The Miraculous Artist, Carolina Mayorga, is coming to New York bearing not gifts, but prayer cards.

There is no surprise this year's Art in Odd Places theme (Ritual) will bring a lot of projects with obvious  religious undertones. Our artist for this entry does exactly that. There will be holy water, prayer cards and other religious objects present to entice fans, worshipers, and soon to be converts. Religion often is a touchy subject , and Carolina Mayorga uses art (more specifically, "public art") as an avenue to explore the matter. You might think the project has a very serious nature, but the artist assures us there is humor infused in it. 

Get to know our 2011 AiOP artist , Carolina Mayorga, better and see what her work for the festival is all about. 

AiOP: Tell us about you?
CM: I'm a visual artist based in Washington, DC. My work addresses issues of social and political content. Comments on migration, war, identity, translate into video, performance, site-specific installations, and Two-dimensional media in the form of photography and drawing.

The Miraculous Artist 2009
photo courtesy of Carolina Mayorga

AiOP: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
CM: I was forwarded the call by colleague artist Linda Hesh who participated last year.

AiOP: Walk us through your thought process in creating your piece for Art in Odd Places.
CM: After the emergence of The Miraculous Artist in the Nation’s Capital, I found that this year's Art in Odd Places theme Ritual was the perfect platform to introduce the character to NYC. The dates for the festival became the title of the piece: The Miraculous Artist Columbus Day Special. I will use the holiday week to gather followers and persuade them into adoring The Miraculous Artist in order to get prayer cards that will guarantee health, prosperity and love.

As a strategy to recruit more people and aware of the importance of the Hudson River to New Yorkers, The Miraculous Artist will claim the prayer cards have been pre-dipped in these holy waters.

For AIOP The Miraculous Artist will not be soliciting money in exchange of her prayer cards as on previous occasions. Instead she will be asking for a gesture of adoration from her worshipers. Stay tuned to find out exactly what she expects.

AiOP: How is the preparation coming along?
CM: I'm in the process of deciding props/sounds for the different apparitions and journeys. There's the possibility of a cloudy apparition at the beginning of each journey and the use of different sound bites from an infomercial advertising the praying cards.
Here's the link for the video:
http://carolinamayorga.com/series/dac_13_2.html

AiOP: Where will we see you along 14th street during the festival?
CM: The Miraculous Artist will make her first appearance during the opening reception at Theater Lab. Her processions will begin at subway stations along 14th street beginning at 1st ave. and ending at 8 ave. Basically i will be walking around all along 14th street.

AiOP: What do you hope to bring to the festival?
CM: I'm hoping to bring a humorous look at the commercialization of spiritual values. I'm also hoping participation/interaction with other artists in the AIOP festival, we can arrange a special blessing for your project! Don't hesitate to contact me, I'll be happy to participate in your project as well.

AiOP: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
CM: People in NYC can't miss the unique opportunity of receiving advice from The Miraculous Artist and get a hold on her Miraculous Prayer Cards. Whether you got laid off, don’t have health insurance, or are feeling lonely, these Cards, pre-dipped in the holy waters of the Hudson River, are exactly what New Yorkers need. Don't delay and find out how you can get the Cards that will turn your life around forever!

AiOP: Where can we reach you (twitter handle would be great)
CM: Facebook- Carolina Mayorga
e-mail: camayorga@gmail.com
e-mail: carolinamayorga20@hotmail.com
carolinamayorga.com

AiOP: Any final words?
CM: If there's any artist interested in a Miraculous Artist Special Blessing of their AIOP project I'd love to hear from you! I'll be happy to collaborate in your project as well.

"SEEN" FROM LAST NIGHT: Andrew Demirjian's "SCENE FROM LAST WEEK" opening reception at Rags-a-gogo

A lot of people came and showed their support for the unveiling of Andrew's "Scene From Last Week" project along West 14th street. We even had a few surprises from a few Art in Odd Places artists participating this year. Vintage shops may be an unusual place to hold art openings, but its colorful facade makes it a great location for passersby to stop and look.

Here are a few scenes from the opening.

Andrew Demirjian next to his work

Cesar Jesena, AiOP Social Media Director,
and the artist capturing a moment together

AiOP 2011 artists ,"The Cocoon Project", performing 

Crystal Butler, "Scene from Last Week" intern

AiOP 2011 artist,  Dahlia Elsayed,

Scene From Last Week will reside at Rags-a-gogo and 14th street Framing Gallery until the August 15.  Once you are walking 14th street and 8th avenue, don't forget to stop by and wave at the camera. 

