Vistas

News and observations from Graham Projects

Citizen Artist Baltimore

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I’m honored and excited to acknowledge my role helping to co-organize the art voting initiative Citizen Artist Baltimore along with my friend and fellow arts and equity advocate Rebecca Chan. Citizen Artist Baltimore is a non-partisan advocacy effort that is helping to mobilize the creative community in Baltimore City, by providing the opportunity for mayoral candidates to outline their positions and goals related to arts, culture and humanities. The effort serves as a call to action for individuals, organizations, and institutions to work together to advance inclusion of these issues in the April 2016 Primary Mayoral Election and beyond. The initiative also encourages voter registration and long-term engagement in the democratic process. We are collecting the top priorities of people who care about the arts through a citywide series of six facilitated listening sessions in January 2016. Input gathered from these listening sessions will be used to inform a questionnaire that will be sent to mayoral candidates in February. All candidate responses will be made public, and will culminate in a March candidate forum leading up to the April 26, 2016 Primary Election.

As all of my public art projects, I’m operating in a few different ways to to amplify our message and mobilize participants. As the initiative’s Creative Director, I designed the the #CitizenArtistBmore visual identity above, built the website, assisted with co-writing all of the copy featured, am designing all of the print collateral (such as these fun buttons), and am documenting events and pushing a multimedia story out across our facebook and twitter pages. As a co-organizer, I’ve been working closely with Rebecca, GBCA, MCA and our diverse steering committee members to host our series of six listening sessions across the city. We talking with anyone who benefits from arts and culture about their top priorities with it come to the arts, Baltimore City, and our next mayor. From block parties and creative upstarts to public art and marching band performances, the arts have for decades been making a tremendous social and economic impact in Baltimore. We all know this and want to make sure that the next mayor includes arts and culture in their vision for healing and strengthening an already vibrant and unparalleled cultural epicenter: Baltimore, the Greatest City in America.

– Graham

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New Public Docu of 2015

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As the future of 2016 grows from burgeoning horizon, I wanted share a few updates on recent current projects. Last year proved exceptional for my public art mission to interpret, critique, activate and improve the public space of our everyday lives.

SiteLines Current Install - 01

SiteLines Exhibit

I had the great privilege of staging my first true solo show with ICA Baltimore at Current Space last spring. With the support of a Rubys Grant, my show SiteLines was the culmination of a series of radical walking tours I organized in 2014 seeking to understand overlooked public spaces in and around some of Baltimore’s highway foleys and pedestrian malls. It so happened that the show opened just as the Baltimore Uprising began to take shape in the streets.

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SiteLines Tours

The day of the first major Freddie Gray march, I led 44 participants on my Crossing the Highway to Nowhere tour. As I talked about West Side struggles against top-down planning, a helicopter hovering over the nearby protest split off and followed us as we gathered at the edge of Route 40. After crossing the highway our group began to head back to the gallery, only to run directly into the Freddie Gray march. To join was urgently appropo. On that day a modest crowd of Radical Pedestrians merged with a much larger force of walking movement in our city.

Here is what a few others had to say: ArtFCity, Bret McCabe, GBCA, Landscape Architecture Magazine, and BmoreArt.

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The Ragged Edge of Rockville

After SiteLines, I  was invited to develop a New Public Sites project exploring the invisible sites, contradictory features and historical spirits embedded in downtown Rockville for Come Back to Rockville, a two person show with Naoko Wowsugi at VisArts curated by Laura Roulet. Naming my project, “The Ragged Edge of Rockville”, I created a gallery installation, shot new videos and staged a series of tours in and around VisArts, the Rockville Library, the Beall Dawson House and a special gravesite. Along the way we learned that Rockville twice entirely razed its downtown. What’s since emerged is an uncanny image of pedestrian urbanism embedded with the beginnings of civic spaces while hiding parking garages for car-bound shoppers. Thankfully the various redevelopment schemes spared the town’s historic Catholic cemetery – final resting place for literary icons F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, Mark Jenkins at the Washington Post took a stroll through the gallery and wrote this review.

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New Public Sites – McDaniel / Westminster

Immediately following my Rockville drift, I began work on another New Public Sites tour and installation, this time in collaboration with McDaniel College students and residents of Union Street in Westminster, Maryland. I was honored to have “New Public Sites – McDaniel / Westminster” commissioned by curator Izabel Galliera for her group show Alternative Cartographies. Through a new map, bulletin boards and Shards of Site, we investigated the overlooked yet meaningful public spaces between an idyllic hilltop and historic neighboring streets. New Public Sites are not just in big cities, but also among rural towns and suburbs alike. Rebecca Juliette from BmoreArt still made it up and posted this on the group show.

