Art in Odd Places Festival Seeks Artists

Art in Odd Places Festival Seeks Artists

Website: http://www.artinoddplaces.org/2016-race-application/

 Unknown, New York, Unknown

Art in Odd Places (AiOP) aims 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.

Every October for the past eleven years, AiOP has presented a multi-disciplinary public art festival along 14th Street in Manhattan. Creating a test-site for the possibilities and limitations of public space, AiOP is a gift to the popular imagination of New York City. The ethos is one of sharing, openness, and accessibility. The festival is produced without a budget, and taken up completely on the initiative of the organizers and participating artists. Permissions are not sought. AiOP is collaborative, horizontal, and agile.

AiOP invites proposals for its twelfth annual public art and performance festival, taking place October 6-9, 2016 on 14th St. from Avenue C to the Hudson River. We welcome disciplinary diversity: visual/installation, performance, timebased media, virtual/gaming work, online-IRL hybrids, and others. We encourage projects that explore this location’s history and heterogeneity, and that actively engage the public realm. This year’s focus is RACE. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

Projects should:

  • Encourage a novel use of or interaction with public space while engaging with RACE.
  • Be able to move through public spaces continuously and effortlessly, without impeding the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic by blocking the sidewalk and/or street.
  • Engage with 14th Street’s cultural and architectural landmarks, neighborhoods, multifaceted industries and communities as a resource for creative consideration.
  • Consider both anticipated and unpredictable locations.
  • Commit to maintaining a presence on 14th Street for the duration of the festival.

AiOP provides artists with promotion to a wide network of press and art world contacts, a website presence (with project info, bio, and personal web link), listing in the AiOP program guide, project consultation, and access to a growing community of like-minded artists, curators, and makers working in the public realm. We can also help in the following ways: introductions to local business- owners and other community partners, letters of support for artists who need visas, and letters of support for artists who are interested in applying for individual grants.

AiOP does not provide: fiscal support, permits, insurance, security, or assistance with installation/de-installation. Artists are themselves responsible for securing any necessary permissions, all logistics regarding installation/de-installation, and insurance (if applicable). As this festival takes place in the public realm, projects should be developed with heavy interaction and durability in mind.

Selected proposals will be notifed by May 27, 2016.

Please read the full RFQ and visit the Art in Odd Places website before applying.  The online application is available here.