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| Livewire by J. Carpenter |
The
2011 DUMBO Arts Festival, held this weekend, was an amazing mix of art, music, performance and spectacle. Thousands (roughly 200,000) came to see art displayed in the streets, lobbies, stages and studios of DUMBO, along with the waterfront and park spaces.
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| Coppercussion/Papercussion – Nick Yulman and Hope Dector |
There were so many different art venues that each of the thousands of visitors had a different experience of the festival.
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| "Follow the Moon" and "Silhouette" by Ayumitanaka |
There were a number of repurposed containers being used as galleries, like the one above.
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| "Follow the Moon" and "Silhouette" by Ayumitanaka |
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| "Murdered" |
Some art was hanging from trees in the park.
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| "Murdered" |
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| "Love You Forever" by Erin Hudak |
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| "Inside Out" by JR |
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| "24 Stones I'd Like to Know" by Pillow Culture/Elizabeth Demary |
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| Actual married couple |
A most amazing spectacle took place on Saturday in the Pearl Street Triangle, which had been transformed into a professional wrestling ring. Several matches -- like this one between two women wrestlers -- took place before the main event.
The crowd was huge and bloodthirsty. Many appeared to be cheering on certain fighters. It was like we had left the DUMBO art scene and descended into some illegal Mexican fighting den. After the lady wrestlers finished and some punks got their asses whipped by a couple of Amish boys, the crowd was ready for the Big One.
The
Battle Royal, starring
Shaun El C. Leonardo, featured 15 professional wrestlers. The scheme was to fight blindfolded until only one man was left. Here they are before the match. El C. is on the left. (El C. stands for El Conquistador.)
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| El C. |
After being blindfolded by the ref, these guys battled for more than an hour. People screamed out warnings to their favorite fighters. One by one they were eliminated.
It was performance art in the same way that professional wrestling is performance art. Sweat and blood made the mat slippery.
El C. flying through the air.
The match was supposed to have been inspired by Ralph Ellison’s
The Invisible Man.
Here are the overall DUMBO Arts Festival 2011 award-winners:
AT&T Audience Award: Coppercussion/Papercussion – Nick Yulman & Hope Dector
Best Open Studio: Stefan Papco
Best Exhibition: Immersive Surfaces - The Leo Kuelbs Collection
Best Exhibition: Minus Space Gallery – Ted Stamm Exhibition
Best Project: Soundstage – Brett Paine Murphy
2011 Grand Prize: Stefan Papco
Photos by MK Metz
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4 comments:
It was great, but there was less street performance art this year (or so it seemed) that allowed for the wonderful random interaction with artists drawing, peforming, sculpting or just being.
True. Wonder if the rain / street construction had anything to do with that?
No, it looks like it wasn't scheduled even in the written program. I went both days, admittedly where rain was forecasted but never actually appeared, and it was too quiet on the streets (and the small art galleries, accessible by subway, were also quiet on Sunday). Stuff available off the street was busy, though.
And the stuff on the street needs sign, clearly written, to alert people what it is. It was the same problem last year. If sanctioned music players underground can have a pre-printed sign, so can above ground artists, to alert spectators who they are, where more info can be found, and to buy/browse/pass along info about their works. Artists who don't know how to network don't make much sense(cents).
Agree. In years past there were many more street happenings.
The funny thing was that everyone who went seemed to have a different experience of the event.
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