AiOP 2010 artists, Nicole Seisler and Liene Bosque will try to make a good impression during the festival

Memento is latin for "remember". It is also known, less formally, as  "keepsakes" or "souvenirs": something to invoke a memory. It is not surprising the word "memento" is very similar with the word "moment": both denotes a specific frame of time. For Nicole Seisler and Liene Bosque, Art in Odd Places 2010 artists, capturing a specific tangible "moment", often of things seldom noticed, is the goal. With wet clay on their arms, both artists will take a chance to make art by creating great impressions of 14th street. Their impressions of "mementos of moments" (mOmento, anyone?) will definitely give new meaning to the term "first impressions last",

Let's take a moment and get to know them.

Aiop: Tell us about you
N&L: We met in a class called ‘Walking the City’ in our first semester in Graduate school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).  It became quite clear that our interests overlap in many ways and we started working together in December 2009. Being new to Chicago (Liene is from Brazil and Nicole moved here from Boston), working together was a way for us to explore the city and embrace our desires to make work on the streets of Chicago.

Photo courtesy of Nicole and Liene

Aiop: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
N&L: Liene heard about the festival from the Nancy Gildart, Director of Career Services at SAIC.

Aiop: What made you decide to submit a proposal for the Festival?
N&L: Art in Odd Places (an excellent name, by the way) offers us a chance to explore NYC and make art outside of the realm of galleries and traditional ‘art’ spaces. Our work involves the mapping of cities and we are also excited about engaging audiences that might not traditionally seek out an ‘art experience.’

Photo courtesy of Nicole and Liene

Aiop: How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
N&L: We have been spending a lot of time in the welding shop lately. The cart we previously made for this project is large, heavy, and welded together in one piece. In order to make our project mobile, we are currently building a new modular cart that will fit into a suitcase. We are also figuring out how to make the clay component of this project mobile. If anyone reading this works in an NYC ceramics facility, we could use your help, so please get in touch with us! A lot of preparation has gone into this project, including scoping out 14th street earlier this summer. AiOP will be the first time that we take City Souvenirs to New York.

Photo courtesy of Nicole and Liene

Photo courtesy of Nicole and Liene

Aiop: What's your favorite spot on 14th street?
N&L: There are a lot of intriguing things about the mixed use of 14th Street but we keep coming back to how quirky that little Russian souvenir store is.



Aiop: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
N&L: If you see us passing by with our cart, please stop for a moment to talk with us and create a clay impression of 14th Street!

Participation is encouraged, so prepare to get your hands dirty and create lasting souvenirs. You can catch them starting October 8 starting 11 am  heading East. Visit the www.artinoddplaces.org for more any updates.

Andrew Tosiello's matchbook tickets can go up and down. Buy them during the Art in Odd Places Festival and win big

Can you believe the Art in Odd Places Festival is just a few days away? We hope to see you during the Opening Event @ Theater Lab this Friday. If you haven't RSVPd, now is your chance to do it:

http://tinyurl.com/aiop-opening

To keep the excitement going, we are featuring another artist appearing on 14th street  come October. On a previous entry, we mentioned about "bartering" through the works of Heather Hart. This time,  2010 AiOP artists Andrew Tosiello, is encouraging everyone to GAMBLE. With his project called "The Numbers Racket", Andrew will be selling match books tickets at various businesses on 14th Street. What is fascinating about this project is the method of determining the winning number: a formula from the stock prices report. Stock Prices?? Where do you even begin to wrap your head around the idea? You now ask what does the winner get? Well, I encourage you to check the Art in Odd Places website, take a chance and play the game. Andrew's work is definitely not your grade school raffle drawing.

Andrew Tosiello

Aiop:  Tell us about you
AT:  I live in work in San Francisco, CA. My work employs the images, history and tactics of the Italian-American Mafia to consider the work of art. I also work in the trucking industry.
  
Aiop: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
AT:  Curator Petrushka Bazin and I both attended the California College of the Arts and she had participated in an earlier version of my numbers racket project.

Aiop:  What made you decide to submit a proposal for the Festival?
AT:  The location and theme of the festival seemed tailor-made for this project.

