did you use to buy that computer?1:49My health insurance fund.1:51So I actually stopped my health insurance and used whatever money I had stored away in case of an injury2:00and used that to purchase the computer.2:03I bought one of the new iBooks at the time and brought home this little Macintosh,2:10use whatever money I could to put, you know, it was one of those like Ram, food for Ram programs.2:17You're like, well, you know, if I do two meals, two meals a day for the next three weeks,2:22I can buy an extra stick of Ram for this thing.2:25So it's one of those situations.2:27So I got that Ram boost up to up over 300.2:30That was exciting.2:36Humorist, gardener, motorcycle enthusiast, philosopher.2:40That is how Christopher Mikael Carstanjen liked to be known.2:45His nickname for himself was Mr. Wonderful,2:48and the line he most identified with was from the filmmaker Federico Fellini.2:52There is no end. There is no beginning.2:55There is only the infinite passion of life.2:58Listen and surround yourself with positive people3:01[unclear] Mr. [unclear]← Location 404Heart Four · Location 405Location 406 →
