The Gentrification of Brooklyn show at MoCADA is up until May 16, with additional special events in the coming weeks. BRIC Community Media (coincidentally the same folks with whom I will soon begin a teaching artist residency) created this news segment at the opening. You can get a taste of the show and see me, other artists, MoCADA director Laurie Cumbo and curator Dexter Wimberly talk about the show. Enjoy!
The Gentrification of Brooklyn
@ MoCADA
80 Hanson Place // Brooklyn, NY
Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-6pm, until May 16
Trains:
The 2, 3, 4, 5, B, and Q stop at Atlantic Avenue.
The D, M, N, and R stop at Pacific Avenue.
The C stops at Lafayette Avenue.
The G stops at Fulton Street.
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
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.


In September 2008, I had the pleasure of participating in CONFLUX: the art and technology festival for the creative exploration of urban public space. CONFLUX is an annual festival put on by Glowlab and last fall was hosted by the Center for Architecture.

curator Christina Ray
Yes, this post is EXTREMELY belated! The most criminal thing about it is that I had so many people to thank for helping me at CONFLUX. Most especially (for help with installation): Sabrina Lee, Stephanie Brown, Erin Beirnard, Colette Robert, Jeff Gray & (for de-installation) Nathaniel Lieb. Thanks also to Christina Ray and all of the wonderful people at Glowlab and the Center for Architecture.

Sabrina and Erin working on installing Locations & Dislocation
It was a great experience — I really enjoyed the other projects (especially Tiltfactor’s Massively Multi-player Soba, which introduced me to Morgan Riles) and loved talking with folks about my project Locations & Dislocation.

after winning a delicious dinner at Jackson Diner
Some participants have already received their Locations & Dislocation postcards, and some will be coming by mail in the next few months as I catch up!

Also, the festival in Sao Paulo found me through the CONFLUX website, so it turned out to be a great connection.

My brother’s card, Boston 2004-present.
Thanks to everyone who came out. I truly love CONFLUX for bringing together those of us who dwell at the intersection of art, technology, politics, play and urban space.
In October, I had the honor of presenting Locations and Dislocation at SESC Mostra de Artes 2008, an art festival in Sao Paulo, Brasil. It was my first time in Brasil and it was amazing! I only wish I had more time to explore. I was at the festival for four days. The curator Cassio Quiterio of SESC invited me after finding the project on the CONFLUX website and Eva Bonfim, my translator, coordinated the project while I was there.

(Me, Eva & Aquino, our favorite driver)
SESC is a country-wide institution in Brasil. It is a network of centers that function very much like the 92nd Street Y here in NYC, with public programming, arts spaces, cafes, courses, gyms and recreation. The organization is geared towards service workers, with the idea of providing health and cultural programming in the after work hours, though events are open to the general public.
At night we went to see other artists’ work. There were 80 artists from many different countries, including Noemi LeFranc, the choreographer who did AGORA in the McCarren Park Pool here in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

(LeFranc’s piece MELT at Mostra de Artes in Sao Paulo)
I did the project at two different locations. In both places, Eva would interview people in Portuguese and then they would work with me to map their moving history onto a projected map with vinyl tape.

(Eva interviewing)
SESC 24 de Maio was a new center in downtown Sao Paulo near my hotel. We projected on a vertical white wall.

(Putting up the tape)

(The results)
In this space, I showed across from Heather Arckroyd and Dan Harvey’s large scale photographs of Brazilian immigrants living in London. The negatives were projected on grass seeds, and the grass grew in different colors due the the different light, creating the image. Amazing!
At SESC-Itaquera — the second location, in a national park on the outskirts of Sao Paulo — I did the project in a community computer technology room, projected on the floor.

(Working on floor projections at SESC-Itaquera)

(The results)
The two settings were different but both unique — at 24 de Maio, the crowd had come to see art and the scale of the wall was great.

(With volunteers Dilson & Caroline, Eva, and the tech specialist Roberto)
At Itaquera, people were passing through to use the room for computer access and happened upon the project. The scale was smaller but the interactions were more intimate.

(The whole family got involved)
Over 60 participants created their maps with me. I am now up to my ears with making postcards in Portuguese for them (sorry to people from [ ESC ] & CONFLUX who didn’t get theirs yet!). Many of the new postcards are quite beautiful and I will post some them as soon as I figure out a good way to photograph them. I have not been satisfied with my previous experiments with documentation; if anyone has any suggestions, send them my way.
Here are some jpgs of the raw files — in Portuguese! — as a preview:
You can see more pictures of my trip on flickr.
[ ESC ] was truly awesome on Friday night! It grows with every year. We had a great collection of projects and upwards of about 200 people in attendance. Locations & Dislocation was well received (I have several new cards to do!) and I enjoyed the presentations & unique collection of projects.
Drew Cogbill presented Pigeon, a social network using telephones he hopes can bring social networking to places where internet is not as ubiquitous (sign up to be a test user!). Meng Li and Elim Cheng presented Peek, Poke, Talk, a delightful bench that encourages interaction between strangers. When people sit far apart from each other on the bench, their shadows are triggered to interact and flirt, high fiving, whispering and teasing each other with a power drill (he he…).
We’ll be posting the program and links on our newly minted website soon. Laura Chipley took some wonderful photos (three below).
The crowd
Setting up
Onlookers at Locations & Dislocation
Thanks so much to my co-conspirators: Suyin Looui, Francisca Caporali, Laura Chipley, Pilar Ortiz and Ariana Souzis, who really took the lead this year.
I am heading to Brasil to show Locations & Dislocation at SESC festival in Sao Paulo.
Look forward to sharing pictures when I get back!