Dumbo NYC

The Dumbo Improvement District is seeking proposals from local artists to paint a public mural that will be mounted on the NYC DOT fence on the south side of Front Street between Adams and Pearl Streets in Dumbo. The winning artist will be awarded $5,000 for an “artist fee and marterials to aid in the production of the mural.”

From February 2008 to August 2009, a mural titled “Nature Matching System” by artist Tattfoo Tan was displayed.

Deadline for the application is June 23, 2010 at 5pm. The winning designer will be announced in late July and the mural will be on the fence by late September. To download a copy of the RFP, click here (pdf file).

Preservalapagos: A night of original music and fun at Galapagos Art Space, one of Brooklyn’s premier art/music spaces, benefiting three city-wide and local historic preservation advocacy groups: The Historic Districts Council, Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance, and DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance.

The evening’s musical entertainment ranges from traditional Hungarian music to the latest in contemporary rock. Here are the bands:
Eletfa
The Worthy Few
Jan Bell
Risk/Reward

Sunday, June 6th, doors open at 7pm
Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main St.
tickets $20 online / $25 at the door

On Sunday, May 30 from 2pm-midnight, the RE/Mixed Media Festival 2010 will take place at Galapagos Art Space. It is the first event of its kind in the extremely timely world of remix and mash-up artists and will include festival screenings, curated screenings, panel discussions, NY premieres, a remixed art auction, remixed fashion show, and more. LOFI (League of Independents) and various artists presented by Jan Larsen Art have teamed up to present this festival, aimed to challenge the current laws by bringing public awareness to media mixing as a legitimate practice, while at the same time remaining within their boundaries of the law.

LOFI (League of Independents), an arts organization dedicated to supporting independent media in New York City, has announced that the RE/Mixed Media Festival 2010 will be held on Sunday, May 30th in partnership with Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn. The event will begin at 2 pm and will continue throughout the afternoon and evening. The festival will celebrate remix/mashup artists of multiple disciplines and will feature curated film & video remixes, a remixed fashion show, a silent art auction of remixed visual art presented by Jan Larsen Art, DJs and live sound art, live video remixing, an “Artists Only” panel discussion, sponsor tables, a “roots room” illustrating remix throughout the history of art, and live musical performances. The festival will culminate in the screening of the work of selected entrants from around the world who have submitted their video remixes to the festival. Highlights are the NY premiere of Perry Bard’s Man With a Movie Camera: The Global Remake, and a special performance by legendary sound remixer, Steinski. Please see the attached talent roster for a more detailed listing.

Over the past decade, digital technology has allowed artists and consumers access to media-creating tools previously only available to professionals. The result has been not only an explosion of user-generated media, but an explosion of creativity. Artists began remixing and mashing up existing media, creating new works of art using elements from other sources. The result has been a flurry of controversy over intellectual property and copyright. RE/Mixed Media Festival aims to continue this conversation by bringing a public awareness to the myriad disciplines of art that remix touches and its respected place in the history of art.

For a full schedule of events, go to lofilounge.org/festival-schedule/.

Siamese Connection, a 4 day art event featuring 25 emerging Thai artists in Dumbo Brooklyn

Thai Artists Alliance is proud to present its premier event Siamese Connection – an unprecedented four-day group exhibition featuring 26 emerging Thai artists based in New York. The artists will be featuring individual and collaborative pieces which span the mediums of painting, installation, photography, graphic design, fashion design, film, music and performing arts.

In recent weeks, Thailand has been the focus of world attention while it undergoes major socio-political upheaval. For Thais living abroad, the situation is especially unnerving and heartbreaking. In light of the recent turmoil, it has become even more necessary for Thais to unite and express what is unique and beautiful about their identity and culture. The artists and individuals involved with Siamese Connection hope that the event will in some measure re-shift the focus to the more positive and inspirational during these troubled times.

The exhibition’s title “Siamese Connection,” like many Thai words and phrases, has a playful double meaning. The first of which refers to the emerging Thai “Siamese” artists (Thailand was known as Siam until 1939), connecting with New Yorkers and contributing to the rich cultural life of the city. The other meaning is an acknowledgment of the Siamese connection standpipes, present on nearly every street corner, and named after the original “Siamese twins”, Chang and Eng, who eventually settled in the United States.

