Alyce’s Night in
Jail/Upsidedown LIFE Story, Friday, November 4, 2005
Last night was a
glorious crystal clear autumn evening in New York City. I got off the F train
bound from Brooklyn and wandered up First Avenue, past a few bustling bars,
past the tiny DJ booth/storefront, past a multitude of pizzerias, taquerias,
and laundromats, and past the row of Indian restaurants garishly decorated with
multitudes of disco balls, chili pepper lights, and Christmas garland that I’d
been frequenting since high school. One of the Indian markets had set up it’s
wares on the sidewalk, and I stopped to admire tables stacked with bags of
spices, teas, dried beans, candy-coated fennel seeds, and dried fruits. It made
me happy to be a New Yorker, where I could stumble upon orange flower water,
black sesame seeds, and homemade mango chutney on a street corner.
After a delightful
meeting with some friends at a bar on Second Ave, I was meandering back to the
train while keeping an eye out for appropriate spots to place a few of my
upside down LIFE stickers. I’m always on the look-out for those little gems,
spots that already have some renegade markings in spray-paint or stickers, where
the blocky red upside down LIFE might serve to complement an already-evolving
composition. That’s the addiction for me with graffiti…it’s like a musical
improvisation, everyone playing off the notes that others add.
Sometimes you get to
know a local player, and relationships form. For example, there’s someone who
does a spray-paint stencil of Bush’s head with the circle-slash symbol around
it, and whenever I spot one I almost always stick one of my DUMP W (upsidedown)
stickers nearby. Here in Brooklyn, someone with a sticker the exact same size
as my DUMP W ones, only with an ominous black background and a large white “W”
with the words THE PRESIDENT underneath, has been consistently sticking their
sticker OVER my sticker. It’s a thrill to know that there is a Bush supporter
out there who not only GETS my humor, they’re actually taking the time to
engage in the game with me.
In the case of the
upside down LIFE, there’s one sticker in particular – a similarly-sized one
with blue block letters on a white background that reads ALIFE – that I always
try to get close to, without being sure of its meaning. A quick internet search
revealed the following:
“Artificial Life is a
field of scientific study that attempts to model living biological systems
through complex algorithms. Scientists use these models to test and experiment
with a multitude of factors on the behavior of the systems.
Artists at Fusebox see
these algorithms as a starting point for a new artistic exploration where the
interactivity is not only between the user and the computer program but within
the computer system itself. We are just beginning to explore. Enjoy.”
How intriguing!
So last night, strolling
along, I spotted the ALIFE tag at the base of a light pole (at the southwest corner
of 2nd Ave. and 3rd St.). I took a moment to contemplate placement, then
struck. Just then I noticed what seemed to be an off-duty cab and three
motley-looking cabbies eyeing me. One moved closer and said with an accusatory
tone in the manner of one who is accustomed to dealing with unruly children, “What
did you just do?” And I admitted cheerily, but not entirely without suspicion,
that I had attached a sticker to the light pole. I handed him one of the
remaining stickers in the interest of clarification. The man said, again, with
more sternness than seemed necessary “What does it MEAN?” The goal of much of
my work is to evoke this very response – I am hoping to draw people into
discussions about the meaning and inspiration behind the pieces, many of which
I have come to refer to as “philosoprops”. I replied, “It’s a take on the LIFE
magazine logo. I usually place it where there’s already a patch of interesting
graffiti where it can contribute to the composition somehow.” And the man said,
as if I hadn’t revealed something that would make my true criminal nature
clearer in his mind, “BUT WHY DID YOU PUT IT UPSIDE DOWN?”
By now of course I
realized I was in some kind of trouble. But it seemed I was still ahead of the
game…the officer was asking some excellent questions…the sticker was indeed
working it’s magic as a “philosoprop”…and I guessed that before long the man
would come to appreciate the concept, at least enough to let me off whatever
hook I may be on.
Then the woman officer
said, “We’re going to have to arrest you.” “For putting a sticker on a pole?!”
I blurted back in disbelief. She replied, “That’s the law, and it’s our job to
enforce it.” Then she took my purse, and handcuffed my hands behind my back. I
was dumbfounded. I suggested that perhaps just making me pull the sticker off
the pole and promise not to do it again would be sufficient punishment for a
first offence, but they did not agree. They ducked me into the cab, which was
not a cab at all, but a squad car. I sat in the back seat with the lady cop,
while the more subdued of the two men sat in the passenger seat and took notes.
