Alternative venues
By Karen Atkinson, courtesy of Side Street Projects
Opening at Chicago apartment gallery 65 Grand
The information below is part of a series of guides that outline the pros and cons of various types of venues.
ABOUT: These are exhibition sites that don’t fit into any of the rest of the categories here. They include banks, bookstores and other commercial venues, corporate and city government lobbies, restaurants, schools etc. A list is included below under resources.
EXPECTATIONS: Work is hung in a public space. Often the responsibilities for labor and expenses fall onto the artist.
PROS: A good way to introduce your work to new audiences, and/or create an important context for the work. Sometimes they don’t schedule work so far in advance, and you can get a show within a year. This is good for calendar-specific subject matter.
CONS: The artist may have to work out their own insurance, the exhibition space might be less than ideal, and the majority of the work on the project falls to the artist.
RESEARCH: Make contacts by visiting local venues and talking with the manager or owner. Search out venues which have shown the work of artists previously.
RESOURCES: There are no listings of sites, but talking to your peers for ideas is helpful. For context-specific sites, check out the web and the local yellow pages.
Excerpted from Get Your Sh*t Together, an artist's professional development software produced by Karen Atkinson. This came out of her involvement wth Side Street Projects, Los Angeles.