Aiop: How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
AT:  I'm basically all set for the project. Now I just need to get to New York.

Aiop: What's your favorite spot on 14th street?
AT:  I can't really recall any places on 14th Street from previous visits, but I'm sure I'll find a favorite during the festival.

Aiop: Do you have a hidden talent you would like to share?
AT:  No.

Aiop: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
AT:  Players Win and Winners Play.

Just as he said, Winners are players!  Check the website and the Art in Odd Places twitter feed (@ArtinOddPlaces) to find his performance dates and  location.

Mike Estabrook, AiOP 2010 artist, has a teddy bear with a chip on its shoulder

Here is something you don't see teddy bears doing: REBELLING. Yes, it appears that there is a teddy bear on the loose with an agenda coming out during the festival.  Mike's Estabrook's piece called ""The Teddy Bear Market Uprising, A Revolution Squared" is a  participatory project using people's responses to create his work. This is definitely one interesting piece because it is part art, part political and  part statistical. Sounds complicated but it should be an exciting project to be part of.

How does an angry teddy bear get into the mix of things? Mike took the time and described his project further. 



On Sept. 22nd, I, along with the help of two fellow artists, Mona Kamal (surveyer), and Vandana Jain(photographer) headed out into the wilderness of Union Square to survey a random assortment of people about their thoughts on the Teddy Bear Market Uprising. Mona and I presented a survey depicting the Teddy Bear (below) and asked them two questions: 1. "what is your social class (upper, upper middle, middle, working, lower)?", and 2. "In a fictitious art battle would you fight for or against the Teddy Bear Market Uprising?" (The Teddy Bear is, of course, prominently marked with the Hammer and Cycle, and was defined as "the struggle for socialist utopia"

Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook

All classes were represented, and we had a wide range of responses ranging from a resounding "YES", to a "Die! Socialist Scum!" 

Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook

Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook

good times were had by all...

Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook

Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook

Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook

My end goal for all this is to make a drawing depicting fantasy soldiers made of 5 colors (reflecting the 5 social class categories in the survey), in which the pro-teddy factions will be placed on the left, and the anti-teddys will be on the right. This will be seen at the opening event for Art In Odd Places at Theater Lab on Oct. 1.


In addition to showing the drawing at this event, I will be rolling percentile dice to determine people's social class for the event (the dice rolls will reflect the percentage distribution of social classes in the USA). Those lucky enough to roll a 100 will be upper class, and will get a t-shirt of Teddy Bear Market Uprising! 

Thanks, Mike! We look forward seeing the final product.

You can see Mike and the Teddy Bear Uprising project in action during the Opening Festival this coming Friday. The event invitation can be found here. RSVP now.

An art for an art: Wall Street Bankers should listen to AiOP 2010 Heather Hart

Everybody loves a street fair, and 14th street is no stranger to such events. Art in Odd Places 2010 artist, Heather Hart will use the concept of street fair as inspiration with a little throw back to a long lost type of negotiation: a barter system. Imagine this: an even exchange of goods, which could be anything ranging from performances to art pieces, amongst a group of creative and business people. This might be the only type of trading that doesn't require bailout. Before you practice your bartering skills, let's get to know Heather Hart.

AiOP: Tell us about you / your group?

HH: The Heather Hart Experience creates interactive zones between territories where viewers may question and play.

AiOP: How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
HH: 26 "vendors" ready to barter... check. massage therapists, painters, bakers, soapmaker, and jewelers... check. post-apocalyptic shoulder pads, chaps and face painter... check a talk with god asking for a dry day... check visitors bringing their barter!.....???



Photo courtesy of Heather Hart


AiOP: What's your favorite spot on 14th street?
HH: The south side between Hudson and 9th Ave where I can sit and watch for pretty cars.

AiOP: Do you have a hidden talent you would like to share?
HH: Shapeshifting. shhhh.

AiOP: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
HH:Be sure to bring stuff to barter to the East End, be that objects or services or talent!!

AiOP: What should people expect from your project during the festival?
HH:"Bust a deal, face the wheel"

AiOP:What's your lucky number?
HH:"two men enter, one man leaves."

