ABOUT
“
We will not go back to normal. Normal never was.”
Sonya Renee Taylor
The Viral and Racial Pandemic confirms that the structures established for collective order in the United States of America failed. Colleges are run like companies and the criminal justice system like corporations. Corporations are bailed out with trillions of tax-payer’s dollars while citizens are made homeless by eviction. At our nation’s border desperate families are separated, and children caged. Hospitals struggle with depleted resources during a global pandemic, and police continue to brutalize black citizens. All this while the U.S. elected President orders the use of clubs and tear gas on peaceful protesters to enable a quick photo shoot with a bible.
Some are quick to place blame on 45’s presidency. The man is an amalgamation of everything that is hateful and wrong in America. Trump, however, is the result of the failings of this country, not the cause. Many in the United States of America clearly do not have the inalienable rights promised to them by the Constitution. The ‘Great American Dream’– championed as the right of every citizen– is a sham, and has always been a sham. Hard work does not guarantee success for all. Racism, classism, xenophobia, islamophobia, and homophobia are deeply rooted in our democracy. The American Normal is a culture steeped in severe inequities and greed.
Art in Odd Places (AiOP) 2021: NORMAL, curated by Furusho von Puttkammer, invites artists to critique and dissect the American Mythos for AiOP’s sixteenth annual public art and performance festival taking place from Avenue C to the Hudson River along 14th Street in Manhattan, NY.
NORMAL. ELITIST. POWER. CORRUPTION. HYPOCRISY. DELUSION.
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
Anika Rahman
Intern
Taylor Ryan
PR Manager & Press Coordinator
Hannah Waskowitz
Volunteer Coordinator
Thinkers in Residence
Deshon Chan
Anna Harsanyi
Michael Kilburn
LuLu LoLo
Natalie Valencia
Partners
Popwalk
A digital app for viewing artwork, performance, music, etc. in specific geographic locations.
Pollinate
An interactive digital app for users to discover local artists.
Support
Dedicated to Tootsie, our much loved, food-obsessed, and greatly spirited mascot dachshund who crossed the rainbow bridge on Friday, April 16, 2021.
Consultation
Zachery Allan Starkey, Carey Estes, Bonnie Stein
Thanks
Thank you to all those who helped, did, contributed, stirred, inspired, shared, offered, ensured, amused, created, stimulated, moved, planned, fixed, supported, sacrificed, understood, roused, delivered, educated, encouraged, concocted, assisted, gave, subverted, arranged, believed, and so many other things that shaped the festival into the unique combined form that is us (in no particular order):
LuLu LoLo, Dan Evans, Megan Marlatt, Scott Burland, Zachery Allan Starkey, Terry Hardy, Edith Corra, Anonymous, our NORMAL photo squad, our NORMAL volunteers, all the artists who applied, Eve Dudnik, Kryssy Wright from the 14th Street Y, Willard Morgan & Morak from Ideal Glass Studio, Carlo Altomore from Alchemical Theater, Bonnie Stein & Vit Horejs from GOH Productions, Anika Rahman, Savannah Pagán Fitzpatrick, Julia Fought, Deshon Chan, Natalie Valencia, Johanna Almiron, Chun Park, Liam Cotter, Brandon Wisecarver, BUST Magazine, Emerging Artists Collective, Solas Studio, Carey Estes, Moria Cappio, David Vega, Sonya Renee Taylor, our Thinkers in Residence, Gerard and Frank of East Village Social, Kristiana Marcon, Pico de Gato