Photos and Q&A by Stacie Joy
On any given weekend during the free punk shows in Tompkins Square Park, you likely spotted photographer and artist Andreas Troeger — camera in hand — capturing a scene that is as raw as it is resilient.
His new photo book, "Our Fucking Park," is an unfiltered portrait series that documents the energy, emotion, and edge of the East Village punk and hardcore shows from 2019 to 2024.
During a recent interview in Tompkins Square Park, the longtime neighborhood resident discussed the park, the people, and the East Village ethos that fuels his creative work.
How did the idea of the "Our Fucking Park' book come about? What drew you to capture punk shows in Tompkins as the subject?
I've always been drawn to extremes — life, love, music, art. Anything less does't hold my attention.
The punk shows at Tompkins Square Park represent one of the last remaining raw and unfiltered spaces for expression in NYC. It's live punk in its purest form, still defiant, still free. That energy needed to be documented — a living chapter of East Village history shaped by activists, outsiders and relentless spirit.
You both live and work in the East Village. How has that informed and affected your artistic choices?
I've been living in the EV for 32 years — fighting with landlords over ridiculous issues and surviving 9/11, the financial crisis in 2008-2009, and staying alive during Covid-19, losing lifelong friends and collaborators. Overall, the local community has been very inspiring.
I tailor my artistic expressions to local issues, as they serve as inspiration for my work.
I arrived in the EV as a special student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in Film and Television Production where I had the chance to work with some visionary artists.
One of my earliest collaborations was with Nam June Paik, known as the father of video art. His experimental approach influenced how I started thinking about images. Around the same time, I connected with political activists Paul Garrin and Chris Flash, whose forward-thinking ideas pushed my understanding of art's role in activism.
I also began working with Iara Lee, a filmmaker focused on environmental and social issues, whose passion for meaningful stories helped shape my own work in documentary film.
I later began developing video projects with avant-garde performance artist Rachel Cohen (RaCoCo). That partnership not only led to a series of experimental video pieces but also to the editing of my first book in the Anti Biography series.
I continued exploring the space between movement and visual storytelling.
After 2000, I started working with the artist Olek on several fine-art videos. These pieces were shown in galleries around the world and eventually led to a commission from the Goethe-Institute. They asked me to create a three-part video series about Alexander Kluge, the German filmmaker, thinker, and writer. That project brought together many of the themes that continue to be in my work — art, politics, memory, and identity.
What's next for you? Any interesting projects on the horizon?
I'm teaming up with RaCoCo Productions again to shoot their new avant-garde dance piece Assembly #2 — a mix of video art and photography. At the same time, I'm still documenting the raw energy of the Tompkins Square music scene. Next up: collages and large-format prints pulled from those moments. Street meets studio. Movement meets memory.
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Copies of the book are available locally at Exit9, 51 Avenue A (Troeger with owner Charles Branstool) and Village Works, 12 St. Mark's Place. (The books are also on Amazon. A family-friendly version is also available.)
Chris Flash will have them available on The Shadow table at the first Shows in Tompkins Square Park this Saturday afternoon.