AiOP: Write a fortune that would appear in a fortune cookie. (To be tweeted to all of our followers during the festival)
HH: "WHO RUN BARTER TOWN!??!"

Photo courtesy of Heather Hart

AiOP: Where do you live? (as in borough or city)
HH: "IS IT TOMORROW -MORROW LAND? NO, ITS BARTER TOWN!!!"

We have a shafeshifter, everyone! I am keeping an eye on that post-apocalyptic shoulder pad. What are you planning to barter?

Visit Heather's website for more information about her work: http://www.heather-hart.com/. To find Heather along 14th street during the festival, refer to our website: http://www.artinoddplaces.org/.

Maya Seuss is your Lady Luck

Are you feeling a little lucky lately? Things will  just better once you meet our next Art in Odd Places artist. Recently mentioned in the  New York Post as one of the artist to look out for during the festival. Maya Seuss promised to bestow luck to 14th Street  pedestrian. She claims not to be related to Dr. Seuss, but definitely shares a penchant for storytelling.  This is definitely one artist you don't want to miss this coming October.

As luck would have it, Lady Luck herself caught up with us to answer a few of our questions 

Aiop: Tell us about Maya Seuss


Photo courtesy of Maya Seuss


MS: I’m a performance artist, and I consider myself that even when I make drawings. My drawings have personality, and use the human body and theatrical narrative as a central point. I work a lot with songs, of which the lyrics are a large part. Similarly, language in the form of a title adds a lot to the content of my drawings. Humor is important to my work; I think it’s important that we humans don’t take ourselves too seriously.

Though I’ve only lived in New York for four years, I’ve always said that New York City is a huge part of my personal Mythology; and it is! My family on my father’s side is now onto five generations of New Yorkers, but my genealogical limb interwove with some Canadiana and I was born on a small island off the west coast of Canada. My father is a professional storyteller and I was his first audience; in this way my personal history, both fictional and non, became spiced with New York flavor. I like to think my personality is a balanced blend of New York energetic hustler and west coast Canadian mellow mystic.


Aiop:  How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
MS: I’m working on a series of pieces (video, drawings and performances) that explore the occult: magical forces of the un-seeable. Lady Luck fits into this series as a playful way to invite the possibility of magic into the public sphere. In preparation for Lady Luck I am consulting “experts” –people who work with unseen forces- to determine the most effective way to impart “luck” onto willing recipients. I am also developing our costumes and sourcing Lucky Ladies. It’s coming together, and on October 2nd our team of Ladies will be equipped with the necessary skills and uniforms to effectively offer Luck on 14th Street.

Photo courtesy of Maya Seuss

Aiop: What's your favorite spot on 14th street?
MS: I think my favorite thing on 14th Street may be the big neon sign for Psychic Readings by Donna between 7th and 8th Avenues. I haven’t been inside psychic Donna’s den, but that neon sign definitely leaves one wondering what mysteries lie inside.


Aiop:  Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
MS: A message to people who will be perusing, dashing, meandering and trotting: every one knows that New York has magic in the air. During the month of October (at least) remember to grab some of it.


Aiop:  What's your lucky number?
MS: My lucky number is 222. It’s for egocentric reasons, I was born on February 22nd. And I celebrated my 22nd birthday on the 22nd day of the 2nd month on the year 2000. I come from parents who are mystical believers, and my dad thought that having a daughter born on 222 was just the bee’s knees. Also, my younger sister was born on 111: November 1st.

Aiop:  Write a fortune that would appear in a fortune cookie. (To be tweeted to all of our followers during the festival) 
MS: “You will pass yourself in another dimension today, make sure not to meet your own eyes or bad luck with befall you.”

Aiop: What's the strangest encounter that you've had as pedestrian living in New York? 
MS: My strangest encounter in New York, though I’ve had many wild and wonderful ones, was actually with a mouse. I was walking along 23rd street and out of the corner of my eye I notices something blow in front of my feet. I stopped and looked down. There sitting at my toes, looking straight up at me was a tiny brown mouse. We stared into each other’s eyes for perhaps a minute before it scuttled away. Though I’m sure my sense of time was off, it was definitely a significant amount to engage in a staring contest with a mouse.


