It's the Political Economy, Stupid

Mannahatta: OWS by Photojournalists

[From Vanessa Bahmani, whose work will be displayed]

MIC : CHECK (the human:mic)(OCCUPY) at Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn

Wall Street to Main Street: Call for Proposals/Entries

WALL STREET TO MAIN STREET

Call for Proposals/Entries

Wall Street to Main Street is a collaborative art project linking Occupy Wall Street and the rest of America, via the small town of Catskill, NY.  The Occupy Wall Street Movement (OWS)  has focused its energy on the need for justice for the 99%. This project, Wall Street to Main Street, offers a platform for creative expression and dialogue focusing attention on an economically depressed community through inventive art exhibitions and cultural events.

Invitation to submit Proposals/Entries: Open to all artists nationally and internationally, including Hudson Valley artists.

The project goals of Wall Street to Main Street are:

1. To explore art as a way to understand the issues of the Occupy Movement with opportunities for education, communication, and a showcase of wildly creative artistic expressions;
2. To highlight the vanguard role of artists in this and past movements, as well as the role communities play in nurturing their vision;
3. To model a peaceful partnership between the cultural organizations, educational institutions, protesters, artists and the citizens who make up our communities;
4. To explore ideas in art works that call attention to real-world economic problems, fundamental democratic processes, and an urgent need for systemic reform.

People/Contacts- Presented by the Greene County Council on the Arts, this project is co-organized by Occupy With Art, an affinity group of the OWS Arts and Culture Committee, Fawn Potash (Project Director, Masters on Main Street) and Geno Rodriquez (co-founder/former Director of The Alternative Museum). Submit proposals to fawn@greenearts.org.  518-943-3400.

Exhibitions may include art work by/for/about the Occupy Movement in any media, utilizing interior space and/or windows.  A dozen vacant storefronts are anticipated with additional display area in active shop windows.  There  is no fee/rent, but interior exhibits require staffing and utility payments.  A signed agreement is required promising to return the space to its original condition.  Grant funding is pending to cover utility expenses, and a network is in process offering  local hosts with overnight accomodations and gallery sitters.   Events may include workshops, hands-on activities, forums, panel discussions, tours, performance, radio broadcasts, story telling, projections and readings, cross-pollinated subjects/genres combining political science/economics/art taking place in exhibition spaces or surrounding venues.

Photo-Documentary Exhibit Call for Entries: Curated by Geno Rodriguez, this exhibit serves as a descriptive introduction of the events of the global Occupy Movement as seen through the kaleidoscopic  lens of contemporary photographers, as well as the portal leading to the dynamic array of exhibits and events taking place down Main Street. 

Area resources: Catskill's Main Street is nestled between the Hudson River and the Catskill Creek with clear views of the Catskill Mountains at sunset.  It offers several architecturally intact 19th century facades, a vaudeville-era movie theater, two small pocket parks and a Community Center.  There is a Carnegie Library nearby, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and a bridge leading to Hudson, NY.  Catskill is at the center of a circle of educational institutions- Columbia-Greene Community College (Hudson, NY), Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY), Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY), and the State Universities of New York at Albany and New Paltz .  Local radio station, WGXC 90.7-FM (WGXC.org) broadcasts from Catskill's Main Street on Wednesday afternoons and 24/7 from their Hudson and Acra studios.

Deadline for Proposals             February 1

Notification to Artists               February 7

Installations                            February 7-March 15

Opening Reception                   March 17

Project dates                           March 17 - May 31

Audiences for this project range from sophisticated, intentional viewers to curious pedestrians. In the last year, Masters on Main Street exhibitors have discovered that scale, night lighting and a descriptive statement in the window are very important features to engage this diverse crowd.

For Exhibit/Space/Event Proposals submit 1 page (max) project description and up to 10 low res jpegs with image list.  For Photo Documentary Exhibit entries, submit up to 10 low res jpegs with image list to:

Fawn Potash, Masters on Main Street, Project Director

Attn: WS2MS Space Proposal and/or WS2MS Photo-Doc Entries

Greene County Council on the Arts

398 Main Street, PO Box 463

Catskill, NY 12414

fawn@greenearts.org

 

Questions?  Call Fawn Potash, Greene County Council on the Arts 518-943-3400. 

Other Calls for Entries for OWS Artists

[NOTE: These two exhibit opportunities are available for Occupy artists, although neither project is OWS-specific.]

From Katherine Gressel:

Brooklyn Utopias: Park Space, Play Space

(Click the image to learn more)

& from Chanel:

Hi All,

I'm not an artist, but I LOVE Art and support whenever I can.  I'm sure some of you are or have been involved with Figment since you are all so incredibly active. But just in case you are not and might want to be... Here's the info. Also I personally would love to see OWS be a huge part of Figment this year so I thought I'd throw the idea out there and see what comes out. OWS would not be as strong a force with all of you, your hard heartfelt work and creativity... So thank u!  =-)

Wishing us all an Amazingly Successful New Year!

