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Sunday evening in the middle of Tompkins Square Park at New York City‘s East Village, hundreds of people have gathered in front of a giant papier-mâché statue of a woman wearing a crown. It is the basis of the play, its body made of curtains that look like a dress but do two jobs, allowing the actors to run in and out.
I came to watch a movie called “Luddite Recreations,” which is the history of the Luddites—a group of artisans and textile workers who refused to adopt machines in the early years of the Industrial Revolution in England and whose refusal to be fired was met with violence by the British Empire.
It is one of the inaugural events of the Ludd Summer, a week-long workshop and event-like event how to attract and chat offlineto improve, and to learn dealing with data centersall focused on getting people off their phones and into the community.
Photo: Vittoria Elliott
Everything seems to have been made by hand, giving it the power of a high-school (official) design. A small orchestra, conducted by people in Pride costumes, sits to one side. Behind them, the table has 10 different strings that cover everything from the performance leave Spotify to the position of assessment technology in schools that “Because GenAI Bad things. “
The event will continue until July 5, with the main sections taking place in Tompkins Square Park. (There will be a beach cookout on July 4 and local events in the East Village.)
At the beginning of the play, an actor playing Lord Byron, the famous British poet who supported the Luddite movement, tells the crowd of 300 the rules of the week: Be present, and no phones, photography, or photographs are allowed.
No weekly events, including drama, are advertised online. Signs around the area announce Ludd Summer, which proclaims “only!,” and brochures with a schedule of events for the week are posted around the area.
I came to know about the event offline. In early June, I was with a friend in the East Village, and we were caught in a summer rainstorm. While I was waiting in the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, a small space that documents the history of the neighborhood, I found a booklet detailing the events of the Ludd Summer among several other documents, posters, and pamphlets. So here I am, phone put away, notebook out, playbill in hand.
