YES ( Act 2) Lawrence Graham-Brown @ Movement Research at the Judson Ch...

YES ( Act 2) Lawrence Graham-Brown @ Movement Research at the Judson Ch...

New AiOP blog!

AiOP has a new blog!  We update it frequently, with topics ranging from the silly (Charlie Todd: Full Time Prankster) to the serious (Trayvon Martin Mural Causes Controversy).  So check it out for more news, more interviews, and more fun!

BroLab Reveals New Project

Unveiling this Thursday - Humps and Bumps, a new project by BroLab!

            BroLab, which consists of five metropolitan area artists, says the project encourages people to "slow down and take in the significance of their urban surroundings."  So it's fitting that the piece resembles a giant speed bump.  And it's no coincidence that it was commissioned by the Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program, along with the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL).

            You can join the unveiling ceremony this Thursday from 4-6 pm in Jamaica, Queens.  The ceremony takes place on Archer Avenue at Union Hall Street.  A reception will also be held at the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning after the ceremony.

            Humps and Bumps was recently featured in The Daily News: http://tinyurl.com/cxpjm2a Congratulations to BroLab for their recognition!

Click here for more information: brolab.org/2012/04/humps-and-bumps/

Or find BroLab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brolab

Carolina Mayorga, AiOP 2011 artist, is making soup! Make a donation to her Kickstarter campaign

Make a donation here:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1396760857/the-la-times-food-cart

You are invited || Flora Choi's Daeng'gi Kimchi Factory - Opening Reception Dec. 22

Flora Choi, Art in Odd Places 2011 artist, has an upcoming exhibition at Cuchifritos Gallery and Project Space. The opening reception will be on Dec. 22 from 5 to 7 pm.  Flora's work will be on display until January 15. Flora talked to us about her work:

Daeng'gi Kimchi Factory - Dec. 22

"Daeng'gi Kimchi Factory is a performance--installation piece where I will be taking chopped off daeng'gi braids ( a traditional Korean hairstyle that was once worn by adolescent girls) for cabbage, and make my own special version of kimchi. This piece confronts the male-dominated traditions of the past and investigates the state of women in Korea today. This piece will be accompanied by several live performances"

Performance Dates are as follows:
                                                  Dec 22- 5-7pm,
                                                  Dec. 30 3-4pm,
                                                  Jan 6, 3-4pm, and
                                                  Jan 13 3-4pm.




CUCHIFRITOS Gallery and Project Space is located at 120 Essex Street, inside Essex Street Market between Rivington and Delancey Street.

We are very excited for your exhibition, Flora! See you on Dec. 22 for the opening

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY: SOCIAL MEDIA POSITION AT ART IN ODD PLACES 2012

There are currently open volunteer positions to join the Art in Odd Places team.

http://www.idealist.org/view/volop/WKB4TNH579h4/



SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR / INTERN


Art in Odd Places (AiOP) presents visual and performance art in unexpected public spaces. AiOP also produces an annual festival along 14th Street in Manhattan, NYC from Avenue C to the Hudson River each October. Art in Odd Places' mission is to stretch the boundaries of communication in the public realm by presenting artworks in all disciplines outside the confines of traditional public space regulations. AiOP reminds us that public spaces function as the epicenter for diverse social interactions and the unfettered exchange of ideas.

We are seeking a dynamic and creative social media coordinator who can assist our PR strategy and further our branding within the NYC arts community. Ideal candidates must have a strong interest in arts and/or public art; have flexibility and the initiative to work both independently and as part of a team, have demonstrated familiarity across different social media platforms and possess excellent communication and writing skills. This opportunity will allow you the freedom to create/implement strategies and establish digital relationships to boost the organization's online presence. Check out our past festivals and press at www.artinoddplaces.org

AiOP is a grassroots organization with no office so candidate must be prepared to work from home and have computer/cell phone availability. Ideal candidate must commit until the end of the AiOP festival in mid October 2012.


HOW TO APPLY
To apply please send an email and your resume to artinoddplaces@gmail.com

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CALL FOR PROPOSAL | Un-Space Ground - Deadline: Nov. 27, 2011

 

College Arts Association Conference

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Ed Woodham of Art in Odd Places (NYC) and Deborah Oliver of Performance Exchange (LA) invite artists working with visual and performance strategies to propose projects for Un-Space Ground, a visual and performance event that is part of ART IN THE PUBLIC REALM, presented by ARTSpace at the 100th annual College Arts Association Conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Saturday, February, 25, 2012. 

