ABOUT
What is a story? A story is an account of events in a person’s, object’s, and/or environment’s life. These events can be real or imaginary, told as entertainment or to communicate one’s history. But within a story, there are points of intersection that bind us together through an encounter, through an article, or through a setting. A story can be larger than our own existence. Some stories can be very long, some stories can be brief yet eventful, and others never shared by those who lived them.
A familiar scent, an object, or another person’s story can recall a story lost in time. Some stories can speak for one person or can tell the story of many people. A place can be the home of many stories. Art in Odd Places has twenty-six years’ worth of stories from the founder and new director, to the artists who have participated, to the curators who have curated, to the volunteers who have served, and to the people who have experienced the interlocking fibers of creativity. We are all the raconteurs – the storytellers of our encounter.
Art in Odd Places 2022: STORY charges participating local, national, and international artists with sharing their wide-ranging personal stories publicly. Passersby engaging directly or choosing to engage with the projects from a distance will witness the myriad of statements in this year’s festival. Stories that confront political and social stigmas, report on the environment, speak for the silent, unheard, and the underrepresented are highlighted in this year’s festival. Certain testimonies offer diverse perspectives on what it means to be in a violent situation, or what it’s like to be from a different culture or express the experience of daily life with different abilities. Others are questioning or redefining identity, showing transparency regarding emotional well-being struggling with mental health, and sharing cultural, social, religious, and spiritual differences. We all believe that our stories are vastly different – but I sense they are universal.
—Jessica Elaine Blinkhorn, Curator
Mission
Art in Odd Places 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.
History
Art in Odd Places (AiOP) began as an action by a group of artists led by Ed Woodham to encourage local participation in the Cultural Olympiad of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In 2005, after moving back to New York City, he re imagined it as a response to the dwindling of public space and personal civil liberties – first in the Lower East Side and East Village, and since 2008, on 14th Street in Manhattan. AiOP has always been a grassroots project fueled by the goodwill and inventiveness of its participants.
People
Camila Olander Echavarria
Access Manager
Thinkers in Residence
Roberta Degnore
Rich Garr
Katya Grokhovsky
LuLu LoLo
Matthew López-Jensen
Eliza Luce
Harley J. Spiller
Max Williams
Martha Wilson
Partners
Bureau of General Services – Queer Division is an independent, all-volunteer queer cultural center, bookstore, and event space hosted by The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City.
BGSQD website
Pollinate is a community-driven art platform connecting individuals to practiced artists and rich creative experiences. The platform utilizes digital technologies to engage communities unifying the artist and art lover. Both on and offline, Pollinate works to elevate the art experience, making it accessible to the new generation of collectors. In collaboration with AiOP, Pollinate captures the story of each performance and installation to help amplify the narrative to all audiences, regardless of physical boundaries.
Pollinate websiteSupport
Art in Odd Places is fiscally sponsored by GOH Productions led by Bonnie Stein, Executive Director, and supported in part by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, the New York State Legislature, and private donors: Lisa Lurie and Terry S. Hardy.
Thanks
In no particular order, to: Ayana Evans, Harley Spiller, Greg Newton and Donnie Jochum from Bureau of General Services - Queer Division, Helen Buford from Julius’ Bar NYC, M. Getsay, Nam Le and Katya Borkov from Pollinate, Savannah Pagán Fitzpatrick, Guinier Boisrond, and Jhoselyn Ulloa from The Center for Arts Education, Heather Reed, Amy Ehrlich, Donna and Jerry Blinkorn, Mary-Helen Shepherd, Anna Xiou, Sam Elalouf, Steven Jacobik, Alex Clark, Laura Luciano from Dos Caminos Restaurant, Peter Wallach from The 14th Street Framing Gallery, Price Stone and Phillip Treviono from The 14th Street Y.