CROWN HEIGHTS — Watch your wallet.
A Crown Heights-based performance group is hosting a “Pickpocket Rent Party” this week, where artists will demonstrate sleight of hand before urging audience members to try to steal dollar bills from one another.
The interactive show and “participatory social experiment” is presented by 1067 PacificPeople and is intended to serve as a metaphor, according to organizer Andrea Haenggi.
“It’s really about interconnectedness and questioning things that have been stolen from us,” Haenggi said. “We’re used to being pickpocketed from big firms, and in this age people take your ideas. This asks what will happen if we take it into our own hands?”
"We're also going to teach people to steal from themselves," she added.
The one-night-only show, which takes place Thursday from 7-10 p.m. at the group's garage performance space at 1067 Pacific St., will invite audience members to take a dollar bill from their wallet, write down one of their desires on the bill, and place the cash in their pocket.
Three artists will then demonstrate a dance/performance piece in which they pickpocket one another.
The artists will then invite the audience to participate in a tutorial — part dance and part hand movements — before urging them to pickpocket one another.
“The hope I have is that people think more about what it means to be a victim, how we take from somebody and our responsibilities toward each other,” Haenggi added.
Tickets cost $15 and proceeds will help 1067 PacificPeople pay rent for their garage and lot space.
The event will culminate in a dance party with tunes from a live DJ.
“Pickpocket Rent Party” is April 30, from 7-10 p.m. at 1067 Pacific St. Tickets are $15 and must be purchased in advance. For more information, visit the 1067 PacificPeople website.