Projects selected will be part of Un-Space Ground:  The unvisited, unnamed, and uninhabited empty areas beneath the normally used parts of the urban landscape. We seek to program site-specific social and spatial interventions, performances, and new media that will activate spaces outside the Convention Center entrance and selected inside spaces.

The Un-Space Ground presentations will be coordinated with three panel sessions as part of the ARTSpace day long program  "ART IN THE PUBLIC REALM", which will explore themes of activism and intervention, the environment, eco-systems and sustainable practices. Plus the role of artists and designers as dynamic catalysts in social and civic life, and how they can “feed innovative ideas into the bloodstream of society” through strategies and processes that activate the public arena.

Photos of LA Convention Center can be found at http://caasitephotos.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

For application and full guidelines visit http://artinoddplaces.org/Unspace.php

Proposal Deadline: November 27, 2011 Midnight

Curators: Ed Woodham (AiOP) and Deborah Oliver (Performance Exchange)

YOU ARE INVITED | "Parts and Labor" opening November 4 at Abrons Art Center

Parts and Labor
November 4 - December 23, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, November 4 | 6-8pm

The Abrons Arts Center is proud to present Parts and Labor, an exhibition presenting the work of five New York City-based artists - Daniel Bejar, Cecilia Biagini, Juanli Carrión, Jonathan Durham, and Noah Loesberg. These artists allude to machinery, technology and architecture through a series of geometric and non-objective compositions, tracing back to the Suprematism and Constructivism movements by the Russian avant-garde at the time of the fall of the tsarist regime. Through the use of industrial materials and motifs the artists salvage the wreckage from a years-long global recession and explore a promise of utopia and utility.

The radical change following the October Revolution inspired a rational, social function for art, emphasizing the artist as engineer. This exhibition adopts those principles, referencing the calls for democracy and economic reform in the social uprisings across the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Formally engaging the Brutalist architecture of the Abrons gallery and adjacent amphitheater, the artists yield essence over representation and process over product.

In his Realistic Manifesto Naum Gabo saw the Revolution as the beginning of a renewal of human values. As demonstrations flourish in Manhattan's Wall Street and across the globe demanding economic reform, Parts and Labor looks to Constructivism and its examination of the fundamental properties of art and its place in the coming society.

Parts and Labor is curated by Adrian Geraldo Saldaña and part of the series Prized Vernacular, a platform for three exhibitions opening concurrently at the Abrons Arts Center that deconstruct a vernacular “everyday.” In light of the global economic recession, ordinary objects are presented as radicalized—prisms to a common unequally shared or realized. Reflecting cultural and economic difference, Prized Vernacular investigates this “new normal.”

Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street (at Pitt St.)
New York, NY 10002
www.abronsartscenter.org

Join AiOP favorite, LuLu LoLo, for a fundraiser this Saturday at Flux Factory

Insect Exotica LuLu LoLo Crowns Habitable Spaces Halloween Fundraiser Party

At Flux Factory  - 39-31 29th Street Long Island City, NY 11101
Saturday, October 29
6pm – 2am
Art Auction: 6pm-10pm

http://www.habitablespaces.org/halloween-party/

In the spirit of Habitable Spaces Insect Exotica LuLu LoLo will harvest the audience for materials to create a sculptured headpiece celebrating Habitable Spaces, assisted by the multi-talented Marissa Hiller. The sculptured headpiece will be on sale to benefit Habitable Spaces. http://www.habitablespaces.org/
So come to support Alison Ward and Shane Heinemeier’s Habitable Spaces project at Flux Factory.
http://www.fluxfactory.org/events/habitable-spaces/

"Wash" "Closely" as AiOP 2011 artist , Michael Borowski, shares his festival experience

Michael Borowski

Wash/Closely

Photo provided by Michael Borowski

During the week of Art in Odd Places, exhibiting Wash/Closely, which dealt with rituals of the domestic bathroom, acquired the rituals of daily labor. Each morning I would arrive at Wix lounge at 10am. If I hit rush hour and the trains were packed, I would be late. Not that anyone seemed to mind. The mornings were slow. I think we both hoped for more of an audience. I had only one intentional visit during the week, from a group of dutiful Parsons undergraduates. At noon I would leave for a lunch break. The first day of the exhibition I could barely eat because I was so nervous about the public response to my work. My thoughts were focused on a potentially ambivalent or even aggressive public, or even being asked to leave by the police. I should have been worried about the transportation. Moving the human-sized sculpture, on its four indoor casters, down heavily trafficked sidewalks, and across cracked asphalt streets, was no easy task.

