13th annual D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival
13th annual D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival
Sept. 25th to Sept. 27th, 2009
Dumbo Arts Center (DAC)
The three-day multi-site neighborhood-wide event is a one-of-a-kind art happening: where serendipity meets the haphazard and where the unpredictable, spontaneous and downright weird thrive. The now teenage D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® presents touchable, accessible, and interactive art, on a scale that makes it the nation’s largest urban forum for experimental art.
Art Under the Bridge is an opportunity for young artists to use any medium imaginable to create temporary projects on-the-spot everywhere and anywhere, completely transforming the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, New York, into a vibrant platform for self-expression. In addition to the 80+ projects throughout the historical post-industrial waterfront span, visitors can tour local artists’ studios or check out the indoor video_dumbo, a non-stop program of cutting-edge video art from New York City and around the world.
The immediacy of the event means many artists reflect on current issues: among others, the rise of technology, recession blues, homelessness and environmental concerns, for example:
* “Spatial Code” – working with a unique system of fiber optics, Carlo Bernardini creates a shifting, illusory network of illuminated lines that traverse the space in weblike formations, Rm. 222, 111 Front Street, Brooklyn.
* “Brooklyn Suite”- Molly Dilworth’s large-scale painting on the rooftop of a building to be viewed via Google Earth.
* “Tent City”- Montana Torrey addresses homelessness by constructing a tent city of hand-sewn and hand-painted tents.
* “Watershed”- Marc S. Levitt’s statement about recycling and excess use of plastic water bottles through sculpture.
* “Oyster Carpet”- John Monteith’s block-length carpet of discarded oyster shells recreates New York City’s first pathways made by Native Americans.
* “The Experience of Green”- at the DAC gallery and Festival HQ, Steven B. Nguyen and Wade Kavanaugh, present an ambitious site-specific installation and total immersion experience of the color red.