Infinite Thanks for all the support. Let’s keep on projecting thoughts from radical walks through 2016 and beyond. Check back for updates on my forthcoming tour shattering Baltimore’s Inner Harbor Spectacle, and other delightful spring walks.

Cheers,

Graham signature teal

 

 

 

PS: Many thanks also to Baltimore Clayworks and School 33 for the opportunities to lead wanders through Mount Washington and of Baltimore City’s amazing murals.

McDaniel / Westminster Wandering Awaits!

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From Rockville to Westminster, I’ve been keeping busy this fall orchestrating back-to-back tours of Maryland’s sub/urban ambiguity. For those of you living in the reaches north of Baltimore, this next tour is for you! Explore the invisible sites, commanding vistas, and meaningful connections between McDaniel College and Union Street in Westminster, Maryland through New Public Sites – McDaniel / Westminster. Developed in collaboration with students and residents for the exhibition Alternative Cartographies, this walking tour and multimedia gallery installation investigates the overlooked yet meaningful public spaces between an idyllic hilltop and historic neighboring streets. Featuring sites such as the Epic Embankment, VistaBowl, Sidewalk Signatures, and Boys & Girls Club, New Public Sites – McDaniel / Westminster discovers how pedestrians activate intriguing moments between learning and leisure.

New Public Sites – McDaniel / Westminster is presented in conjunction with Alternative Cartographies: Artists Claiming Public Space, curated by Izabel Galliera and soon to be on display in the Rice Gallery at McDaniel College. Galliera states: “This exhibition brings together six contemporary international artists, Matei Bejenaru, Graham Coreil-Allen, Jason Hoylman, Daniela Kostova, Olivia Robinson, and Miryana Todorova, who are concerned with the subversive potential of cartography.”

New Public Sites – McDaniel / Westminster

Presented with Alternative Cartographies: Artists Claiming Public Space
Rice Gallery, Peterson Hall, McDaniel College, Westminster, MD
Curated by Izabel Galliera

Thursday, November 5 – Friday, December 18
Opening reception Thursday, November 5, 5:30-7:30pm

NPS – McDaniel / Westminster Wandering Shards Tour

Due to rain, the tour has been rescheduled to Monday, 11/23, 11:30am, Rice Gallery. – Graham, 11/18/15 10pm.

November 19, 2015, 11:30am – 12:30pm
Meets at Rice Gallery, Peterson Hall, McDaniel College
Northeast of W Main Street and Hersh Avenue
Westminster, Maryland

Pickup a free map in the gallery or download your own copy here:
https://newpublicsites.org/mcdanielwestminster
Be a part of the conversation on facebook.

Discover the Ragged Edge of Rockville!

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NPS-Rockville

 

September 2 – October 18
Opening Reception: Friday, September 4, 7 – 9 p.m.
VisArts, 155 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD 20850

Explore the invisible sites, contradictory features and historical spirits embedded in downtown Rockville. Radical walking tours and a gallery installation of banners, videos and maps stitch together an array of new and old buildings, urban and suburban places, and psychically – charged, poetic sites. New Public Sites – The Ragged Edge of Rockville is part of Come Back to Rockville!, a two-person, participatory art project with Naoko Wowsugi, curated by Laura Roulet and sponsored by VisArts. Click here for the full press release.

As the historic seat of Montgomery County turned booming DC suburb, Rockville stands as an example par excellence of Sub/Urban Ambiguity: “Cities and suburbs posing as enigmas of one another.” The title of the project is inspired by a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, in which the narrator reflects on how his former home in the “Middle West seems like the ragged edge of the universe now”. Tour activities include making paper rubbings and collecting Shards of Site while engaging memorials of literary tribute and contested Civil War histories. Along the way, you will explore newly created public spaces aspiring to urban authenticity while beholding suburban voids overturning in speculative wait.

Click here for more info and a self-guided
tour using the interactive map web app

Free printed maps will be available at
VisArts and the Rockville Public Library

Join a free a walking tour with
public artist Graham Coreil-Allen

September 5, 2-4pm
September 27, 3-5pm
October 17, 4-6pm

All tours meet at VisArts:
155 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD 20850

 

 

Long Live SiteLines!

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SiteLines Current Install - 01

 

With the conclusion of my ICA Baltimore solo show at Current Space last week, my year-long, Rubys Artist Project Grant funded series SiteLines is now complete. From New Public Sites tours of sub/urban ambiguity, to videos, banners and shattered piles of shards, the spirit of place in Baltimore lives on. Thanks to everyone who provided financial support, person-power, guidance and participation. You are all truly Radical Pedestrians. Below is a recap of the infinite freedom produced.