Each day at 1pm I would walk alongside my sculpture, rolling at a snails pace. My eyes were fixed on ground in front of me, looking out for cracks or bumps that might catch my wheels. It was physically exhausting. Once I reached 14th street, I would set up the piece, take a few photographs, and then pass the hours watching people’s interactions. Most people walking past gave it an odd look, doing a double take as they passed. I heard a few people say “What’s a sink doing in the middle of the street?” or “Only in New York!”. But every so often someone would briefly stop to look at him or herself in the mirror. They did it without asking what it was, or to whom it belonged to. It didn’t matter that it was a sculpture, or part of the Art in Odd Places festival. The sink and mirror were familiar enough. These brief moments contained everything I hoped my work would address: people exhibiting a level of vulnerability that comes with fixing your hair in the mirror, and a willingness to perform these subtle, intimate rituals in public.

Call this one "Shapes in Odd Places"

Remember that previous blog entry about an open letter from a mother whose kids thoroughly enjoyed the Art in Odd Places festival?

Well the kids were truly inspired by outdoor art and decided to create their own. Looks like we found our next artists for the following Art in Odd Places festivals. May I introduce you to Nora (age 6)  and Josie (age 3). They call this piece "Shapes in Odd Places"

This made our day! Thank you very much.

All photo credit by Alex Lando

If these cocoons could talk, what would it say? You better read this entry then

There was no question "Cocoon Sojourn" was one of the many memorable performances during the festival. You saw those colorful cocoons move, and possibly heard them whimper. Sherry Aliberti of @CocoonNYC shares her Art in Odd Places experience.

The Cocoons (Sherry Aliberti in the back)  photo credit Mila Matveeva

Depending on who is inside the Cocoon, the public is engaged in many ways.  The "fixtures" of the city like telephone booths, bike racks, bikes and our favorite, scaffolding, become things to interact with.  The performance-installation is defined by how we occupy physical space at our own human scale.  When three humans perform in the Cocoon, it becomes a temporary installation.  Others must move through this same space that the Cocoon has been "installed in/at."  They can stay in a pack, interacting with each other or spread out so passersby meet each one separately. Each performer brings something new to the Cocoon Project, and I am beginning to call them "muses" rather than performers because people are amused by the performance, they have a hard time looking away, even interrupting their path or phone conversation to explain what they are witnessing, snap a picture, or just watch.  Yes, that's right, this project can even stop traffic without even setting foot off the sidewalk.  People will watch from the bus, they will cross the street to get closer.  They will follow us for a block, pose for a picture, dance with us or even tickle our feet.

Photo credit  by Alex Gryger

Photo credit by Alex Gryger

 I may have conceived this project in a way to create spatial forms but it's certainly taken on a life of its own and each performer is teaching me more about the project. Learning as I go, movement, interaction, forms and noises inform how I move forward and direct performers, even describe the project. Needless to say, I couldn't have done it without these muses.
Gillian Barlow Sollenberger, Evan Leed, Stacey Shapiro, Sylvana Tapia, Suzy D, Karen Go, Laura B, Cory Snyder, John Swan, Calin Fernandez, Liz Meals, Karesia Batan, Anna Brown Massey, Bex Burton, Ryan Fitzgerald, Ken Again.
Special thanks also to photographers John Aliberti, Cindy Ruddy, Steve Aliberti, Mila Matveeva, Alex Gryger, Rose Sambrato and Daniel Talonia's crew.




I've reflected a lot on what Martha Graham learned about her Revelations performance with the "Body in a Bag."  The story goes that a woman experiencing this performance was so moved because it unlocked something inside of her that allowed her to cry for the first time about her young son's tragic death.  I think that many people are moved emotionally by the figure's abstraction in the fabric.  Observing the Cocoons, people are clearly inspired, have a hard time not watching and smiling.  They look around at each other and sometimes shake their heads.  Others become upset by it, like their toes have been stepped on, or worse.  Something about the body, moving, exploring this same space but in an entirely unpredictable and spontaneous way that renders these viewers entranced.  No matter what, people are having an emotional response.  My artist peers recognize that there is something liberating in being in a Cocoon but also by witnessing it, by taking the sidewalk and making it a not entirely empty canvas.  The discussion of street art, public art, performance art, installations and interactive art gets messy, as we try to define the hazy edges of where the Cocoons belong.


