Friday, January 20, 2012

[UPDATED] Centre-fuge Public Art Project kicks off this weekend on East First Street


From the EV Grieve inbox...cut-n-paste journalism — woo!

Centre-fuge Public Art Project, Opens for the Year

Pebbles Russell and Jonathan Neville are proud to present the Centre-fuge Public Art Project, a rotating outdoor gallery with work by multimedia artists. The project is dedicated in memory of friend, creator and Lower East Side neighbor, Mike Hamm.

In mid-2011 a drab, gray trailer popped up on the South side of First Street. The trailer functions as a temporary office for workers on the 2nd Avenue subway line. Centre-fuge Public Art Project will transform the trailer for one year into a rotating street gallery. Between 2 to 7 artists at a time will create work on all visible sides of the structure. The art will change over once every two months on a pre-set weekend. Artists must submit proposals in order for their work to be deemed appropriate for the broader community. The artists will supply their own materials.

The goal of Centre-fuge is not only to re-beautify this incredible block, but also to encourage the community to express itself in a public forum. With the closure of half of Houston Street, making underground way for the 2nd Avenue Subway line, the ever-growing presence of construction makes the block feel less like a neighborhood, full of individuals and more like a work site full of barricades and jackhammers.

You may read the whole release here... You can stop by this Saturday and Sunday from 10 am - 5 pm to see all this get started... Mike Hamm worked at Lancelotti Housewares and Alphabets on Avenue A. He died on Jan. 7. We'll have more about him in a post next week.

UPDATED: Given the crap weather expected tomorrow, the organizers have decided to postpone the start of the work until next Tuesday and Wednesday.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just get rid of that thing. It's an eye sore and can't wait til it's gone.

EmWestlk said...

great! can't wait to see what comes up! perfect way to beautify something not-so-beautiful, AND it's in memory of a guy who I hear was quite a guy!