Art Out of the Box Day 4

Another day out of the box, making art in the Southside.

Today was a busy, fun day.

I finished a number of Mini Sites, all made on site and semi-permanently installed within crevices in the corners of 12th and East Carson st.

The focus was paper boats...

A little beach scene...

And instructions on how to fold a paperboat.

Lots of visitors, both new comers and returning Mini Site watchers...

These guys (below) heard the word from Pat (my new argueing friend from day 3...)

And THESE guys, were Geocachers! who actually came in search of a different treasure and accidentally found one of the Mini Sites!

They became only the second noted case of accidental Mini Site finding (to my awareness).

The first noted case of an accidental Mini Site discovery, apparently, might have been that of Mr. Esser himself, tending to the park's flower garden and stumbling across "the cave" Mini Site. I have to say, for ANYBODY to accidentally find this particularly-hidden site seems VERY impressive to me. I have yet to walk in to his flower shop tomorrow, meet him, and learn the full story first hand.

At the end of this long, eventful day, I got hungry and fixed myself a salad bowl...

...on top of this fire hydrant.

A mini site like this one, one might wonder if it will even be there tomorrow, or if it might be brushed into oblivion by a sudden force: a dog tail, a low hanging purse... or a sneeze.

And yet, and yet...

Nothing is really permanent.

Alberto AOB Day 2

WOW, what a day was yesterday... (don't miss the video at the end)

Talk about audience interaction:

I am crouched down all the way to the ground talking pictures of one of the mini sites, and this woman sees me from inside a bar across the street, and decides she needs to come out, cross the street and...

GIVE ME A WEDGIE!!!!!

(Here is me in a wedgie; I acted real mad for this picture. In reality it was all laughs)

It was epic!

Fortunately Chris Ivey was right there with his camera, and he captured the whole event!

We were laughing so hard.

Later she came back with her friend and took advantage of my celebrity ignorance and claimed he was Chris Farley???!!! I totally believed her too.

Such fun and crazy people... giving artists wedgies.

Only in the Southside!!

So in the first part of the day it was really slow, but it was good because I got a lot done, and it also gave me the chance to hang out with Chris (not Farley, but Ivey) and get some good pictures and conversations on film. Pretty soon people started flowing, and many conversations were had.

Later, my number one fan base AND superstars of my Mini Sites video came back for the second day, demanding for more Mini Sites to be seen.

I found that one of the installations was already compromised, and was missing a chair. I remade the chair and replaced it. Later, I decided to look for the missing chair, and unbelievably, I found it amidst a pile of crumpled leaves about the size of my thumbnail.

My plan is, while I'm on site till Sunday, to continue to install, repair and add to the pieces. Once I'm gone, It's all up to the wind.

I really like that aspect of it; it is ephemeral art and its impermanence gives it an extra value. Talking to Chris, I realized that one of my favorite things about this project is that the art can hardly be taken for granted: it is not immediate and in your face, but the viewer has to work a little bit for it, and it seems like people enjoy having that aspect of challenge. People also have been loving the novelty of being amongst the few who know the locations of the sites. While I'm there, I've been telling the people where the sites are, so there is a word-of-mouth propagation taking place. Those who know the secret are eager to tell their friends. FUN!!

Yesterday I installed two new sites, which is less than what I wanted to make, but a good ammount of time was rightfully spent talking to my visitors. From here on, it seems like it's going to rain a lot, which will significantly complicate things. We will see what happens.

For now, I have another video to share the documentation of artworks and some reactions from the public. These videos also will help treasure hunters locate the pieces.

Enjoy!

Mini Sites 2 from Alberto J. Almarza on Vimeo.

Alberto's first day!

(Hey, if you don't feel like reading, just skip to the cool video at the bottom!)

Allright!

I started my Art Out of the Box residency yesterday June 14, 2011. It went very well!

So here I am, working at the box, in the corner of 12th and Carson in the Southside. Not much foot traffic at first, but soon things started picking up.

I had the idea to put my sketchbooks out to attract people, which worked great.

Kids are always a great audience; curious, and not afraid to be social and ask questions.

My project involves creating miniature scenes that are hidden within wall crevices, sidewalk cracks, etc. This is what my work space looked like in the first hour or so.

The wind was a pain, and it claimed one of the mini chairs, but overall I cannot complain about the weather, and the box was well equiped and comfy.

I spoke to all sorts of wonderful and friendly people; didn't have a single akward interaction!

Ok, so, THE ARTWORK....

Would you guess that there is a hidden installation in the following image?

Without further ado: A pretty fun photo-video of the two mini installations I created, plus some public reactions and participation, check it out!

Mini Sites 1 from Alberto J. Almarza on Vimeo.

So two mini sites where set in place, and a lot more to go. My plan is to make enough that I kind of forget which ones are where. They are made to be fairly weather resistant, so if all goes well they should stay there for quite a while. Aren't you curious? Do you think you can find them? I dare you!

At the end of the day, Samantha found this cool bug on the side of the box; what I consider to be an auspicious omen!

That was a peek of day 1; now I gotta run to the Southside again, will be there till Sunday...

SEE YOU THERE!

AA11