To record this episode, we headed to Frieze New York ‘s tented art fair on Randall’s Island. We were looking for Japanese artist Koki Tanaka to learn more about his interest in the island’s invisible communities. An array of picnic tables from a nearby park defined the space where Koki told a different Randall’s Island story each day, introducing communities and histories that lay outside the art fair’s reality. Our episode includes voices—Koki Tanaka and local firefighter Michael Gallo, and music—a vintage recording of  Count Basie and his band playing at the Carnival of Swing that took place on Randall’s Island in 1938, and a song recorded just last week with whistling sax0phonist Bill Todd!

Koki Tanaka, Versatile Distance (Five Days Activities), 2014
Form: activity | Materials: participants, picnic table, text, monitor, laptop computer
Duration: 5 days (May 8 – 12, 2014)
Participants: Mike Gallo (firefighter); Jane Lecroy (poet); Bill Todd (Jazz player); John Honerkamp (Jogger); Eric Peterson (Historian)
Commissioned and produced by Frieze Art Inc. for Frieze New York Projects 2014

Sound Editor: Kris McConnachie | Episode Sound: George Gershwin,”I’ve Got Rhythm,” performed on Randall’s Island by Count Basie and his band at the Carnival of Swing, 1938, and by jazz saxophonist Bill Todd, May 10, 2014. Photos: Koki Tanaka and Amy Sherald, as noted in captions.