ArtBridge Projects Highlights Outdoor Art Exhibitions Across New York's 300-Mile Construction Zones

Along New York's 300-mile construction site, ArtBridge Projects demonstrates outdoor art exhibitions for the public. Continue reading to learn more about it.

Through their local artists, Artbridge can transform outdoor spaces into exhibition spaces of gallery quality. They also do it on construction sites, such as a 300-mile construction zone in New York, which was recently turned into an outdoor art exhibition-like structure.

ArtBridge Projects

(Photo : The Guardian/Matthew Lapiska)

Outdoor Art Exhibitions Along New York

According to Culture Commissioner Laurie Cumbo, the scaffolding has become an eyesore in New York City. Mayor Eric Adams wanted to remove it so that magnificent works of art could be erected in areas where it could not be removed. Around the construction zones of the city, scaffolding extends for a distance of 300 miles. The artwork commissioned by the city is currently being displayed across one of those miles. Cumbo acknowledges Steal Away as one of her preferred works housed within the National Black Theatre's recently constructed multipurpose structure at 125th Street and 5th Avenue in Harlem.

As mentioned, after noticing the NBT's late leader on television, artist Xenobia Bailey was profoundly motivated to relocate from Seattle to New York City to pursue African American design.

Bailey remarked that upon observing Barbara Ann Teer, it was almost as if she were granted an artistic license to engage in mysticism; this was due to the absence of familial anecdotes and practices regarding how they did things. Not a single thing was reportedly passed down. With allusions to the indigenous Lenape people who initially inhabited this region, stars share the stage with the stars of the theater throughout history, as she calls her aesthetic 'Cosmic Funky.'

Accordingly, within the next three years, the theater intends to incorporate Bailey's work into the new site, which will be made up of apartments available to people of varying incomes and welcome back to the community.

As part of his project in Long Island City, Zeehan Wazed included a dance company from Queens that covered 700 feet of plywood walls along the water. In addition, the City's Cultural Affairs department is still accepting submissions from artists for neighborhood scaffolding designs. 

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Who is ArtBridge?

Local artists have been given the ability to transform significant outdoor places into gallery-quality exhibitions through the use of ArtBridge since 2008. The exhibitions have focused on New York City's more than 300 miles of construction fencing. Engaging with local communities is a common source of inspiration for the exhibitions, and they have expanded this concept to include projects in countries such as Italy, Africa, and Brazil.

The Department of Cultural Affairs in New York City has chosen ArtBridge to be the organization responsible for implementing the City Canvas pilot program. Through this program, which is carried out in collaboration with the Department of Buildings and the Office of the Mayor, ArtBridge can provide a legal framework for installing its artwork on construction fences and sheds.

Moreover, ArtBridge has accomplished artwork installation at many building sites, with installations reaching as far north as the Hudson Valley and as far away as Italy itself. Over one hundred artists have been given considerable exposure through ArtBridge's shows, covering more than 50,000 square feet of public space across the city.

A visually stunning website that effectively communicates the organization's mission and engages a wide range of audiences, such as artists, city councils, municipalities, community groups and nonprofit organizations, real estate developers, property owners, and managers, as well as the media and press, is the task that the group has been tasked with developing from the ground up.

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