Tuesday, May 25 – Friday, May 28, 2010; 3-9pm daily
Opening Reception: Tuesday May 25, 2010, 7-9pm
Where: Dumbo Arts Center (DAC), 30 Washington St., Brooklyn, NY

thaiartistsnyc.org

(Photo by Josh Derr)

“One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings” -Diogenes

First seen on Twitter, which then posted on Gothamist, there have been two Banksy streetart “sightings” in Dumbo.

This is pretty cool- something that was on wired.com. If you’re at the New York Photo Festival in Dumbo between noon and 7pm Saturday, Leica will lend you an M9 camera for four hours (a $9000 camera, review by dpreview) provided you hand over a credit card if something goes wrong. Bring your own SD memory cards.

Go to Powerhouse Books on 37 Main Street for info or check out the New York Photo Festival schedule of events online.

The New York Photo Festival (NYPH) officially kicked off last night (May 12-16) with shows by four curators, Lou Reed, Vince Aletti, Fred Ritchin and Erik Kessels. Daniel Power of powerHouse Books and Frank Evers of VII Photo Agency, both based in Dumbo, Brooklyn, founded the New York Photo Festival in 2008 with the mission of pushing the boundaries of contemporary photography and showcasing ideas of our collective photographic future. The NYPH has grown to be an internationally acclaimed exhibit celebrating photography and generates buzz for photo professionals, amateurs, students, and aficionados of art and culture.

The festival includes locations in 12 venues in Dumbo Brooklyn through this Sunday, May 16. Please see nyphotofestival.com for daily and evening programming and schedules.

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Previously:
{New York Photo Festival 2009 Kicks Off, 12May2009}
{New York Photo Festival 2008 Kicks Off, 05May2008}
{New York Photo Festival To Draw Crowds From Around the World, 10Mar2008}
{Dumbo Becoming Next Photo District, 05Nov2007}

BoConcept Dumbo is having an exhibition of ‘fierce’ artists for the ‘Fresh + Fierce’ Art Show on Wednesday, May 12, 2010. Stop by the store from 6pm to check out artwork from Olga Baunbaek Reilly, Robert Brodie and Vadim Prokhorov and enjoy complimentary wine and appetizers. BoConcept’s trained Design Consultants will also be on hand to help you with solutions for compact living and optimizing your space (PDF press release). From May 1 – June 15, 2010 is promoting ‘Living Large in Small Spaces‘ with savings on all multifunctional designs.

BoConcept DUMBO (boconcept.us)
79 Front Street (between Washington and Main Street)
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Two Trees Management announced the dates for this year’s Dumbo Arts Festival: September 24-26, 2010. The event takes place in Dumbo– its galleries, storefronts, performance venues, studios, parks and even extend into the river. The Festival will be multi-disciplinary, celebrating high-quality art ranging from visual art to performance art, music, and literature. The event is in its 14th year and Two Trees will take on a more active role this year and continue to work with DUMBO Arts Center (DAC), the organization that founded the event.

Their press release says that for the first time, the DUMBO Arts Festival will introduce family programming. Look for more information coming at www.dumboartsfestival.com.

Press release from Two Trees Management (PDF)

Dumbo Arts Festival: (DumboNYC archives)

Gelf’s Varsity Letters sports reading series returns on Thursday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. At this free monthly event in DUMBO, Brooklyn, hosted by Gelf and Jan Larsen Art, Binnie Klein, Kathy Orton, and Danny Peary will read from and talk about their work. Klein will describe her unlikely midlife transformation through boxing. Orton will chronicle the unsung hoopsters of the Ivy League, including this March’s surprise success from Cornell. And Peary will chronicle the life of former home-run champ Roger Maris.

Doors open at 7:00.
Event starts at 7:30. FREE!

Visit reBar, around the corner, afterward; attendees of Varsity Letters and other Gelf events get discounts on food and drink.