What was my age? 37. Had I ever been arrested before? Nope, never even had a
speeding ticket. Did I have any drug paraphernalia, weapons, or sharp objects
on me? No…I assured them I was about the most innocuous offender they could
possibly have hoped to capture.
They wanted to know more
about my motives. Why was the sticker placed upside down? They passed around Polaroids
of the crime scene. The were so perfect – the best philosoprops I could have
hoped for. I wanted to hold them, but couldn’t due to the handcuffs. Before I
realized how it might sound, I said, “I’ve never been handcuffed before.” The
men chuckled awkwardly, then the one driving said, “I’m not gonna touch that
one!” and the lady cop added, “Yeah, you better not.”
I explained that I was
actually a pretty legitimate artist. They asked if I could prove it, and I
offered them the address of my website. They seemed strangely impressed. The
driver immediately called a friend from his cell phone and had him look up my
website while we were driving. Sure enough, the guy could see a picture of his
friend’s captive, along with pictures of her work, including images of sites
where I’d wheat-pasted the larger (and potentially more physically destructive)
upside down LIFE posters. Ironically, I’d started using the stickers because
they were quicker and less conspicuous to deploy than the larger silkscreened
posters.
“The upside down LIFE is
just about how crazy things are in the world right now…everything’s a mess,” I
said. And they agreed. They reminded me again that they don’t make the laws,
they may not even agree with them, they just enforce them. They said that
they’d just come out of a meeting with Mayor Bloomberg, and that one of his big
campaign mottos is “A Clean City is a Safe City.” I grumbled.
We arrived at the
precinct in Alphabet City, on Ave C and 8th St. They took me into the room with
the cells. There was a sign on the wall saying, “Search your prisoner
carefully!” They removed my belt and jacket. Nothing with cords or strings
allowed. I could keep my shoes, since cowboy boots have no laces. I was also
allowed to keep my book – “Mexican Spanish” – which served as a kind of lozenge
– during the time I was incarcerated. I could make one call using my cell
phone, so I called my roommate to let her know that I would be late getting
home because I was in jail.
They shuffled a group of
men out of one of the cells and into another, uncuffed my hands, led me in and
shut the door behind me. I was locked in. Locked into a concrete and metal room
behind bars. For putting a sticker on a pole. I was acutely aware of the
absurdity of the situation. Fortunately, it was under circumstances that were
more amusing than horrifying. But I suddenly had an acute new awareness of the
fine line between the two. The fact remained that I had been jailed for
virtually no reason. What about others wrongly accused of much more serious
crimes, others much less socially privileged than myself? What about people from
other countries who don’t get to make their one phone call, who are locked away
without hope of a fair trial or even humane treatment? I stared at my book, attempting
to study Spanish vocabulary between thoughts. How would I have been feeling
without the refuge of my book? Would I have been able to quiet my mind, to
remain calm with absolutely nothing as a comfort or distraction?
I was removed from the
cell for fingerprinting. I put my palms on a scanner. The officer (the one
who’d been driving and was wearing a sweatshirt that said “DANGER: EXPLOSIVE:
KEEP BACK 500 FEET”) rolled each of my fingers across the glass as I watched my
prints come up on the screen. Then he took my mug shots with a digital camera.
It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. Mug shots! I was returned to
my cell, and assured that they’d try to expedite my case as quickly as
possible. I thanked the man, who seemed to have warmed up considerably, and
went back to my book.
The lady cop came and
asked me if I wanted a soda. I said no thanks, but I’d love some water. She
went off to the vending machine and came back apologizing that they were out of
bottled water. She said she didn’t want me drinking the tap water because it
might make me sick. She assured me that I’d be out within an hour, and offered
me a piece of gum.
Then some other officers
brought in a young woman, maybe 19 or 20, apparently strung out on something or
other, crying hysterically. My cops came over and advised me just to ignore
her. The girl came in and sat on the other end of the single wooden bench,
leaning her head against the concrete, sobbing. After a few minutes I asked her
what she was in for. She said trespassing, that she’d been squatting and had
gotten caught on the roof of the building trying to escape. She asked me what
landed me in jail, and I said graffiti. She asked me what kind, and I
explained. She said that she'd been making a political statement by squatting,
and that she was an anarchist. I had the impression that this was not my cellmate’s
first arrest. With exposed pink satin thong underwear, she climbed the bars,
yelling, rudely demanding that our captors bring her a cigarette. After awhile
one appeared, and we shared it. She fell soundly asleep with the cigarette
still burning between her fingers.
