Interview with Mark Allen – Are Hudson NY Sidewalks Safe for NYC Hipsters?

Q: The mannequins you used in your video are so real and lifelike, have you considered a career as a Disney Imagineer, working in animatronics? 

A: The subject of the video is Hudson’s growing sidewalk problem. An added gag was portraying Hudson’s “greatest resource” as wealthy entitled hipsters slumming upstate (represented by mannequins on wheels pulled by a rope). There are the usual cheap laughs: expensive lattes, people who walk on the sidewalk looking down at their phones, electric cars, apple-picking (one gag I didn’t have time for was a gift shop on Warren that sells knee pads with “Visit Hudson!” printed on them).

Q: The video masterfully intertwines the complex socio-economic issues of gentrification with the harsh, everyday, concrete, realities of urban planning and design. I see this video as a satirical deconstruction of Ayn Rand’s capitalist John Galt and mid-century urban planner Robert Moses. Who are your ideologues?

A: My ideologies involve sidewalks that don’t smash your teeth. Look, figuring out the obviously complex and expensive processes of Hudson’s sidewalk problem is not an artist’s job. Bringing attention to it is. I’m collecting the everyday chatter and complaints by citizens on the street and focusing them onto my video: a conversation piece. A few people in Hudson have said, or hinted, that if I didn’t have a solution or understanding of the problem I shouldn’t make a satire about it. Wrong. When a popular skit on Saturday Night Live goes viral, do the real life “butts” of the joke – government or corporate entities or a celebrity – go to the performers and writers of SNL and ask them how they would solve the problem they’re mocking? Of course not. If anything they should thank them. When an audience laughs at a joke about an impossible situation or problem (often an unspoken one), the collective laughter isn’t really seeking a solution, it’s releasing frustration. Effective art or comedy channels this exchange. In turn that audience may ask, “Yeah… why is that?” And that’s a positive step. My videos and things like The Hudson Wail are similar to “olde printing press” newspaper political cartoons of the 1800s and 1900s that used hyperbole and satire to question authority or highlight government dysfunction or social ills. Whether it’s a political cartoon in a printed newspaper in 1812, or a meme on a smart phone in 2024, wise politicians have always paid attention to this kind of playful mockery when it rises to Vox populi. Art should always be a conversation, but great art is often an argument.

Q:Your guerilla video highlights the impact that social media and technology can have on our everyday lives.  Since you’ve published this video, it has had significant discourse amongst the highest levels of local government and media.  Have you been able adjust to your new status of Hudson influencer?

A: I really wanted to establish an artistic presence in Hudson without relying on traditional galleries, events, gatekeepers, or grants. If there’s anything I’ve learned in my many artistic adventures, successes and failures… it’s that guerilla-style is often the best way to get things done, and make a true impact. After posting this video I was amazed at the number of DMs and emails I got from people in Hudson telling me horror stories about falling on the city’s sidewalks. While in the same message telling me how they laughed and laughed at the video. If Hudson doesn’t have a sense of humor about itself, how can it possibly hope for functional government, healthy infrastructure, and a sense of community?