You can also watch the ustream of the people checking it out




Follow "Scene From Last Week" via twitter @sflw14

"Scenes from Last Week' via Ustream now online

You can now watch people watching "Scene's From Last Week" from the comfort of your home. Click the link and start going back in time.

We hope to see you tonight at the opening!


"Scene From Last Week" Opening Reception

July 15, 2011
Rags-a-gogo
218 W14th Street
6-8 pm

“Chance Meeting” by Linda Hesh, Art in Odd Places 2010 artist, wins award from the "Americans for the Arts Public Art Network "

One of the projects featured at last year's Art in Odd Places 2010  was a winner of the  Public Art Network (PAN) awards. Since its inception in 2000, the Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review program "continually recognizes outstanding public art projects through an open call submission and juror selection process." For its 2011 "Year in Review", the organization selected Linda Hesh as one of the recipients of the award for her work called "Chance Meeting" that appeared in our 2010 festival exploring the theme of 'chance'. Linda's interactive public intervention was selected in the category of Community Engagement and Social Activism by this year's jurors, Gail Goldman, Kendal Henry and Richard Turner, and announced at the Americans for the Arts Convention recently in San Diego. A record number of 430 submissions were received and 47 final projects were selected.

According to the description by the curators: "In recent decades, members of the community have been increasing encouraged to participate in the creation of the artwork itself. They sometimes become the artwork. The recent evolution of this trend has seen a number of pieces that go beyond celebration of community values to critique of environment or societal problems. A number of this year's entries have been artworks used as vehicles for inspiring community activism. In doing so, they have challenged conventional notions of art, intentionally confusing the distinctions between permanent and temporary, audience and performer, formal qualities and function."

The AiOP team is very proud and honored to have Linda  representing Art in Odd Places. 

Linda Hesh (Photo provided by the artist)

Linda was kind enough to share what she wrote to PAN:

“Chance Meeting Doorknob Hangers” is a temporary public art installation created for the Art In Odd Places exhibit that took place October 1-10 in New York, NY. White paper doorknob hangers, the type that advertisers use, were hung along all of 14^th Street from 10^th Ave. to Avenue C. They were printed in bold black type with eight different statements that capture a chance encounter: Is it really you?- It's been a long time - I was just thinking of you - How have you been? - What's new with you? - It's great to see you - Give me a call - Let's meet again soon. 

Photo provided by Linda Hesh

Imagine purposely walking down the city street, destination in mind, distractions on the brain. Suddenly a message appears on a door, seemingly speaking to you. This project is innovative in the unexpected location of a doorknob. Public art is usually in a park, raised up on a dais, not in a pedestrian doorway. 

It's also on a more personal scale than most public art, promoting a private moment between artist and viewer. Each hanger is small, but when the whole street is installed, the work exists across the width of Manhattan. It takes 500 hangers to cover both sides of the length of 14^th. For Art in Odd Places, a total of approximately 2000 were installed.

I know this work was successful because I saw pedestrian's reactions. And the day after an installation, all but 2 or 3 of the 500 would be left, finding new homes with happy viewers. They created a moment of desire and then a satisfying realization that one could simply take the piece home.  This project is temporary in the amount of time it spends outdoors, but lasting in the private experience it gives.    

Congratulations again, Linda!  We hope to hear more great things from you. 

Read more about Linda Hesh and her experience during the 2010 AiOP Festival. You can also visit her website (http://www.lindahesh.com/) to get to know her better. 

Find more about the rest of the Public Art Network "Year in Review" honorees here.

"SCENES FROM LAST WEEK" goes to West 14th street

ART IN ODD PLACES presents
Andrew Demirjian’s
SCENES FROM LAST WEEK: W 14th St
July 15 – August 15, 2011
Rags A GoGo at 218 W14th Street and directly across the street, 14th Street Framing Gallery, 225 W14th Street. Both between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

Opening reception: Friday, July 15  6-8pm at Rags A GoGo, 218 W14th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145612528846797)
                                                                                                                                           

Art in Odd Places is pleased to present Scenes from Last Week: W14 St, at 218 W 14th Street. This new public media installation kicks off the AiOP festival exploring rituals of the everyday. Scenes from Last Week: W14 St examines the nonverbal gestures of the urban landscape and the tension between fear of surveillance and love of being on camera.