An hour and a half went
by, and the officers fumbled with paperwork and chatted about cat food at a
table not far from my chamber. Once in awhile Mr. Explosive would turn to me
and say, “Just a few more minutes!” or his cell phone would ring and it would
be his buddy on the internet with more questions about my work. They’d
discovered the fabric I weave from cassette tape, and wanted to know more about
my connections with the band Phish.
The woman cop and Mr. E.
went to go check the computer to see if my prints had come back from the main
office in Albany. That left only the quiet cop with the Yankees sweatshirt to
keep an eye on me. I asked him about the water situation, and again I was
advised against drinking the tap water, and reassured it wouldn’t be long
before I’d be out. I asked him if he’d been doing this job long, and he said 12
years. I told him it felt strange being locked up, but that I felt pretty
confident, being in the United States and in New York City in particular, that
nothing too terrible was going to happen to me. I told him that I trusted
completely, for example, that if I really needed water that someone would bring
me some, and how ironic it was that the reason I had none was because they were
trying to find me the bottled kind. He told me that he’d been in the military
for 8 years before becoming a cop, and how during that time he developed an
appreciation for the things we take for granted in this country, like clean tap
water and electricity. We agreed that Americans, as a whole, are pretty
spoiled. I told him I’d always wondered what it was like to be in prison, and
he offered that, although I was the one behind the bars, that he couldn’t
exactly leave his post either, and in fact was serving his second 12-hour shift
in a row. He said he never expected to be a cop, it just happened because he
needed to pay the bills. He said he doesn’t even agree with a lot of the laws
he enforces…he’s just doing his job. I suppressed the urge to ask what he would
do if he felt he had a choice.
And I thought to myself,
this experience is becoming oddly reminiscent of a scene from Beckett or
Sartre. Suddenly this poor man is the prisoner, and I am as free as a bird.
I’d been brought in at a
little after 9pm, and now it was after 2am. I’d been studying Spanish during
pauses in the conversation. Mr. E. was getting increasingly apologetic about
the amount of time it was taking to free me – the computers in Albany were
down. I assured him that I was fine, just a little thirsty. It would be no more
than another half an hour. Prisoners came and went in the cell next to me, but
I couldn’t see them, though I could hear them. One had been yelling for quite
some time that he needed to go to the hospital. Others were singing. Another man
was being asked by an officer if he was a US citizen. He said no, but that he
was a legal resident. The officer asked him where he was from, and he said
Bangladesh. The officer said, “Where’s that?” The man explained very patiently
and politely in a voice completely devoid of foreign accent, adding that he’s
lived in New York for over 10 years. The officer replied, “Well, it looks like
you’ll be going for a ride then.” The man said, “Sir? What do you mean by that,
Sir?” And the officer said, “We’ll be shipping you back.” And then there was
silence.
I stared at my book and
thought about what was going on all around me. My cellmate would be staying all
night, since she’d been picked up without ID. I would be getting my paperwork
from Albany, and would have to appear in court on December the fifth. My
officers assured me that I’d be let off on “time already served”, as long as I
showed up in court. Otherwise, there would be a warrant out for my arrest. My
contact lenses were dry. I was thirsty. I’d been locked up for 6 hours. What
about diabetics who find themselves suddenly in jail without insulin, or people
who have children or pets, or those who have to be at work on time? What about
people in other countries, travelers, people far away from home? What happens
to prisoners in an earthquake or other natural disaster? I’d put some LIFE
posters up in Mexico over the summer. One day I traveled across the border from
Texas by myself, and no one even knew I was there. I had no knowledge of
Mexico’s graffiti laws. What would have happened if I’d been arrested there?
I asked once again for
water. The man with the Yankees sweatshirt said, “Really, Alyce, it will just
be a few more minutes now…please…stop reading…just rest.” I shut my eyes and
leaned back against the concrete.
It was 3:30am when he
came with the key to let me out. The lady cop had gone home, but the two men
brought me out into the precinct where there were lots of other officers
milling around. The Yankees guy handed me the paperwork and stood close by,
flipping the pages and pointing out where to sign. Mr. E. reminded me several
times not to forget to show up for my court date. I thanked them as I walked
away, and smiled and waved as I pushed my way through the revolving door out
onto Avenue C.