In Solidarity,
Chanel


FIGMENT
NYC - Kickoff and Meet and Greet!
 
We're in the final stages of confirming our dates and plans for FIGMENT NYC 2012, so we have yet to make an announcement. We'll give you all the details, as well as release our calls for art for FIGMENT and calls for proposals for our summer-long projects in the next few weeks. But we do want to invite you to two special upcoming events...
 
First, our FIGMENT NYC 2012 Kickoff Meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 17, at 6:30p. If you've ever thought about getting more involved in FIGMENT as a team member, to help make FIGMENT happen, this is the meeting to come to. We'll introduce key FIGMENT NYC leaders and discuss all of the different roles on our volunteer team that we're looking to fill this year. Key roles include important spots on our curatorial team, our communications team, and helping with production.
 
When: 
Tuesday, January 17, 6:30pmWhere: 
HERE, 145 Sixth Ave., NYC (enter on Dominick Street one block south of Spring)

RSVP: Email 
NYCkickoff@figmentproject.org 

Many thanks to our friends at HERE for hosting us!
 
Then, all are welcome to join us for our first FIGMENT NYC Meet and Greet of 2012! This is a very loose, informal social gathering, where you can meet FIGMENT Team Members and Artists, get to know more about FIGMENT, and see how you fit in to what's happening with FIGMENT in NYC! FIGMENT is all about people, and we have to get to know each other better if we're going to make amazing things happen this summer! So please join us!
 
When: 
Tuesday, January 31, 7-10pmWhere: 
Central Bar, 109 East 9th Street (between 3rd and 4th Aves.), NYC - in the upstairs room

RSVP: Email 
NYCMeetandGreet@figmentproject.org

OCCUPY THE WALLS: A Poster Show

All Day Event  Dec 15, 2011

From the press release:

Art heeds the clarion call of the Occupy Wall Street movement at the AC Institute. This special show of posters is dedicated to the spirit evinced by the patriots at Liberty Square. Original, commissioned artwork will be shown beside authentic posters from the protest and will be on view for one week.

In addition to an opening there will be a poetry reading and talk with the curators, Bob Holman and Savitri D on Thursday, December 15 at 6:30pm.

The artists will then take their artwork to Liberty Square to demonstrate on Saturday, December 17, leaving the gallery at 1pm. This effort will be made into a film. 

Location:  AC Institute 547 W. 27th St, 6th Floor New York, NY 10001 6th Floor - #610 & South Alcove

Art During Wartime, The OLA Exhibit at The Latin Museum, Dec 8 2011

[As reported on Yvonne de la Vega's Occupy LA blog]:

Last night (December 8) at The Latino Museum in downtown Los Angeles the exhibition of art from the Occupy Los Angeles camp was definitely a night of unique sorts. There was the art itself, which spoke of many different concerns, from"stop the war" to depictions of Anonymous (the infamous hacker group and Occupy ally), to paintings of Gandhi, who has been an inspiration to occupiers for his peaceful protest(s).

The event was packed with art-goers and the usual spies among us, as this was indeed an Occupy Los Angeles event. Just one day before, a group of 8 artist/occupiers were arrested by the LAPD when leaving the museum for crimes still unclear (they were walking with their artwork after having just left the museum). The charges are reported to be at a felony level.

For those of you who were not able to attend the opening of the OLA Art display, the exhibit will continue through to January. free to the public

For more info, click HERE.

Occupy Printed Matter - November 19, 12-5PM

this Saturday (11/19) from noon to 5pm, we will be continuing our Occupy Printed Matter action.

We will be decorating their window with a new display of Occupy Wall Street art and occupying the sidewalk in front of their store with art…perhaps silkscreening this week, perhaps sign-making, perhaps life drawing, perhaps a visit from Occupy Legoland.

If anyone would like to contribute work–work small enough to be hung in a living collage in a store window, or from part of the adjoining ceiling space, or sculptures with a small enough footprint to fit on a relatively narrow sill–we will be evaluating and striving to accept as many submissions as possible at Printed Matter, 195 Tenth Avenue between 22nd & 23rd, from 12-5pm tomorrow.

OCCUPIED BLUESTOCKINGS: Reminder!

Painting by Alex Powers

From Janelle of Bluestockings:

Hi Everyone,
Some of you may remember the call for art I posted back on the A&C google group a few weeks ago.  Many of you in A&C, and in other OWS working groups responded with some absolutely amazing contributions, and I just want to invite all of you to the opening tomorrow night. Organizing this show was such an awesome experience! I collaborated with so many kick-ass artists, performers, and activists.  I hope you all can come to BLUESTOCKINGS tonight at 7pm to celebrate some of the amazing artwork coming out of the Occupy Movement.
-Janelle

MORE INFO HERE.

