The First Thursday Dumbo Gallery Walk is tonight, Thursday, December 1, 2011, between 6-9pm. The gallery walk is free.

What: DUMBO ART Happening, Curated by ADLER A.F., Berlin/Germany
When: 11/29/2011, 7-10pm
Where: 68 Jay Street, #611, Brooklyn, New York 11201

Dumbo-Hot In A Disco- Art Happening — A ‘pump and grind’ event on November 29th, 7 – 10 pm, 68 Jay Street, Brooklyn, with a diverse group of artists who all share a devout commitment to their craft: John Ensor Parker, Janet Cristenfeld and Emil Memon with paintings, Charles von Herrlich and Manzoni with sculpture, Gregory de la Haba film stills and ADLER A.F. with her eponymous trash art. Its a meeting of visions, themes, ideas and ideologies.

The show’s German, Berlin based curator ADLER A.F. explains, vis a vis her grand motto IN ART WE TRUST:

“It’s sort of a spontaneous guerrilla event, devised between the participating artists and myself from dialogue we shared over the last month about the economy and the artist’s response, feelings, towards it. In this moment & time all the arts the world over are in the crosshairs of an financial ‘perfect storm’; rising rents and production costs amid an economic meltdown within the Eurozone and with ‘frozen’ American banks struggling to survive. It is a new world order where commerce dictates more and more complex interplay between artists, curators, institutions (commercial and non profit alike), dealers, art critic/advisor/writer hustlers, art fares, public or private money, etc., etc., it would be nice to simply cut through all of this with a simple gesture: To find a space and come together to share each other’s work and discuss. A desire for camaraderie amongst all artist types with sincere, unabashed and raucous conversation about our livelihoods, about our art. Art exists only in this transaction between the creator and the viewer. It?s an intimate experience not unlike sex. The disco is getting hotter!”

Tonight, Thursday, November 17, 2011 is the presentation of “Subliminal Machines“, featuring a live performance by the artist on the audio/video feedback synthesizer of his own fabrication. Come at 7pm for drinks.

Phillip Stearns, Subliminal Machines

Artist’s presentation: THU 17 NOV 11, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

Rabbithole (rabbitholeprojects.com)
33 Washington Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201

For more information about the artists, please contact Justin William Lin – managing director rabbitholeprojects@gmail.com

Spring, the design and art studio established in 2003 by Anna Cosentino and Steve Butcher, has teamed up with Broolyn based Chef Heather White to launch the first of many special events, introducing locals to the gallery’s new offerings. The inaugural event will take place on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 from 6:30 PM — 8:30 PM and include a wine and food pairing and tasting, presented by Chef Heather White, who has joined Cosentino and Butcher to develop menus for special events in coming months.

What started out as thank you lunches — documented and posted on the website daily — for interns and assistants turned into potluck dinners with artists and designers as a way of socializing over delicious food and art.

With the goal to nurture social interaction, engage conversation and most importantly, source and support locally, spring will begin offering their space for entertainment, experiential food events, wine tastings, sit-down dinners, creative meetings, product launches, design showroom, exhibition space, book signings and more. As a Brooklyn community-based small business, spring is dedicated to the slow-food way of living – whether it is design or food – sourcing locally and collaborating with local businesses.

(a potluck event at spring)

RSVP for the event on Wednesday by calling 718.222 1054 or email location@spring3d.net.

spring (spring3d.net)
126A Front Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11201

As Above – So Below is a video mapping projection installation during the Dumbo Arts Festival in September 2011. This video from one of the artists, John Ensor Parker, is the only one that shows the full installation as it happened. It was conceived and created by a group of six artists, John Ensor Parker, Simon Anaya, Farkas Fulop, Johnny Moreno, Richard Jochum, & Ryan Uzilevsky. With significant sponsorship from visual production company Senovva, the artists developed a multi-perspective 3D installation that spans a nearly 30,000 square feet canvas on the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage in Brooklyn.

Olga Guanabara, a fine furniture studio and art gallery based in Dumbo, will be hosting an intimate, private fund-raiser for Beyond Capital Fund on November 4th, 2011. Beyond Capital Fund is a public foundation that helps improve the lives of people living under the poverty line in India and East Africa by investing in socially minded businesses. The event will showcase artwork by renowned Staten Island-based wood sculptor Steve Foust whose work has been exhibited at Gracie Mansion, the Staten Island Zoo, and elsewhere. Foust and Olga Guanabara will donate a portion of the proceeds from the event’s sales.

Olga Guanabara occasionally rents out its 2000-plus square foot space, that features vaulted brick ceilings, expansive windows, and owner/furniture designer Richard Velloso’s on-site workshop, which is enclosed in antique glass for select private events, but the company decided to waive fees for this event. Velloso notes, “Beyond Capital Fund is a global organization that addresses very serious problems at their core—and we at Olga Guanabara share that sense of social responsibility.”

Where: 63 Pearl St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 (Cross street: Front St.)
When: Friday, November 4, 2011, 7-11pm
Event price: Invite only, Please contact Alexandra alexandra@olgaguanabara.com
Telephone number: (718) 522-7100

The First Thursday Dumbo Gallery Walk is tonight, Thursday, November 3, 2011, between 6-9pm. The gallery walk is free.

Etsy is hosting a one-of-a-kind event called Almost Internet Famous, and it will take place on Thursday, October 27. It’s a two-part evening that melds social media and small business education.

