Thanks to everyone who came out for the opening and artist talks for The Gentrification of Brooklyn at MoCADA.  The response has been overwhelming and I am inspired by all the conversations about gentrification the show is generating.  For those who haven’t seen it yet, it will be up until May 16.  You can see a list of future events here.

The show has received some great press, including this NY1 piece.

Enjoy these pics from the opening!

Crowd at MoCADA

in front of Locations & Dislocation

Locations & Dislocation on the windows of MoCADA

Brooklyn Rail article

Gothamist

The Brooklyn Paper

Special thanks to Laurie Cumbo (director of MoCADA), Dexter Wimberly (curator) and LaShaya Howie (awesome MoCADA intern who installed with me for 5 hours!), everyone at MoCADA and the other artists.

Happy new year to everyone.  I will be showing my project LOCATIONS & DISLOCATION in an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA).  Looking forward to it!

detail from installation plan for LOCATIONS & DISLOCATION

“The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks”
Curated by Dexter Wimberly
February 4, 2010 – May 16, 2010

Opening Reception
Thursday, February 4, 2010
6-9 PM
at MoCADA
80 Hanson Place
Brooklyn, NY 11217

This reception will include a public art performance, a musical set by Brooklyn-based author and DJ, Rich Burroughs, the opportunity to meet the featured artists and a presentation by the exhibition’s curator Dexter Wimberly.  Free to the public.

Artists: Josh Bricker (Installation), Oasa DuVerney (Drawing), Zachary Fabri (Video), Irondale Ensemble (Theater Performance), Nathan Kensinger (Photography), Jess Levey (Photography / Video Installation), Christina Massey (Painting), Musa (Sculpture), Tim Okamura (Painting), Kip Omalade (Painting), John Perry (Painting), Michael Premo / Rachel Falcone (Photography / Multimedia), Adele Pham (Video), Marie Roberts (Painting), Gabriel Reese (Painting), Ali Santana (Music Video), Monique Schubert (Mixed-media), Alexandria Smith (Painting) and Sarah Nelson Wright (Installation).

The Artists Speak Out*
Saturday, February 6, 2010
2:00pm – 4:30pm

Several of the exhibiting artists will speak out about their work and the effects of Gentrification on their creative process. Exhibition curator Dexter Wimberly will lead a “straight talk” discussion on the exhibition theme and the curatorial process.  Free to the public.

* I will take six new participants for LOCATIONS & DISLOCATION during this event.  Ideal participants will have lived at six or more locations in Brooklyn.  Please contact me if you are interested in participating:
sarahnw {ATT} gmail [DOT] com

You can read about the show, including my project, in this New York Daily News Article.

I will presenting documentation of Brooklyn Makes at Hunter College as part of the Integrated Media Arts MFA thesis presentations. There will be opportunities to watch my videos, see video documentation of the event and hear about fantastic projects from my classmates. Hope to see you there!

The Integrated Media Arts Program of the Department of Film & Media Studies, Hunter College presents
Thesis Exhibition * Integrated Media Arts

FRIDAY DECEMBER 18th, 2009 5:00 – 8: 30PM
Black Box, Hunter North 543

Presentations 5-7pm
Samara Smith Union Square: A Public Place
Ariana Souzis: Curb Exchange
Suyin Looui: Hey Baby
Sarah Nelson Wright: Brooklyn Makes (around 6pm)
Vandana Sood: The Taxi Takes on Terror

Open Gallery and Reception 7-8:30pm

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19th, 2009 5:30-8:30
Film and Media Screening Room, Hunter North 502
Robin Locke-Monda: Sounds Like Staten Island
Jonas Pariente: Next Year in Bombay

Reception to follow, both nights.
Please Join Us.

Acme Fish from Brooklyn Makes (photo by Johnny Lowe)

It was a beautiful weekend for Brooklyn Makes. Thanks to everyone who came out — great intentional attendance and I was delighted by the large number of walkers and bikers who happened upon it as well.

Many things and people cooperated and/or offered their generous support, both temporal and financial, to make it happen — technology, police, neighbors and rain not the least of them — and I have a lot of thanks to give.

I will update with documentation & appreciation in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you would like to kept posted on this project or my work, please shoot me an email at sarahnw {ATT] gmail [DOT} com

Friday + Saturday
October 9+10, 2009
7:30pm-10pm

BROOKLYN MAKES is a site-specific video installation in the Williamsburg Greenpoint Industrial Zone, revealing the work of manufacturers in North Brooklyn today.

Video projections by Sarah Nelson Wright will light up the industrial facades of three manufacturers, with evocative sound by Jennifer Stock. Captured inside each business, the videos and sounds bring North Brooklyn’s hidden labor onto the public streets.

Directions: Take the G to Nassau or L to Bedford Ave (also near the B61 and B48 buses). See the map below or pick up a map at Space on Dobbin, 50-52 Dobbin Street between Nassau & Norman Avenues in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

FAQ: Videos will loop at each location, and will play simultaneously throughout the night. In case of rain, start at Space on Dobbin. Please respect the few cars and residents in the area by staying on the sidewalks and keeping your voice down outside residential buildings.

