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

I visited Attachment with my brother on Thursday — here’s some updated photos.  You can see it (and participate) on the 2nd Floor of the Gay and Lesbian Center at 208 West 13th Street near 7th Avenue in NYC through the end of August 2009.

Tomorrow I will be finishing my semester-long program with kids at the PS 16 YMCA After School in South Williamsburg.  We explored our neighborhood through technology and made a website.  Pretty exciting for fourth and fifth grade!  If you’d like to check our out site, where you can see our pictures and hear our podcast, go here.  We have a video as well, but I’m waiting to hear if we can post it online, because the kids star in it.

We called our project O.N.E. Williamsburg, for “Our Neighborhood Explored.”  Please feel free to leave (kid-appropriate) comments!

A picture by one of my students showing the urban renewal buildings and the older buildings across the street from each other, taken when we had a visit from Michael Freedman-Schnapp of NAG.

Thanks to all who came out to the opening!  It was amazing to see the way Attachment evolved.  Nathaniel and I were surprised and delighted to see people create things we didn’t even imagine.  The piece is up until Sept. 4, so please stop by The Center to participate and watch it grow (208 West 13th Street, near 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor, 9am-11pm daily).

I will post pictures throughout the summer.  A couple people took really beautiful ones at the opening.  Here are a selection of Megan Cronin’s:

…and some from Johnny Lowe:

Deep appreciation for the photographers!

The opening for Then and Now at the Center is tomorrow night, but I couldn’t resist posting a couple preview shots.  You can come by to participate in our installation and see the show all summer (9am-11pm daily on the second floor of 208 West 13th Street until Sept 4, 2009).

Casting another heart (photo by Megan Cronin):

We installed ATTACHMENT at The Center yesterday.  I am really happy with the way the piece is coming out.  The only thing missing is community participation, which will begin next Thursday, May 28th, at the opening gala.  I will post documentation as it progresses.  The work will be up all summer and I look forward to discovering how it will grow.  Please stop by 208 West 13th Street and visit the second floor if you are in NYC this summer.

Thanks to Mimi Smith for asking me to participate in this show, my collaborator Nathaniel Lieb, Chris Hanway and Ector Simpson at The Center, the lovely ladies who donated yarn, and everyone who offered input, especially my studiomates (Francisca Caporali, Laura Chipley, Pilar Ortiz and Mary Jeys) and my homies (Sabrina Lee, Rand Dadasovich, and Rachel Messer).

I will be showing ATTACHMENT, a new site specific installation at Then and Now: an exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Center Show at the LGBT Center on 13th Street this summer.  The work is a collaboration with Nathaniel Lieb, an artist I met at I met at Brooklyn College.

2009 year marks the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the event that many consider the beginning of the gay rights movement in America.  I was  honored to be asked to participate in this show, as I have always felt myself a strong ally of the LGBT community.  This show also marks the 20th year anniversary of the The Center Show:

In June 1989, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center hosted The Center Show, a legendary effort in which famous and emerging artists created site-specific works on the walls of the building in commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Several major figures in the art world such as Keith Haring, Leon Golub, Kenny Scharf, David LaChapelle, and Nancy Spero contributed to this groundbreaking event.

One of the artists from the original show, Mimi Smith, an inspiring woman who I met through _gaia, asked if I would like to participate.  This summer, site specific works from the new artists will be on display at the Center alongside the original works from the 1989 show.

Then and Now
an exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Center Show

June 1-Sept 4, 2009
@ The Center
208 West 13th Street (btwn 7th & 8ths Aves.)
New York, NY

There is a gala benefit opening to preview the show on Thursday, May 28th at 6:30pm – $20

There are two great events in NYC this weekend.  Friday night is opening for the annual show for my MFA program at Hunter.  I won’t be participating this year as I’m tangled up with the flu, my thesis and preparing for the Center Show (save the date: May 28!), but I am extremely excited to see the work.

On Saturday night it’s the third FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics), a monthly dinner event I have been participating in here in Greenpoint, where we all pool $10-20 contributions, eat a delicious meal and vote for a project to receive a cash grant.  This time, my friend Mary Jeys is proposing her new project Brooklyn Torch, a local currency for North Brooklyn.

Hunter College IMA/MFA Spring Show:Medium of Exchange

MFA/IMA Student Group EYEspeak is holding their Annual Showcase of Interdisciplinary and New Media Art from Hunter College’s Integrated Media Arts MFA Program.

PLACE:  The Black Box Gallery
Hunter College North Building, 5th floor, Room 544N
695 Park Avenue (enter on 68th Street)
New York, NY 10065
DATES: May 8th–10th 2009
HOURS: Opening Reception, Friday May 8th 6–9 PM
Saturday May 9th and Sunday 10th 12–6 PM
Admission to the IMA Spring Show is free to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Vote for Brooklyn Torch
@ FEAST!
Church of the Messiah
129 Russell Street, Brooklyn
6-9p; $10-20, no one turned away
Sat, May 9th

I heart strangers.

Congratulations to curators Maya & Chere, and to Iraq Veterans Against the War.  The benefit was really spectacular and well attended.  The curation used Powerhouse’s generous space beautifully.  As expected, the show is very moving.  If you would like to see it, it is open until March 22 during Powerhouse’s regular hours.

Thanks to all who came! It was wonderful to have so many friends, family members & colleagues there.  Check out Chris Vongsawat pictures on flickr.

(photo by my mom)