First, we’ll hear from comedian Eugene Mirman, who uses online tools to build his personal brand and grow his audience. Next we’ll discuss the day-to-day aspects of building a brand through social media in a panel format. The panel will cover several topics, such as; how can a small business owner, freelancer, brand or creative entrepreneur use social media to connect with customers, clients and fans effectively?

Panelists include:
Elizabeth Weil, the head of Culture and Brand Experience at Twitter.
Amy Turn Sharp, owner of Little Alouette, an organic wooden toy shop.
Laura Chin, the voice behind Etsy’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Key details:
When: Thursday, October 27 | 7:00 – 9:30 p.m. ET
Where: Etsy Labs at 55 Washington Street, Suite 712 (7th floor) Brooklyn, NY
Admission: Admission is $5. Register at Eventbrite. For those who can’t make it in person, we’ll be broadcasting the event via Livestream. RSVP to attend online here.

Sometimes all one needs on a rainy day is a cozy home with satellite tv. (Spotted on the corner of Washington and Water Street. Artist unknown. Anyone?)

The Creators Project, the highly-anticipated arts and technology festival took place in Dumbo over the weekend. After kicking off the project in NYC last year, The Creators Project toured the world with stops at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival and in cities such as Sao Paulo, London, Seoul, Paris and Beijing. A world wide tour of onsite installations, music and multimedia visuals — has picked up artists as it went and returned to NYC in Dumbo for a grand showcase in a place that embraces crossing bridges and reaching new heights.

Why Dumbo?

I asked Alex Detrick, the communications manager for The Creators Project, "Why Dumbo?"

"Dumbo is the perfect fit. It has a rich history, it’s filled with galleries & artists of all kinds & the neighborhood embraces creativity! We took this show around the world to find artists in multimedia visuals and bring them all here!"

Dumbo over Soho

I also asked Alex about the decision to have the culmination of the creators project here in Dumbo over any other locale in NYC.

"You guys have a great cross section here in Dumbo. There are families, the young the old and artists as well. Dumbo is the Creative Capital of NYC now."

I asked him why not SoHo and I learned that we shared the same beliefs in Dumbo as a creative capital. That places like Soho and Chelsea in Manhattan are now for the over produced and elitist within the art world. Dumbo is for the young & emerging artists. The Creators Project seeks to empower young artists who don’t have the means to create and explore the area of multimedia visuals. They have partnered with Intel and Vice whose goals are in sync with one another to help fund artists’ endeavors.

The Experience

The Creators Project brought artists from around the world to showcase their exploration of interactivity through multimedia, audio & visuals. The melding of technology, art, music & the idea of interactivity is creating a whole new genre experience for Dumbo.

Sensory Experience

Soil by Cantoni & Crescenti brought Dumbo a down to earth aesthetic that explored senses normally un-activated by traditional art. Soil transformed viewers into characters and allows them explore the sense of collaboration, their sixth sense, sight, physical feeling, gravity and a heightened sense of self awareness. Soil, a social project about collaboration as an important aspect of interactivity, conveyed the message is that "together we are more powerful than the few and that one individual alone has a great impact in the collective." Cantoni said,

"Soil means nothing without the people. It’s just pieces of metal. The interactivity is important, it creates the experience."

The sensory experience that Soil created was so powerful, that guests would stop, close their eyes to sense something that words could not describe.

"This is not the art I am use to from museums. A curator could not tell me how to feel about this piece, I have a sensory experinece of my own!"

Motor Experience

Meditation by Minha Yang presented free form movement mixed with audio and visuals which showed versatility. It did not show the crowd what to do nor what to look at; instead it helped to open the viewers’ mind to possibilities. Taking viewers out of the viewers seat and into the drivers mind, viewers’ movements made the piece transform and turned the viewer into an artist. Passers by who thought they were simply viewing a display quickly learned that their presence brought what they were viewing to life and that their movement made it something more.

Dustin, who was charged with overseeing the piece all day witnessed how large movements had an effect, but was marveled that tiny hand movements and subtle shifts in body position created just as impactful results.

"It is simply interativity. None of this was possible 10 years ago! This piece shows what can be done. It’s like a giant Xbox it’s so cool. I wish art was more in the forefront of American society as most new media artists are mostly international. The diversity is great and it shows us that so much more can be done."

Crowd Experience

For three days, the streets, Dumbo businesses, and normally empty buildings in Dumbo were filled with people exploring art and technology. Some were not impressed with everything they saw. One couple expressed it as,

"It’s hit and miss here. Some pieces shot high but missed the bar, the ideas were awesome though, but we are really here for the music."

I later found them dancing under the bridge. Another person expressed her sentiments as such,

"This is great! This event is exposing interactive design as well as art in general. Viewers get the opportunity not just to engage, but to see how they can be creative as well."

Impressions of the Experience

"What is to be taken away from The Creators Project being here in Dumbo is that anything is possible. Even if it still in the idea phase, the public will embrace it and make of it what they will. It is no longer for artists to be in control, but to create and facilitate new experiences that triggers sensory experiences." –Danii Oliver

Thank you to the Dumbo Improvement District for working with The Creators Project to bring them to Dumbo! Post written by Danii Oliver, Interactive designer and developer. CDO of DAMN Digital Studio, an Interactive Agency in Dumbo Brooklyn.