November 11, 2004
Artomatic Comes to Capitol Hill
After a one year hiatus, Artomatic begins again, this time at the former location of the National Capitol Childrens Museum at the end of the culture-starved H Street corridor. The three-week long event begins at 7 PM tomorrow evening for an opening party with six music performances, a dance performance, and thousands of unique art displays.
Though the event calendar on the website is still incomplete, planned during the event are numerous performances and showings by local bands, theater troupes, dancers, performance artists, and filmmakers. One confirmed event will be an encore viewing of the films from the National Film Challenge on Dec. 2. DCist recommends looking out for the short films "Felt" and "Nachismo," which feature puppets in a rather... unique capacity (and not like Team America).
Founded in 1999, Artomatic is billed as
a phenomenal event that continues to inspire artists and community members. Washington's arts scene has traditionally been segmented, geographically and socially. The city's ongoing development in recent years has diffused the arts community even more by breaking up pockets of artist studios. In addition, local artists have often been overshadowed by the fame of blockbuster shows and prominent federal landmarks. Artomatic provides a forum for all of our area's artists to convene, perform and exhibit, strengthening the visibility, cohesion, and marketplace of Washington's arts community.
Artomatic operates as a unique artistic endeavor with no curators or juries, only a steering committee. Artists pay a small fee and volunteer in order to participate. Attendance is free, parking is plentiful, and hey--haven't we been pushing you to visit Capitol Hill enough?
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Let's not gloss over the details. The "small" fee is $60. This is 2-3 times what it costs to enter a typical juried art show, and over a 30% increase since the last edition. And by volunteering, they require you to work 15 hours in a 3 week span.
I'm fine with the volunteering part, but $60? For what? It has been stated that Art-o-Matic costs more than $100,000 to put on. Yet, the events calendar is STILL not up to date?!
I admire the spirit of the event but question the success and management of it. One thing is for sure... it'll be fun!
there's a really scathing article about artomatic in the post today.
Artomatic is completely run by volunteers; if you find fault with the "management" why not stop complaining and join our organization, get INVOLVED and come up with some solutions!!! Everyone is so quick to criticize yet so not there when it is time to do the hard work!
The fee was increased because we must pay for all utilities this time around...so if you don't want heat, water, lights or toiletpaper that's fine...we'll lower your fee.
Artomatic is the best deal in town. Two week of studio time in the best environment full of other artists with ideas, then a month of being able to survey arts all over the city in one place, metro accessible, all for $60. Anybody who has anted up for a weekend workshop for $350 (or more) can see the advantages. Even better, get to know the community, Volunteer. As one lawyer at the opening said, "I never see such interesting people during the week." Yes, and by the way some of these artists are lawyers too!
KJM,
I'm not here to argue you down, but every time I've been accepted into a juried show (at a fee of $20-30) the gallery has been able to afford heat, light, toiletpaper, water, etc. How are they able to do that? They get funding from elsewhere to keep submission costs as low as possible. If Art-o-Matic is such a grand community event, then it should be easy to obtain enough sponsorship to make Art-o-Matic affordable. Some people thought Philip Barlow was exclusionary... I see this $60 fee as exclusionary!
I should write up what my experience was with Art-o-Matic organizers... from the lies, miscommunication, lack of response, etc. I understand you are all volunteers, but come on, a high school car wash is run more efficiently.
Criticism is part of doing anything in the public eye. You either accept that or take the event into a private home and don't tell anyone about it. As for becoming involved, I have other activities that I deem more worthwhile. Although it hurt a lot of people's feelings, Gopnik's snobbery held some merit. There's pro's and con's to every art event... you have to be able to accept both if you are going to put it on. Be glad that people hold the event to high standards.
I'll agree that the timeline for Artomatic info to flow out was incredibly short - but the voluntary organization of hundreds of artists was amazing.
At the end of the day, on opening night the place was packed. I'm guestimating 1,000 people or more in the space at one time. Infact I don't think I've ever seen so many people in one place at one time looking at art, even counting some of the NGA's East Wing "mega-events". Moreover, there was plenty of free booze, music, food, and naked people being sketched to make the viewing more enjoyable...
There is no comparing Artomatic to a gallery show. A gallery show is far more discerning about the work going in, because their goal is to make money through selling. In DC, let's face it, most of what sells is politically safe abstract work or "beautiful landscape" paintings. No gallery in DC sells Kevlar bullet-resistant prom gowns or sculpture of disembowled people hanging from the cieling. Maybe in New York, but not here.
Furthermore, gallery openings have a very different crowd. Artomatic has more young people coming to view, and probably people who are (on average) less steeped in the "critical history and theory of art". I.E., a funner crowd!
Since Artomatic doesn't actually try to sell works for thousands of dollars each, I'm not surprised they need to charge more for the event.
J.T.,
As Thomas stated, yes, we do not take 20 - 40% commission on anyone's work sold.
We also thought this year we would like to actually pay someone to clean the bathrooms, floors and recycling since no one can seem to pick up after themselves and the executive committee is tired of doing it year after year.
I doubt your $20 juried art gallery shows have to contend with 1000's of art viewers on a daily basis.
Regarding all the "lies and miscommunications" you supposedly received from us committee members...just keep sitting back in your lazy boy criticizing and making excuses as to why you don't just get involved and help make this "DC Happening" a more organized, satisfactory and perfect event (in your eyes.)
You and Gopnick can just move to NYC and attend perfectly wonderful gallery events together! I'm done!
KJM