Yesterday the one year experiment called the X INITIATIVE ended with a marathon 24 hour art show. BRING YOUR OWN ART (BYOA) began at 11 am on February 3rd and continued, doors open until February 4th officially closing at 11 am with all work left in the building would become trash if not picked up. This process reminded me of the closing event for the Miami space The House. They lost their lease to a group of condo developers and for their closing event everyone was asked to put a piece of art up that would be destroyed with the building.
I arrived at after dinner to put up a handful of my Black Sun Project images with a mini project called "10 Suns for 2010." The space was a busy workshop with a mix of artists friends and viewers all roaming around and enjoying the spectacle. The first floor had a rotating open stage where bands and musicians could sign up for time slots. The second and third floors of the space were reserved for artwork.
I had learned of this event via Jerry Saltz and his popular Facebook page. During the evening the New York Magazine art critic roamed the floors of the gallery offering free on the spot critiques. After I walked through the two floors and installed my images I was able to talk with him. We discussed my work and the event itself. He was very approachable in person and you could tell he was enjoying the interaction and the event.
The diversity of work was amazing. It would have been very hard to curate a show like this but this event was more then sum of the work on its walls. It was a show for the ages. This crowd-sourced art / performance / Relational Aesthetic was an experiential tour-de-force.
I placed my Black Sun pictures in spaces next to work that I thought they worked well with. Take a look at the installation pictures below. Also, if your work is in any of the pictures please let me know and I will make a caption and link to your website.
Here is the aftermath of the event when I picked up my work:
