AiOP, 2012 Paul Shortt - Please No Photos Photo by Tex Jernigan
Paul Shortt – Please No Photos. Photo by Tex Jernigan. AiOP, 2012.

Art in Odd Places (AiOP) presents visual and performance art in unexpected public spaces. AiOP also produces an annual festival along 14th Street in Manhattan, NYC from Avenue C to the Hudson River each October. Art in Odd Places aims to stretch the boundaries of communication in the public realm by presenting artworks in all disciplines outside the confines of traditional public space regulations. AiOP reminds us that public spaces function as the epicenter for diverse social interactions and the unfettered exchange of ideas.

Here are a few things they recommend you to check out.

Event: We’d recommend the creative urban place-making event called The Night Heron, a speakeasy of sorts in a water tower. It’s illegal and beautifully executed, and about 700 people have and/or will experience it this spring!* Here is a good article about it.

If illegal water tower speakeasies aren’t your bag, you might check out a Late Night Underground Talk Show. For Improv Everywhere’s latest mission, they converted a New York City subway car into a late night talk show set. A host interviewed random commuters from his desk as the bandleader kept the car rocking!

Artist: We’d definitely recommend the work of Tima Radya from Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovskaya Oblast. Tima Radya is Russian artist who recently won CutLog New York‘s top prize!

Book: Currently reading Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music. It’s 
”essential reading for anyone who has ever imagined limitless freedom, danced alone in the dark, or longed for more noise.”

Music: Summers in New York City are so hot and busy! They really lend themselves to the upbeat delirium of Carmen Souza.

*The Night Heron event is now closed. You can however, join them in Brooklyn on Tuesdays in June for The Wanderlust School of Transgressive Placemaking (a four part discussion series exploring the logistics and ethics of how to reimagine and remake the far side of the “No Trespassing” sign.)

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