In a city constantly moving forward and erasing its relationship with the past, this video installation flips that experience by re-inserting the past into the present. Comprised of two video monitors in two storefronts directly across the street from one other, this installation displays synchronized surveillance camera views recorded from the previous seven days. Scenes from Last Week: W14th St creates a perceptual trip wire into the past, intended to reawaken our senses to the randomness and ritual in our daily environment.

Scenes from Last Week: W14th St is a new work by media artist Andrew Demirjian in collaboration with Art in Odd Places and the Eyebeam Art + Technology Center where he is currently an artist in residence.  In this work, surveillance - a constant yet hidden aspect of daily life in New York City - is made apparent, uncovering the archeology of the everyday. The hashtag #sflw is being used on Twitter for passersby to post their photos and comments on the work. The Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/sflw/ and QR code allow participants to see their contributions and explore the growing database of visitor’s interaction with the piece. The mobile phone and Internet extension of the work takes the concepts of looking at looking and expanding reflections in a digital hall of mirrors into a virtual environment.

Inspired by traditional painting genres like portraiture and landscape, Andrew Demirjian’s work explores boundaries between psychological and physical environments using contemporary technology, like surveillance video, motion tracking, and data gathering. His work has been exhibited widely including international exhibitions in Belgium, England, France, Germany, Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, and Russia as well as many galleries in New York City. He is currently an artist in residence at the Eyebeam Art + Technology Center and has been awarded a Puffin Foundation Grant, an Artslink grant, and a 2006 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. His current work involves creating computer programs to delay, synchronize and juxtapose multiple long-term video streams to reveal hidden patterns in the everyday.http://www.andrewdemirjian.com

Andrew Demirjian's "Scene from Last Week" is looking at you

"Scene from Last Week" ended its run in Midtown East last Thursday. Unbeknownst to everyone,  another element of this piece was the"surveillance" portion, where the work of art was watching you watch it. How meta indeed! The artist, Andrew, shared a couple of videos seeing people react with his piece. Truly interesting.

In collaboration with Art in Odd Places, "Scene from Last Week"  will move to a new place along 14th street ( 218 and 225 W.14th) starting July 15 to August 8.

Enjoy the video and happy fourth of July!

66 Artists' Projects Selected for Art in Odd Places 2011: RITUAL !

Here is the complete list of artists participating on this year's Art in Odd Places. Subscribe to our blog to learn more about them. More details to follow regarding their work and location this coming October.
  

1	Sherry Aliberti
2	Scott Andresen
3	Rob Andrews
4	Nobutaka Aozaki
5	Julia Barbee
6	Caitlin Berrigan & Anya Liftig
7	Tom Bogaert
8	Michael Borowski
9	Javier Bosques
10	Brodigy (Amber Keyser, Courtney Moore, Dylan Entelis, Caitlin Webb, Julian Donahue)
11	Seth Caplan
12	Corrine Cappelletti
13	Patricia Cazorla
14	Joanna Chak
15	Flora Choi
16	Missa Coffman
17	Concerned New Yorkers
18	Andrea Cote & Michael Drisgall
19	Elizabeth Demaray
20	Konstantin Dimopoulos
21	Dahlia Elsayed
22	Margarita Garcia
23	Lawrence Graham-Brown
24	Alicia Grullón
25	Alejandro Guzmán
26	Harvey Loves Harvey
27	Judith Hoffman
28	Alexa Hoyer
29	Nova Jiang
30	Doreen Kennedy
31	Laurie LeBreton
32	Hui Ling Lee
33	Lulu Lolo
34	Alban Low
35	Mary Ivy Martin
36	Scott Mason
37	Carolina Mayorga
38	Park McArthur
39	Marissa Mickelberg
40	Andrea Moccio
41	Sheryl Oring
42	Joaquin Palencia
43	Julie Puttgen
44	Edith Raw
45	Leon Reid
46	Ryan Ringer & Jenny Santos
47	Jacolby Satterwhite
48	Gene Schmidt
49	Leo Selvaggio
50	Suran Song
51	Jacklyn Soo
52	Anne-Katrin Spiess
53	Liana Strasberg
54	Sasha Sumner
55	Rob Sweere
56	Katie Urban
57	Geert Vaes & Juha Valkeapä
58	Mary Valverde
59	Gretchen Vitamvas
60	Lois Weaver & Lori E. Seid
61	Caitlin Webb
62	Genevieve White & Rafael Sanchez
63	Jenifer Wightman
64	Alexandra Wolkowicz, Jon Barraclough and Rob Peterson
65	Amy Young
66	Grégoire Zabé & Valérie Bouvier