I felt strange. Woman alone,
ejected onto desolate unfamiliar city street in sketchy part of town at nearly
4 in the morning. Thank goodness the police are around keeping things clean and
safe. I walked toward a cluster of bars, figuring the odds of getting a cab
there would be greater than they’d be directly outside the jail. A cab came,
and I hopped in. The driver and I talked about how magical the city looks in
the middle of the night, and about how easy it is to get around without any
traffic. I couldn’t identify his accent. It wasn’t until we were around the
corner from my house that he asked me what I’d been doing in that part of town
at 4am. I told him I’d been arrested for graffiti, and explained a little about
the stickers. I wish I could recall the witty quip he made while the machine
tallied up the fee for the ride. $15. I handed him a $20 and told him to keep
the change. He handed me back a $5 and said, “No way, you’ve been through
enough tonight…I wish I could do more”. I tried to give it back and he pushed
my hand away. I told him I would have liked to give him some stickers, but my
supply had been confiscated. We laughed, and said goodnight.
I unlocked the door to
my apartment at a little after 4am. I took a shower and put on the teakettle. I
stood at the counter waiting for the water to boil, laughing out loud as I
imagined the next morning, explaining to my parents that I’d spent the night in
jail. My poor parents have been through so much with me, their only child,
always off on some crazy adventure, or misadventure, as the case may be. Thirty
seven years old, in jail for putting a sticker on a pole.
I drifted off to sleep
in my own room, in a bed with a pillow and covers.
ADDENDUM: DEC 5, 2005
As I walked from the
subway station toward Manhattan Criminal Court at 100 Centre Street, I
considered my defense. In my research I’d discovered that only three items are
considered true “graffiti implements”: etching powder, spray paint, and
wide-nibbed permanent markers. In no way are stickers considered contraband.
Wearing an upsidedown LIFE t-shirt and with photos of the crime scene in hand
for reference (I’d gone back to the site the day after the incident to take
them), I planned to provide the judge with a monologue on the nature of my
action – I would explain that I am a conceptual artist and that the upsidedown
LIFE project happened to be about how topsy-turvy things had become in the
world. Turning things around - making things right – would require a mental
shift. Just then I happened to pass under a metal scaffold. Stuck to one of the
uprights was a small square “Mike Bloomberg for NYC” campaign sticker. I
recalled from my research into the rules regarding publicly posted propaganda
that campaign paraphernalia is only permitted to remain on display for a brief
period after November 8th. I was pretty certain the mayor was in
violation of his own law. In my mind, my defense strategy was changing.
I sat in the courtroom
with a hundred other petty offenders. When my name was close to being called, I
was assigned a public defender. He led me outside and asked me to explain my
case. I began to tell the story, and he stopped me immediately wanting to know
what does the sticker mean? I was
amazed – content and intention really seemed to make a difference.
The lawyer planned to
try to get me off on time served. I was both disappointed and relieved when he
suggested that I not do any of the talking.
When my name was called,
I followed him up to the bench. I stood behind him while he explained that my
sticker consisted of “non-specific philosophical humor”, which I, of course,
appreciated. The judge tried to charge me with possession of a graffiti
implement, and the defender countered him. The lawyer, the judge, and the DA guys ("The
People") argued back and forth (not without smirking) about it being a
first offense, that there were prior markings on the pole, and that I had
already spent an entire night in jail. It also seemed important that the nature
of my message was non-commercial and basically apolitical. At first they were
going to sentence me to one day of community service (typically consisting of
erasing other peoples’ graffiti) and give me an ACD ("adjournment on
contemplation of dismissal"...the case dropped and fingerprints destroyed
if I managed not to get arrested again for 6 months to a year) but the lawyer
was able to convince the judge to eliminate the community service on the basis
of time served. I was on ACD, but was freed with no other fines or punishments.
ADDENDUM #2: September 2009
I was careful not to deface any public property in New York City
for the full year. I moved to far west Texas in 2006 (where I enjoy committing
occasional acts of “non-specific philosophical humor”), and as far as I know,
my criminal records have been destroyed.
alyce santoro, november 4, 2005
http://www.alycesantoro.com