OCCUPIED BLUESTOCKINGS

OCCUPIED:  AN OCCUPY MOVEMENT GROUP SHOW
EXHIBITION: NOVEMBER 14TH THROUGH DECEMBER 8TH
OPENING RECEPTION: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH, 7-10PM

OCCUPIED, is an art show and events series inspired by the evolution of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, hosted by BLUESTOCKINGS.  Over 30 artists from around the world contributed posters, prints, signs, photographs, drawings/works on paper, and multimedia installations.  The show opens Monday NOV 14th and runs through DEC 8th, 2011.  The show and events series is intended as a "cultural benefit" for OWS Arts&Culture and BLUESTOCKINGS. It will be a vehicle through which to engage in dialogue and contemplation of the OWS movement thus far.

Come out to BLUESTOCKINGS this MON NOV 14th @ 7PM to celebrate the opening night of OCCUPIED featuring artwork inspired by, and from artists working with the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Tonight’s program also includes performance, music, food, drink and discussion. The exhibition will be up through Thursday, December 8th.

OCCUPIED: AN OCCUPY MOVEMENT GROUP SHOW runs November 14th thru December 8th at Bluestockings 172 Allen St, NYC, NY (1 blk south of Houston St @ Stanton, 2nd Ave stop on the F train).  The opening party is Monday November 14th, 7 to 10pm, is free and open to the public.  For more information contact Bluestockings at 212-777-6028 or art@bluestockings.com. www.bluestockings.com, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154380834660987, http://www.facebook.com/bluestockingsnyc

BLUESTOCKINGS is a volunteer powered and collectively owned radical bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Through words, art, food, activism, education, and community, we strive to create a space that welcomes and empowers all people. We actively support movements that challenge hierarchy and all systems of oppression, including but not limited to patriarchy, heterosexism, the gender binary, white supremacy and classism, within society as well as our own movements. We seek to make our space and resources available to such movements for meetings, events, and research. Additionally, we offer educational programming that promotes centered, strategic, and visionary thinking, towards the realization of a society that is infinitely creative, truly democratic, equitable, ecological, and free.

UPDATE: Occupy Printed Matter

[Click the image to read the excellent Hyperallergic review of Occupy Printed Matter by Liza Eliano. Phase 2 of the evolving installation of Occupant art at Printed Matter will begin on Saturday. Contact Adrian Rocchio (see Printed Matter Storefront in the Active Project Proposals on the left sidebar for contact info] to find out more. One note from Max Schumann of PM: Please keep your submissions/dimensions @12-14" in any direction. Some wiggle room on that, but check out the image above. Big paintings/prints/signs/sculptures will occupy the space we're all trying to share. A screen-printing event is in the works for Saturday, and we'll pass on more details as they emerge. What a great first Occupennial project! Kudos to all!]

Adrian's Update:

The Printed Matter window installation is first and foremost a way to help spread the #occupywallstreet message to the doorway of the Gallery district. But it also provides #OWS artists a way to both learn from and engage in tribute to their art activist forebears.

Paul from Occupennial had visited Printed Matter for their retrospective of Colab. He announced at an Arts & Culture meeting that members of Printed Matter were offering their storefront and window for an #occupywallstreet art installation. He also reminded us that artists from various reputable art groups were themselves occupying Liberty Plaza, including those from Colab. I volunteered to take lead in organizing the window installation and two battle-scarred members of our working group volunteered to help. Two newer members of Arts & Culture also offered their time.

I first did research on the organizations involved. Since I had visited Printed Matter before I knew a little of their work. However being a spoiled New Yorker I figured it was one of many types of specialty book stores. Had I been more productive in my artistry or been active in researching artists’ publications I would have discovered soon enough that Printed Matter was not only one of a kind but a valuable organization. My research also brought me knowledge of the Colab collective. It was my immediate impression that if the OWS Arts & Culture working group didn’t reflect the principles of agency, inclusiveness, collaboration, and empowerment, indicative of the Colab collective, then I had never understood the meaning of kindred spirits. For not only did Colab produce engaging art they developed a way to do it outside bureaucracies. In point of fact, one of Colab’s resolute and successful endeavors was to attain public grants and funding without the necessity of middlemen and administrators.

On curating I found these three steps to be helpful. The first is to do research on the organization, venue, and participating artists or organizations. Second, is to have necessary documents prepared in advance. And the third, to solicit artwork from artists while informing them of their rights. All these things I learned while in the process of doing the installation. After making pre-production list of things that needed to be done, I wrote a quick summary of the organization to inform potential contributors about Printed Matter, their offer to us, and our goals.