Don't forget to visit her website, http://www.mayaseuss.com/ to know more about her work. You can also find out when and where she will bestow luck during the festival by visiting the Art in Odd Places website

Paul Notzold's work is probably better than your Blackberry Messenger.

Our next AiOP artist is a big believer of projection, not the Freudian term, but the use of  projectors in public spaces. Let us meet Paul Notzold. His project for the festival, TXTual Healing,  will require the following things: a projector,  a text message-capable cellphone and a building facade. Oh,  I also have to mention this only happens at night time. Still a little unclear? Here is a sample of his previous work.


TXTual Healing hits Chelsea Art Museum; working with actors in the windows from paul notzold on Vimeo.


Amazing, right? This is another reason why you should not miss this year's festival.

In true texting form, Paul gave us a brief synopsis about him and his work.


AiOP: Tell us about Paul Notzold.
PN: Paul Notzold is an artist, performer, and conceptual thinker. His most well know work TXTual Healing (since 2006) is an ever evolving interactive performance piece inviting an audience to get involved via text messaging.

Photo courtesy of Paul Notzold

AiOP: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
PN: An invitation from the curators

AiOP: What made you decide to submit a proposal for the Festival?
PN: I liked the AIOP mission statement and I'm always excited to put work up in my hometown of NYC.


AiOP: How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
PN: Very well thank you.


AiOP: What's your favorite spot on 14th street?
PN: I suppose we'll find out after I put my work up.


AiOP: Do you have a hidden talent you would like to share?
PN: I can blow spit bubbles off my tongue

AiOP: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
PN: Bring your profound thoughts and Participate!

AiOP: Where do you live? (as in borough or city)
PN: Gowanus, Brooklyn

For more information about Paul, visit his website http://www.txtualhealing.com/

In the event you ended up wandering around 14th street around night time during the festival, prepare your texting thumb for this interactive art piece. Locations of his projections can be found at our website.

Happy texting!

Did you get the facebook invitation about the Festival? No? The invitation can be found here!

Heather and Thomas have a huge aquarium: the Hudson and East River

Here is a brainteaser: What are Art in Odd Places 2010 artists Heather and Thomas doing in this picture? Your choices are:

a) Fishing
b) Hanging out on the Hudson River. Fishing rods are the new cool item for the fall
c) Their project called Hydrophony

No, you can't use your lifeline. The correct answer is C, Hydropony. Hydro what? Exactly. We all know New York is a lively city. What Heather and Thomas are sharing are other sides (to be exact: the east and the west side) of what this great city has to offer.  Julie Andrews might say "the hills are alive"; Heather and Thomas definitely concur, but would also respond "so are the rivers".  Their project brings a great question: if the Hudson River could talk, what would it say? Well, I guess you just have to look out for them and hear the answer yourself.  I do hope it won't in the voice of Julie Andrews.

Let's get to know Heather and Thomas

AiOP: Tell us about / your group?
H&T: Heather is an information artist and Thomas works with moving images. We both love working with sound and so our collaborations always explore this connection.

AiOP: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
H&T: Heather: Last Autumn I was walking down 14th st with a friend from out of town when a swarm of people descended upon us wearing sweaters covering their entire bodies and carrying signs. We couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be a protest or an art happening! This year when I saw the call for entries in NYFA I put two and two together.

AiOP: What made you decide to submit a proposal for the Festival?
H&T: We had a mutual interest in exploring the idea of bringing the waters framing 14th st to the land.

AiOP: How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
H&T: Good, we are beginning to test the equipment and ourselves this weekend. Thanks to the curators for all their help!

AiOP: What's your favorite spot on 14th street?
H&T: We are partial to Curly's vegetarian lunch on 14th b/t 2nd and 3rd ave.

AiOP: Do you have a hidden talent you would like to share?
H&T: Tom likes to shred heavy metal style on the guitar.
Heather is an expert vegan chef.

AiOP: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
H&T: We hope that you all tune in to our live webcast and come see us in person if you can.

