(re)activate was born out of my exploration on the dynamics of space and a desire to generate alternative modes of exhibiting art and culture in our urban environment. As an exhibition, (re)activate seeks to contribute to the critical dialogue on creative place-making today, by inviting audiences to (re)consider the usage of space, how it relates to one's personal experience, our collective histories, and the future identity of our cities.
The first (re)activate event took place in an empty parking lot in the U Street Neighborhood of Washington, DC on Saturday, March 15th 2014. In animating a vacant lot with video, performance and sound art, the one night exhibit channeled ideas on the significance of space, civic engagement and nature in our daily lives. The commissioned works of art commented on the neighborhood's rapid gentrification and it's effects on our memory, future identity and local diaspora communities.
Participating Artists included: Animals and Fire, Free Space Collective, Patrick McDonough, Jonathan Monghan, Kendall Nordin, Jassie Rios and Furthermore.
The Back Porch is a summer concert series that began as a quirky idea in a Mount Pleasant back yard and quickly grew into a dynamic weekend destination for the local community.
The concept behind the grassroots event was to create visibility, offer new performance opportunities and build community around the arts. In 3 years, we presented 60 artists, showcasing many different musical genres and styles, and had over 800 audience members attend the Back Porch, which took place every second Sunday between June and October.
Our focus was on presenting emerging artists and bringing amateurs together with more experienced musicians. As a team, we aimed to create a welcoming and nurturing atmosphere, which encourages participation in the arts and gave non-professionals a platform to perform and showcase their music, all in the laid-back context of a back yard summer day. In between each of the three musical acts, storytellers, historians, spoken word poets and writers would also perform short literary pieces.
In 2014, Hamiltonian Artists successfully applied for a $15,000 grant to become the local programming partner for 5x5 curator Justine Topfer from Out of the Box Projects (San Francisco, USA). The 5×5 Project is the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ new temporary public art biennial, for which five contemporary art curators were selected to work with five artists to develop and present exciting, temporary art works in public spaces in the Fall of 2014. The resulting twenty-five projects served to activate and enliven publicly accessible spaces and add an ephemeral layer of creativity and artistic expression to neighborhoods across the District of Columbia.
As the local partner organization, we created additional programming and events around the artists Justine had selected for her curatorial project (home)land. Included in our programming was a free concert by Iranian-borne singer Pranaz Partovi to accompany Sanaz Mazinani's U.S.A.I.R.A.N installation. A Second-Line and after party for Abigail DeVille's The New Migration piece.
In partnership with BicycleSPACE, and the City Bike share program we organized a bike tour of various 5x5 sites throughout Washington, DC. The tour was guided by local artist Calder Brannock, founder of The Adventure Residency Program, and 5x5 artist Marley Dawson.