Part of openhousenewyork weekend and Space on Dobbin’s events for Williamsburg Gallery Association’s Every 2:nd Fridays.

I thoroughly enjoyed showing previews of Brooklyn Makes at FEAST and Red Hook Film Festival this weekend! So many creative folks and so much wonderful work to enjoy.

Check out my post about Brooklyn Makes on Urban Omnibus.

Urban Omnibus is an online project of the Architectural League to create a new kind of conversation about design and New York City. We commission, gather and deliver the insights of journalists, architects, planners, designers, artists, activists, scholars and citizens. The Omnibus features multi-media content to showcase design innovation, critical analysis and local expertise across a broad range of topics and locales, creating bridges between various communities of interest. Urban Omnibus makes vivid the processes and possibilities shaping New York. Our goal is to increase understanding of the city we have and encourage ideas that can lead to a more inclusive, more sustainable, more beautiful city that could be.

It has been quite a busy time for me!  Here is list of opportunities to see me sharing my work this fall in NYC.  I would love to see you at some of these events, most importantly on October 9+10 for BROOKLYN MAKES, the project I have been working on all year.

1. BROOKLYN MAKES
2. ATTACHMENT (extended)
3. GREENPOINT OPEN STUDIOS
4. FEAST
5. RED HOOK FILM FESTIVAL

1.

BROOKLYN MAKES
Friday & Saturday
October 9+10
7:30-10pm
Part of Williamsburg Gallery Association’s Every 2:nd Friday and openhousenewyork

Brooklyn Makes is a site-specific video installation in the Greenpoint Williamsburg Industrial Business Zone. Large projections of videos by Sarah Nelson Wright will light up the industrial facades of three manufacturers, with evocative sound designed by Jennifer Stock. The videos and sounds, all captured inside the businesses, bring the hidden labor that takes place during the day onto the public streets at night, providing a window into the unique and skilled work of North Brooklyn manufacturers.
www.brooklynmakes.org

***I added a second night, and need to raise more funds.  To make a contribution (every bit helps!), visit my kickstarter page.

2.
ATTACHMENT
every day until October 8
10am-10pm M-F / 11am-11pm Sat / 11am-9p Sun

My installation with Nathaniel Lieb in the Then and Now show at The Center (208 West 13th Street, NYC, near 7th Ave, second floor) has been extended!  Check it out & participate.  (Tip: near The High Line Park.)

photo by Megan Cronin

3.
GREENPOINT OPEN STUDIOS
Saturday
September 26
3-6pm
My studio (Heidi Boisvert, Francisca Caporali, Laura Chipley, Mary Jeys, Suyin Looui, Pilar Ortiz & I) will be participating.  Come check out our digs and see what we’ve been working on at 233 Norman Ave, #201 (between Russell and North Henry).  G to Nassau.

4.
FEAST
Saturday
October 3
5-8pm
A sliding scale monthly dinner where artists present projects and attendees vote on which projects to fund.  As a grantee from the last Feast, I will be presenting a preview of BROOKLYN MAKES. G to Nassau.

5.
RED HOOK FILM FESTIVAL
Sunday
October 4
4-6pm

I will present an excerpt from the videos I made for BROOKLYN MAKES.

Best wishes for a creative and healthy fall! Please spread the word.

Great news! Then & Now, the 20th anniversary of the The Center Show, has been extended through September. Attachment, my installation with Nathaniel Lieb, is a complex web of hearts and knots at this point and I’m thrilled to see it change for another month.

The piece is now up through October 8, so please stop by The Center to participate in Attachment and see how it has grown (208 West 13th Street, near 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor, 9am-10pm daily). We’re on the second floor; it’s hard to miss!

Additionally, Richard Meyer, Associate Professor of Art History & Fine Arts at USC and a member of the Then and Now host committee will be discussing Then and Now as well as the original Center Show in a keynote address at Harvard this October in conjunction with their exhibition “ACT UP New York: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987–1993.”

It has been an honor to be part of this show and to work with Nathaniel. Thank you to everyone who has come by and participated.

Here are some updated photos by Megan Cronin:

I’m thrilled to announce that Brooklyn Makes received a $400 grant at Feast! It was a very exciting evening. I met a lot of great people and enjoyed spending the afternoon talking about the project in the park.

Thanks to everyone who voted for my project! Hope to see you at Brooklyn Makes on Friday, October 9th.

Additionally, as a grantee I will be presenting at the next FEAST on October 3rd. Come by to support more emerging artists and to get a sneak peak at Brooklyn Makes.

photo by Rachel Rampleman

I am proposing my project BROOKLYN MAKES, a video walking tour about manufacturing in North Brooklyn, for funding at the next FEAST dinner, 6-9pm on Saturday, August 8th, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

FEAST is a recurring public dinner designed to use community-driven financial support to democratically fund new and emerging art makers.  At FEAST dinners, everyone pays a sliding scale for dinner and a fundraiser (suggested 10-20 dollars) and then votes on one of the proposed art projects by local artists to fund with the money made at the door. It should be a lovely event as usual, with delicious dinner & fun times.

Please come out and vote for my project if you’re in town!

About BROOKLYN MAKES

FEAST website

Event Details for August 8th FEAST dinner at Church of the Messiah in Greenpoint