Galleries

SiteLines Tours & Videos gallery SiteLines Exhibit gallery

Tours

Crossing the Highway to Nowhere walking tour Reservoir Chill walking tour Old Town Wandering walking tour Power Plant Alive! walking tour Wandering Shards of Specter Riches walking tour

Multiples

SiteLines Chapbook Remote Sidewalk Sublime print

Media

The Anarchist Flâneur: Graham Coreil-Allen’s Critical Urbanism, interview with Michael Farley, ArtFCity, May 11, 2015

On wandering into memory’s weeds thanks to one of Graham Coreil-Allen’s New Public Sites walking tours, Bret McCabe, Back and to the Left, May 9, 2015

Inside the Rubys: Graham Coreil-Allen, interview with Sonja Cendak,  Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, May 11, 2015

Lost and Found in Baltimore, Katarina Katsma, Landscape Architecture Magazine, September 26, 2014

Uncanny Urbanism: Graham Coreil Allen’s New Public Sites, Will Holman, BmoreArt, September 19, 2014

Cheers,

Graham signature teal

 

 

 

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The Baltimore Uprising

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150428 Baltimore Uprising Mondawmin Cleanup

Over the past week we’ve seen an outpouring of peaceful protests and direct actions as Baltimore residents express the pain of economic inequality and seek justice for victims of state violence. Out of respect for the Baltimore Uprising, I have cancelled the May 2 New Public Sites “Formative Drift” walking tour so that we can focus on helping our neighbors. On Tuesday, April 28, we came together to clean up our neighborhoods and share public expressions of positivity. This is the Baltimore we know and will continue to nurture. Lets stand in solidarity of the people of Baltimore in this struggle to bring peace, opportunity and improvement to our people and places.

A message on ways to help from local art-activist group Force:

The best way to help right now is to support grassroots organizations who have been doing sustained organizing to combat poverty and racism in Baltimore, through policy, direct action, and education. Here are a few groups to consider:

Bmore United is a coalition of concerned citizens and organizations working for justice in Baltimore City.
http://bmoreunited.org

The No Boundaries Coalition is a resident led community organization working to bring neighborhoods in Central West Baltimore together across race and class.
http://www.noboundariescoalition.com/get-involved/donate

Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle is a grassroots think-tank which advances the public policy interest of Black people, in Baltimore, through: youth leadership development, political advocacy, and autonomous intellectual innovation.
http://lbsbaltimore.com/donate

SiteLines videos begin today, show opens April 24

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SiteLines - banner internet

Explore Baltimore’s invisible public spaces through sharable videos, walking tours and an immersive gallery installation.

ICA Baltimore presents Baltimore public artist Graham Coreil-Allen presents SiteLines, a multimedia collection of online videos, experimental walking tours and an immersive art installation at Current Gallery featuring banners, photography, typography and cartography derived from nearby invisible public spaces.

Sitelines

Art exhibition, walking tours and online video series by public artist Graham Coreil-Allen
Institute of Contemporary Art, Baltimore @ Current Space
421 North Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

Exhibition Dates:
April 24-May 15, 2015

Open Hours:
Saturdays and Sundays, 12 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Opening Reception:
Friday, April 24, 7 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Artist Talk and Closing Reception:
Friday, May 15, 6 p.m. Artist Talk, 7 – 9 p.m. reception

New Public Sites YouTube Channel
youtube.com/npsvt
First SiteLines video posts Friday, March 13
New videos will be post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m. through May 8

Walking Tours Schedule:

  • Saturday, April 25, 2-4pm – Crossing the Highway to Nowhere
    • Explore interchanging embankments around The Highway to Nowhere
      while boldly crossing where many have walked before.
  • Saturday, May 2, 2-4pm – Formative Drift
    • Experience the drama of theaters in ruins and on the rise, and feel Baltimore’s enduring Formstone facades through site-specific performances, tasty sandwiches and foldable sketches. Tour in collaboration with artists Laure Drogoul, Carly Bales and Gary Kachadourian.
  • Saturday, May 9, 2-4pm – Wandering Shards
    • Bring your personal expertise to help lead an improvised group tour of nearby public space while collecting found object souvenirs to be displayed in the gallery.

All tours are free and open to the public. We walk for 45-60 minutes at a moderate pace. Voluntary physical activities include climbing stairs, laying down, and stepping over obstacles.