AiOP: What should people expect from your project during the festival?
H&T: Good question! We aren't quite sure what to expect ourselves... it is about chance after all!


AiOP: What's the strangest encounter that you've had as pedestrian living in New York
H&T: Hmm. Perhaps the strangest was stumbling upon a ride across the Gowanus canal on a homemade canoe! (Not for the faint of heart)

AiOP:  What do you hope to bring to the festival?
H&T: The rivers!

AiOP: Where do you live? (as in borough or city)
H&T: Bushwick, Brooklyn!!

Visit their website http://www.hydrophony.com/ to find out their schedule during the festival.

Sheryl Oring's typewriter is mightier than a sword

Our next Art in Odd Places 2010 artist will be gracing 14th Street armed with something you rarely see nowadays: a typewriter. AiOP 2010 artist , Sheryl Oring, wants to translate your thoughts into hand typed words, which could possibly be mightier than a sword. The beauty of her work lies not only on celebrating the lost art of the hand typed letter, but also allows an opportunity for introspection. Ms. Oring's recent projects touched (or we say typed?) upon important  topics such as the presidential election and immigration to create a space where people are encouraged to speak their mind. It was as if the the translation from voice to manually typewritten words offers a new level of expression: a beautiful gift transcribed in a postcard with ribbons (in this case, a black ink ribbon)

Ms Oring was kind enough to create a video to give us more information about her project for the festival.


video:


You can learn more about Sheryl Oring's body of work by visiting www.iwishtosay.org

Flux Factory, Art in Odd Places 2010 Artist Collective , is making waves this October.

Can you believe the festival is less than a month away? To keep the excitement going, why not unveil another artists collective appearing on 14th street this October. The group's recent project called "Going Places (Doing Things)", involving a mysterious bus running on vegetable oil bringing its passengers to secret places inside and outside the city, was sold out and just ended August 28. You think mysterious locations and vegetable oil powered bus sounded interesting? It should because that is what Flux Factory is all about. The group's credo is to support innovation and experimentation in creating new works. With that said, there is no mystery why Art in Odd Places invited them to be part of this year's festival.


Sure, you missed the bus, so to speak, but it is not too late to check out what innovative work they will bring to 14th street. To  keep the mystery going, let's just say their work will be a little more "hands-on" than usual.  I recommend to not only have your eyes peeled but also your hand , well, handy.


Want to know more about Flux Factory? The group took a moment to answer a couple of our questions



Aiop: Tell us about Flux Factory?

photo provided by  Georgia Muenster

FF: To put it concisely, Flux Factory is an artist collective and nonprofit arts organization "supporting innovation in things."  I'm Georgia, Exhibitions Manager and Director of Baking.

Aiop: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
FF:  I don't actually know the answer to that.  Didn't you approach us?


Aiop: What made you decide to submit a proposal for the Festival?
FF: Art in Odd Places fits our sense of humor strangely well.  Unexpected things in public?  Perfect!

Aiop: How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
FF: Oh, pretty great, thank you.

Aiop: What's your favorite spot on 14th street?
FF: See attached photo.  I think that's on 14th near 6th Avenue?

photo provided by  Georgia Muenster

Aiop: Do you have a hidden talent you would like to share?
FF:  I'll tell you when you're older.

Aiop: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
FF: Do you see someone waving at you?  Don't be scared.

Aiop: What's the strangest encounter that you've had as pedestrian living in New York
FF: Oh man, once a guy stopped me on the walkway along the Queensboro bridge.  He whipped out a roll of $100 bills, offering to take away me to Atlantic City.  Then he asked me if I was pregnant.  I turned him down.

Aiop: Where do you live? (as in borough or city)  
FF:  Queens!

As Flux Factory said it, please don't hesitate to wave back when see somebody waving at you.

Want to know more? There is an inFLUX of information about this group! Visit www.fluxfactory.org/ and check them out.


Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!

Volunteer opportunity for Art in Odd Places!!!!

We are looking for the great people to help us out during the festival. Is that you?

If interested, send an email to artinoddplaces@gmail.com with heading "Volunteer for Aiop 2010"

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