I set up a new thread in the New York City General Assembly / Arts & Culture forum informing artists of the space and history of Private Matter and about Colab. I then emailed guild co-organizers the same information as that in the forum, with the inclusion of contact information, and asked them for assistance in providing artwork. These two steps were done immediately for the fact that the Printed Matter space was already available.

I planned on creating a list of artwork to be contributed so that my team could discuss how they would be displayed and to determine whether there would be theme or how we will rotate it. I also planned on creating an inventory and to make consignment "receipts" for contributors and secure transportation or a method of delivering work.
 
The first contributors to offer work were those who had been attending Arts & Culture meetings and who responded quickly to email requests. The first artists to contribute work included puppeteers, painters, and a performance artist. My first attempt at coordinating the pickup went well. I met two artists at Liberty Plaza and picked up handmade posters from Archives. That Saturday Imani Brown and I went to a donated Dumbo art studio to pick up puppets. We then met Johnny Sagan (a.k.a. Snowy Wilderness), Claudia Vargas, and Vance Dekker-Vargas at Printed Matter to set up the work. The installation was fun and after a few changes the composition was complete.

The wonderful Flowchart of the Declaration of the Occupation was designed by a woman who wishes to remain anonymous but who can be contacted at flowchartart@gmail.com. Noah Fischer contributed a Washington quarter mask. One of a collection of iconic masks used in his Summer of Change 2011 performance, “a series of numismatic ritual offerings to our nation’s bankers; those citizens worthy of prizes and honors; which we as artists are honored to bestow in public.” This pre-Occupy Wall Street performance was momentously aligned with the Occupy Wall Street’s message and continues to represent the cents-less tribute the masses pay to financial district deities who we must reason truly have our best interests at heart even if and especially when their mysterious ways devastate individuals and communities. The puppets were contributed by the Puppetry Guild of Arts & Culture. Artist ______ mixed media collage is titled “Eat the Rich” 2011.  Her son Artist _______'s work is titled “Thirst” 2011 and was made with acrylic spray paint on paper. Handmade signs, drawn on-site through the weeks of the occupation, were consigned from Archives of #OWS.

Everyone at Printed Matter has been helpful if at times busy with their own work. Max has been incredibly helpful and is always available when needed. We have already acquired work for this coming Saturday and hope to have performers, musicians, and a screen printing table setup outside. I’ve posted a new topic in nycga.net titled Occupy Chelsea in the hopes that this call at Chelsea’s threshold may the first of many exhibitions: “Fiery Occupy Chelsea rises, deep thunder rolls around its shore, burning with the fires of Orc.” (William Blake modification)
 

Best,
Adrian Rocchio

>

PRESS RELEASE FROM PRINTED MATTER

Printed Matter is pleased to announce a collaboration with Occupy Wall Street, co-ordinated by the OWS Occupennial and a team of occupant artists.  Through November 26th the Printed Matter storefront window will feature Occupy Printed Matter, a rotating installation of work created by artists participating in the #OccupyWallStreet arts and culture working group, the inaugural artist action from that committee.  The political, social and cultural impact of OWS and the broader Occupy movement has already been widely felt;  it is our hope that providing a modest outlet in Chelsea will serve both as an expression of solidarity with the movement and an opportunity to extend its reach into new communities.

The installation, which includes work of varying media from several dozen occupant artists, will change over the course of the month as new material is created in response to transpiring events. Work currently includes a large scale Flow Chart for the Declaration of the Occupation of NYC, a coin-shaped mask from the 2011 Summer of Change, a spray-painted poster calling for the Separation of Corporation and State, as well as cut-out demonstrators voicing the fundamental concerns of the movement.

Printed Matter will host a series of events on the remaining Saturdays in November, 12-5 PM, during which visitors are invited to make artwork reflecting their economic/political demands.  Drawings and writings will then be screenprinted by OWS onto cards and added to a bulletin board for display outside of Printed Matter.

The window installation coincides with Printed Matter's exhibition A Show about Colab (And Related Activities), on view through the end of November.  Active in the late-seventies through mid-eighties, Collaborative Projects, Inc. has a compelling relationship to OWS: Historically, Colab came together in the wake of the 1970's recession and on the eve of Reagan's ushering in the era of financial deregulations and social austerity, which continues to this day. Organizationally, like OWS, Colab was set up to be non-hierarchical and inclusive with open meetings and rotating officers.  Occupy Wall Street has invited former members of Colab to contribute to the installation, while some Colab alums have been active in OWS demonstrations and assemblies.

#OWS at Living as Form

September 24–October 16
Thursday–Sunday, 12–8 PM
The Historic Essex Street Market
80 Essex Street
Southeast corner of Essex and Delancey Streets, NYC

Click to read more ...