Maybe it is that the Cocoon performances allow people to let go of some of their urban baggage.  Those rules about personal space, about what you're "supposed" to do on the sidewalk, or "whose" it is. What, how and why Art is, even. These are ideas that the whole scope of Art in Odd Places aims to make transparent and further muddled at the same time; pushing the envelope.  


People will react to the Cocoons, and as we consume the public with colorful, morphing sculptural installations, there are some truths that people can't deny.  It does resemble dance, and it's hard to not be entranced by something that is recognizably another human, just acting in a completely irrational way.  But it's beautiful, it's hard to not watch and photograph.  Hard to take a bad photo of the Cocoons, but you're missing each performer's distinct sounds and the jingling of the costume.  Sunlight, site and color are just a few things that the Cocoons do differently than Graham's piece.  Clearly the performers are less sombre, sometimes even miming, squacking or barking to get laughs from the others waiting for the light to cross the street.  Graham's piece, when it was first performed was revolutionary because of the abstraction of the shapes and the way it made people FEEL.  I cannot deny that this is the same for the Cocoons.  But we're trying it out in a contemporary way.  That was almost a hundred years ago!  The body is still a form of inspiration for artists and I'm fascinated that this project, so very similar to Graham's in execution can come from such different concepts and still get such a phenomenal response from people.  After all this time, people still find it interesting.


THANK YOU!
Sherry

Rob Andrews presents: DOOR WORK --> OPENING OCTOBER 22

DOOR WORK
October 22-November 5, 2011
/opening Oct 22 - performance begins at 8pm/
English Kills Art Gallery


English Kills Art Gallery presents DOOR WORK, the first full solo exhibition of Rob Andrews' work after a decade of rigorous investigation into the nature of myth, ritual, and the role of the storyteller.
DOOR WORK hews at the genesis and location(s) of private moments of spiritual transformation, the intersection of the spiritual and profane, the role of ritual in our social landscape, and the boundaries we accept and those we will ourselves to cross.
DOOR WORK  bridges the psychic and material distance between performance and the static art object. Rob will present two new major performance works: one, on October 29th @ 8pm for Bushwick BEAT night, Clean Hrag, is a collaboration with Hrag Vartanian, founder and visionary at Hyperallergic.com, and the other which opens the show October 22nd @ 8pm: Ant--Bird 2, is a ritual designed to open a spiritual and metaphysical door using the power of blood, sweat, spit, and the vocal power of a human chorus.
In 2003, Rob cleaned the floor of the gallery Exit Art for three months. Roberta Smith of the New York Times wrote, "In a piece that suggests interior reconstruction Rob Andrews has been and will continue cleaning the gallery's entire floor with a toothbrush, a few square feet each day. His air of meditative concentration contrasts noticeably and nicely with the prevailing sense of bustle and bulk." DOOR WORK balances performance and the object towards speaking to interior reconstruction: destroying old doors, and opening new ones.
Rob is proud to officially join English Kills Art Gallery. He has shown work at the Museum of Modern Art, Exit Art, Grace Exhibition Space, and travels to Bitola, Macedonia in early November to take part in Exchange Radical Moments, a Pan-European live art festival that takes place in 11 European cities on 11.11.11

DOOR WORK is dedicated to the memory of Jeanette Ingberman. 

This performance/variable media art work was made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.  Major support of the Franklin Furnace Fund was provided in 2010-11 by the Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation and Jerome Foundation. Special thanks also to the Gowanus Studio Space, United States Artists, and numerous private donors.

LuLu LoLo as “The Gentleman of 14th Street” in “A Tip of the Hat on 14th Street”

As I strolled up and down 14^th Street—in my top hat, white tie, and tails—tipping my hat and greeting the passersby on 14^th Street—I was taken aback by the response of the public—this simple gesture of humanity to them—really touched them to the core—they returned a nod, a smile, a thank you—even though they were absorbed in their tech world of communication—for a moment the human exchange replaced the tech exchange. We all connected on 14^th Street. On Saturday, Oct. 8^th I tipped my hat to and/or exchanged a greeting with 1,074 passersby. Thanks to you all for your artistic support—I enjoyed interacting with all of the artists and staff of Art In Odd Places.

I tip my hat to each one of you.

