Art-O-Matic
Hooray, Art! For those of you who haven't been, ~600 artists, two floors of an office building in Crystal City.
There were a few very good artists, and one or two pieces I would almost be tempted to buy. That said, the overall quality of the entire experience was somewhat amateurish. It felt like there was a lot there that wasn't quite ready to be presented... power cords hanging out, smudged frames, pieces of paper taped to walls instead of mounted, photos obviously printed at home (and wrinkling because they were poorly mounted). Perhaps I'm a bit of a presentation snob, between dealing with portfolio reviews and then working for the Smithsonian, but I would sooner not show work than show it in that condition.
You could actually tell what artists were serious about what they were doing (and to a large extent the better art) by looking at the presentation. The best exhibits were cleanly mounted, had labels and text explaining their work, good paint jobs on the walls, and made sense thematically. Even if I didn't like the work itself so much, at least those artists put forth a coherent concept that invited discussion about the work, rather than throwing stuff up.
The space was also somewhat cramped, with the rooms on the sixth floor being 8'x10' or so, with narrow hallways. There were a lot of people, but we went on Artists Night, so that is to be expected. The eighth floor was much more open, but even then only had a very small number of instillations. There were also surprisingly few artists actually creating, which is quite different from what I experienced in New Haven.
In comparison, I also felt that the New Haven show was somewhat more varied... more video instillations, more site specific work, more guerilla theatre. Here, there were paintings, sculpture, and photos, and it felt like there was much less of a community spirit about the place. I know that there is actually a fairly extensive musical line up, but I don't know much about it.
I think that part of the problem is that there is not quite enough guidance with this. In New Haven, there were plenty of people who were running the event visible. The maps were more comprehensive, the documentation of what was there was more accessible. Cap Fringe is similar: an entire booklet with descriptions, how to make the most of your experience, events to mingle at, etc.
With Art-O-Matic, the map told you what the room numbers were, and what name was in what room. There is no indication of where to go if you are interested in photography, nor schedules for the bands or performances on site (at least, not on site). The website allows you to look up an artist's name, and see what medium they work in, but is not as easy to navigate or browse.
Of particular note, one artist had tintype pictures, handsomely mounted (snicker), with an explanation of the process and the subject matter (grave markers of the colonial southwest). The walls were painted a muted orange (if I remember correctly), and all of the text in the room used the same font.
We also saw some fire dancers, who were much less impressive than I would have hoped. The did have a nifty PVC pipe with flames lit that danced with the music (I think skreidle linked to something similar a while ago). There was a guy on stilts who was interesting because he was on stilts, and the hula hoops were cool for about a minute. There was one raver chick who was great, and a guy with a ball on a long chain, but even they were nothing that you can't see at your average rave or Kill Bill screening. There were two moments where two of the dancers were actually interacting as well. Otherwise, if was four or five people, all dancing by themselves, almost all of them moving much too slowly for the music that was playing... far from spectacular.
There were some other good things about it, but it is getting late. Lists of business cards I picked up, for various reasons (please note that I have been to none of these and can not vouch for work-safeness):
http://www.toddgardner.com (I know him)
http://www.eileencolton.com (old concert photos)
http://www.halophoto.com/erin/holga/index.htm (cool multiple exposure type stuff)
http://www.joannaknox.com
http://www.goingtogreenland.com (interesting glass sculpture... there is a lot of sculpture, and most of it I don't like much, but this is an exception)
http://www.jfoleyphotography.com (abandoned stuff)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualadventure (ferrotypes I was talking about earlier)
There were a few very good artists, and one or two pieces I would almost be tempted to buy. That said, the overall quality of the entire experience was somewhat amateurish. It felt like there was a lot there that wasn't quite ready to be presented... power cords hanging out, smudged frames, pieces of paper taped to walls instead of mounted, photos obviously printed at home (and wrinkling because they were poorly mounted). Perhaps I'm a bit of a presentation snob, between dealing with portfolio reviews and then working for the Smithsonian, but I would sooner not show work than show it in that condition.
You could actually tell what artists were serious about what they were doing (and to a large extent the better art) by looking at the presentation. The best exhibits were cleanly mounted, had labels and text explaining their work, good paint jobs on the walls, and made sense thematically. Even if I didn't like the work itself so much, at least those artists put forth a coherent concept that invited discussion about the work, rather than throwing stuff up.
The space was also somewhat cramped, with the rooms on the sixth floor being 8'x10' or so, with narrow hallways. There were a lot of people, but we went on Artists Night, so that is to be expected. The eighth floor was much more open, but even then only had a very small number of instillations. There were also surprisingly few artists actually creating, which is quite different from what I experienced in New Haven.
In comparison, I also felt that the New Haven show was somewhat more varied... more video instillations, more site specific work, more guerilla theatre. Here, there were paintings, sculpture, and photos, and it felt like there was much less of a community spirit about the place. I know that there is actually a fairly extensive musical line up, but I don't know much about it.
I think that part of the problem is that there is not quite enough guidance with this. In New Haven, there were plenty of people who were running the event visible. The maps were more comprehensive, the documentation of what was there was more accessible. Cap Fringe is similar: an entire booklet with descriptions, how to make the most of your experience, events to mingle at, etc.
With Art-O-Matic, the map told you what the room numbers were, and what name was in what room. There is no indication of where to go if you are interested in photography, nor schedules for the bands or performances on site (at least, not on site). The website allows you to look up an artist's name, and see what medium they work in, but is not as easy to navigate or browse.
Of particular note, one artist had tintype pictures, handsomely mounted (snicker), with an explanation of the process and the subject matter (grave markers of the colonial southwest). The walls were painted a muted orange (if I remember correctly), and all of the text in the room used the same font.
We also saw some fire dancers, who were much less impressive than I would have hoped. The did have a nifty PVC pipe with flames lit that danced with the music (I think skreidle linked to something similar a while ago). There was a guy on stilts who was interesting because he was on stilts, and the hula hoops were cool for about a minute. There was one raver chick who was great, and a guy with a ball on a long chain, but even they were nothing that you can't see at your average rave or Kill Bill screening. There were two moments where two of the dancers were actually interacting as well. Otherwise, if was four or five people, all dancing by themselves, almost all of them moving much too slowly for the music that was playing... far from spectacular.
There were some other good things about it, but it is getting late. Lists of business cards I picked up, for various reasons (please note that I have been to none of these and can not vouch for work-safeness):
http://www.toddgardner.com (I know him)
http://www.eileencolton.com (old concert photos)
http://www.halophoto.com/erin/holga/index.htm (cool multiple exposure type stuff)
http://www.joannaknox.com
http://www.goingtogreenland.com (interesting glass sculpture... there is a lot of sculpture, and most of it I don't like much, but this is an exception)
http://www.jfoleyphotography.com (abandoned stuff)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualadventure (ferrotypes I was talking about earlier)