Amid the many free art events this weekend in New York City, it’s worth noting that one of the most accessible events: Art in strange places (AiOP) – will cover almost all of 14th Street in Manhattan. In its 19th edition, the three-day public art festival led by Ed Woodham places a special emphasis on care and empathy as it embarks on its annual mission to consciously integrate visual and performing arts with dedicated visitors and unassuming passersby alike.
Co-curated by partners Christopher Kaczmarek and Patricia Miranda, both of whom have participated in the festival as artists over the years, AiOP 2024 includes more than 75 artists and collectives who will creatively activate 14th Street during a three-day sweep of Avenue A towards the Hudson River. From sculptural and performative interventions to deliberately intimate interactions, the fleet of participants rounds out this year’s theme of ‘care’ and its nuanced paths, bringing both body and soul into a word that has been broadly abstracted by the art world.
“The arts depict the future that is possible – it is the space in which we as humans are most adept at articulating the complexities of life,” Kaczmarek said. Hyperallergic prior to the festival.
“The need to articulate these complexities in a way that is open and invites nuance and conversation is greater now more than ever,” Kaczmarek continued. “We ensure that the conversations take place in a way that goes deeper than just the environments intended for art. Because art is for the people, and bringing it to the people and bringing it to the communities is an important way for these complex conversations to happen.”
An informal look at the lineup for the first day of the festival indicates that there is sufficient room for this kind of dialogue. The first stretch of AiOP is located between Avenue A and Third Avenue, with several interventions covering the sidewalk and trapping passersby. A contemplative introduction took place just outside the First Avenue L station, in the form of a regular introduction red carpet with a unique ability to demarcate ‘public’ and ‘private’ space simply by sitting on the sidewalk.
Across the street is Lisa Hein’s “QUENCH,” a haphazardly constructed hand-pump fountain that directs jets of water into the air and directly onto the stone-carved Bible verse “Ho, all who thirst…” outside the Immaculate Conception Church. Hein said Hyperallergic that her interest in water is rooted in California’s resource inequality and the abundance of the East Coast. The rickety installation is meant to indicate the stress and immediacy of dealing with a leaking roof.
“Passers-by were very enthusiastic,” Hein said, noting that she witnessed “two fiercely theological conversations” within an hour of its inception.
Half a block away, Theda Sandiford’s’Emotional baggage cart parade”, in its colorful and enthusiastic glory, attracted many eyes and enthusiastic participants. Sandiford’s parade features decked out shopping trolleys and invites people to ‘dump their emotional baggage’ off their backs as they take the trolleys for a ride. Participants took a spin on the carts, which intrigued an older woman who approached the Sandiford team to ask more questions about the project.
“It was amazing,” Sandiford said Hyperallergic. “People want to talk and let go of their baggage. We just had a group of teens spend about 15 minutes with us talking about school, bullying, their families, and whatever else was on their minds. It’s really incredible. I didn’t have the confidence or even the language to describe what I was going through at their age.”
Sandiford also noted that the parade is responsible for “many spontaneous smiles from New Yorkers, who are often mean-spirited when they are out and about.”
Just outside the 14th Street Y, Maria Seddio, Pia Tempestini and the WasherWoman Collective founded “To wash!” — a collaborative installation in which participants share stories of grief and loss using washable markers on linen. The linen is tied to a line until Sunday. During this period they are washed together, so that the ink of each story bleeds into each other. Within two hours of starting, at least a dozen stories were attached to the line.
The varied experiences from pumping water and pushing carts to writing and posting odes to those we mourn unsent letters (one devastating, one grieving) provided insight into the different forms and ways in which care can take place, and to whom it is aimed.
What is profound is that so many people stopped during their day to participate, in addition to those who came specifically for AiOP. For a city where people have to be explicitly told to say something when they see something, it seems like a lot of us have a lot to say – we just need someone willing to ask.
Art in Odd Places takes place from Friday October 18 to Sunday October 20 from 10am to 6pm. A full lineup of participating artists and collectives, schedules and locations is available here.
