Artomatic Closed Early Tonight, Plans to Open On Time Tomorrow

Looks like month-long art show Artomatic is having some issues with city inspectors lately -- on Wednesday, organizers sent out an email saying "based on a routine building inspection by D.C.'s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs" they would be closing at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday of this week instead of the usual 10 p.m. time. They explained in the release that "DCRA has limited this week's evening hours to give Artomatic extra time to install required lighting necessary for safety in the unlikely event of an emergency."

Those issues are continuing today, as the Artomatic Twitter account had posts starting at about 2 p.m. saying they were closing at 8 p.m. today as well.

We just spoke to Artomatic board chairperson George Koch, who said "the city wants us to put in what they call 'always-on lights,'" which are fluorescent bulbs, as well as more exit signs, and that "these are things that will be in by noon tomorrow." He explained that without the lights, the city didn't want them to be open when it was dark outside. The festival is usually open until 1 a.m. Saturday and Sunday morning.

Koch said they'll be open at their regular noon time tomorrow with the lights and signs installed, and that they'll look to reschedule any events any events that were scheduled for tonight. We'd suggest checking their Twitter feed if you're going tomorrow night, as that seems to be updated quickest. Hopefully Artomatic can get everything fixed soon and get back up and running!