Sitelines is a translation of Coreil-Allen’s New Public Sites walking tours into a participatory video web series capturing the artist and walking tour participants as they playfully explore public space while he shares the sites’ histories, design, and uses. The ongoing New Public Sites project interprets the overlooked and invisible sites within cities, investigates the negotiable nature of public space, and pushes the boundaries of pedestrian agency. Filming for the first season of SiteLines began in September 2014 with four tours: Crossing the Highway to Nowhere, Reservoir Chill, Old Town Walking Revival and Power Plant Alive! These collections of new public sites are connected by suburban style development in an urban context, including freeways and pedestrian malls. Videos from these walks will be incorporated into a larger installation of banners, photography, typography, found object sculptures and a gallery-size map at Baltimore’s Current Gallery, opening on April 24. During the course of the three week exhibition, Coreil-Allen will also lead three walking tours in collaboration with additional artists working in the surrounding Bromo Tower Arts & Entertainment District. All tours are free and open to the public.

Contact:
icabaltimore@gmail.com
currentspace@gmail.com
graham@grahamprojects.com

Graham Coreil-Allen – grahamprojects.com

Graham Coreil-Allen is a public artist who explores the constructs and contradictions of public space through videos, maps, crosswalks, and walking tours. Coreil-Allen recently completed the Hopscotch Crosswalks in downtown Baltimore and his walking tours have been showcased around the United States and at the US Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Current Space – currentspace.com

Current Space is an artist-run gallery, studio, and a headquarters for cultural production, nourishing an ongoing dialogue between artists, activists, performers, designers, curators, and thinkers. Operating since November 2004, we are committed to showcasing, developing, and broadening the reach of artists locally and internationally.

ICA Baltimore – icabaltimore.org

ICA Baltimore is a collaboration of volunteers working to stage contemporary art exhibitions in available spaces in  Baltimore. Sitelines is the fourteenth exhibition by the ICA since 2011.

Additional information and high-resolution photos are available upon request.

More info: newpublicsites.org/sitelines | grahamprojects.com | youtube.com/npsvt

SiteLines is being made possible in part by a Rubys Artist Project Grant from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

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Artist Talk at the Boston Society of Landscape Architects

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141231 Hopscotch Crosswalks Colossus - aerial view

Artist Talk on Public Practice

BSLA Emerging Professionals
Thursday, January 15, 6:30pm
Reed Hilderbrand
130 Bishop Allen Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139

I’m honored to be presenting on my public art practice, New Public Sites and Radical Pedestrianism at the Boston Society of Landscape Architects Emerging Professionals group in Boston this Thursday. All are welcome, Join us!

We need Larry Hogan to save the Red Line

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My Neighbors, Baltimore and Maryland need Governor-elect Larry Hogan to save the Red Line

As a Baltimore City homeowner, professional artist, millennial and pedestrian, I am expressing my unequivocal support for the Red Line as planned by the MTA. Governor-elect Larry Hogan must help our city achieve its fullest social and economic potential by making this long-planned transit project a reality.

I moved to Baltimore City in 2008 to go to MICA, and have since stayed, got a job teaching art, bought a house and joined an ever growing community that I love. With my student loans, I cannot afford to own a car, and therefore must walk, cycle and take transit within a certain radius of my home. I honestly could not have afforded to stay in Baltimore were it not for metro access to downtown and light rail access to BWI airport.

Building the Red Line will give our transit starved neighbors in East and West Baltimore, and the County access to jobs while also attracting new residents who are unable or prefer to not rely on the expenses of owning a car for work. The construction period is estimated to generate nearly 10,000 jobs and its completion is expected to create access to more than 200,000 jobs within the next 15 years.

The Red Line will not only serve East and West Baltimore, but also multiply the effectiveness of our regional rail transit network through integrated connections at key hubs. Such regional impact will also help the state as a whole by attracting environmentally friendly new urban development while preserving vital farmland across the state.

Great urban cities need great transit – just look at NYC, Boston, DC and even LA. The Red Line is no doubt expensive, but no more so than other similar rail transit projects around the country, such as Portland’s Milwaukie Light Rail line. For 12+ years the MTA has worked closely with residents along the Red Line corridor to plan this shared vision. People wanted trains on dedicated tracks, not buses on clogged roads. Changing the current plan by even a few feet will mean losing nearly $1 billion in secured federal funding. With Red Line planning this far along, and Baltimore City and County residents in need of transit access to jobs, we literally cannot afford to stop this train!

Building the Red Line is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve Baltimore and Maryland’s social and economic potential. For the elders who can’t drive, for the working families who need access to jobs, for preserving rural sustainability and for investing in the future strength what is not doubt The Greatest City in the Greatest State in America, Hogan must do what he can to build the Red Line.

Thank you,

Graham Coreil-Allen

Auchentoroly Terrace
Baltimore City
Maryland
USA