LuLu

Did he finally get his clothes back? Art in Odd Places Festival 2011 artist Lawrence Graham Brown shares his story

From Lawrence

Just wanted to share my experience, overall my experience was awesome my last day of performance I had a very pleasant experience when I was at Union Square Park performing a cop  came over within ten minutes of performance and my assistants thought he was going to disturb the performance in a negative way but it turned out he had been a fan of the performance and wanted to get more information on my next event, he also stayed around to keep some order insisting to watch the performance from behind me, my only bad experience I was attacked by mosquitoes even though I was wearing repellent and now I am nursing wounds.

Photo provided by artist

Photo provided by artist

Photo provided by artist

An open letter from a mother during the Art in Odd Places festival

Responses such as this help us carry on what we do.  Thank you Jenny for participating!


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Howdy,

I just wanted to say thank you for giving my family the oppprtunity [sic] to explore 14th street today.

The girls were happy to hunt for hidden art and to be presented with performance art as they walked down the street.

Even when we returned home to Astoria they were still looking on lamp posts for magnetic art and wondering if that oddly dressed person was "doing a show".

I have attached a few photos from our day. more than one email will be arriving.

Feel free to use them on your blog.

: ) Jenny Herdman Lando

PS

I should add that my daughter, she's 6, wants to do it in Astoria next year.   Just now she emptied out the little box Amy Young used for her project, filled it with her own drawing and wanted to go stick it on something metal outside on 30th Avenue,

Something to consider.

: )

Can't get enough Art in Odd Places 2011 ? Here are more images from the festival.

Edith Raw, "Human Rites"

 

Sheryl Oring, "Offerings to Nature" 

Konstantin Dimopoulos , "The Tattooed Tailor"

Amy Young , "Fourteen Street Saints for AiOP 2011"

Elizabeth Demaray, "Lichen for Skyscraper's Project"

Michael Borowski , "Wash Closely"

To get to know more our artists, visit our website www.artinoddplaces.org

Video: NY Times / East Village Blog

Art In Odd Places 2011 from Christine Jenkins on Vimeo.

"Tourist-In-Chief" Art In Odd Places and the musings of Hamlet.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"

Hamlet, Act III, Scene I
Hamlet's soliloquy ran through my mind four days before the opening of Art In Odd Places. Without a permit from the NYC Parks Department and an audience eager to know the next move, my choices in proceeding with "Tourist-In-Chief" were stark; TO BE: Install without permission -or- NOT TO BE: Don't install at all.

In my play, to be would guarantee arrest and likely blacklist me on future public art opportunities available in NYC; not to be might result in possible lawsuits and or cash refunds to Kickstarter backers and simultaneously break my obligations to Art In Odd Places. Although Hamlet's question concerned his own existence -to live or to die- my choice was the life or death of my career as attached to the outcome of a single project.

By seeking a permit to dress the statue of George Washington in Union Square, I thrusted my project into the 'slings and arrows' shot at Hamlet or any modern-day struggler. I knew my bid to dress New York City's oldest monument would come under fire. The slings, the arrows of administrative rejection hurt deeply. Yet to anyone following the permit process, the 'outrageous fortune' of my situation was clear: The NYC Parks Department intended to deny "Tourist-In-Chief" while it had permitted other parties to dress George Washington statue. Furthermore, the Department held its position even after "Tourist-In-Chief" received unanimous support from Community Board 5 Parks Committee.

My teenage graffiti impulse longed to 'take arms' and install by any means necessary; my past had certainly prepared me for such a risk. The public artist in me, the man whom considered "Tourist-In-Chief" a stepping stone in a future of larger, permitted artworks advised restraint: Demand your rights within the realm of law, "opposing" and "end them" not by bailing on Kickstarter and Art In Odd Places, or by illicit action, but by arming yourself with words and mediation.

Three days before Art In Odd Places, the NYC Parks Department granted me permission to install "Tourist-In-Chief", thereby releasing me of making Hamlet-like choices. The credit is due to attorney Phillip Z. Kimball who successfully articulated my position to those of authority. Likewise, the credit is due to the NYC Parks Department, for allowing a citizen the opportunity to exercise one of America's most sacred rights (Freedom of Speech) on a statue of America's founding father.

This year's Art In Odd Places festival inspired me to share my life and work to the public in ways that I ordinarily would not, and for that I thank AIOP and all those who stuck by me from start to finish, the "Tourist-In-Chief" team, especially my wife Caroline Reid.

Sincerely,

Leon
www.leonthe4th.com

Photos: ©Leon Reid IV 2011. Photographer: Becki Fuller