Art in the Parking Space

How is the project operated? For-profit, nonprofit, artist-run, etc.
The project is sponsored by LAXART which is a non profit institution in Los Angeles with its own funding resources. The project continues for one year.

How long has it been in existence?
The project runs from Jun 30, 2011 to Jun 30, 2012.

What was your motivation?
Art in the Parking Space is a collaborative project initiated by Elena Bajo and Warren Neidich. Although we have our own artistic practices we believe in creating social sculptures, opening up the overall zeitgeist to other discursive energies and providing for increased opportunities for other artists. Art in the Parking Space also was an opportunity to explore other exhibition venues beyond the white cube. Parking spaces provide the unique opportunity to explore the horizons of what is private and what is public space. Recently, there has been a diminution of the common space and all of the opportunities contained there in. There is an assault on the public space as governments attempt to decrease budgets. But what will this trend impact on the flow of ideas and the random connections that take place in these public spaces where serendipitous interactions take place? What subtle affect will it have on the chance encounters that provide the basis for random associations that lead to new ideas? Does the decrease in the common have a deleterious effect on the imagination? Or has this physical common been replaced by the virtual common? Is this deprecation of the physical common been made up in the common spaces provided by the internet?

Number of organizers/responsible persons of the project.
3

How are programs funded? (membership fees, public funding, sponsors, etc.)
LAXART

Who is responsible for the programming? (Curators, Directors, etc.)
Elena Bajo and Warren Neidich

Number and average duration of exhibitions/events per year.
Around 6 events.

What kind of events are usually organized?
One day events in which five or six artists create performances and installations at a specific parking space or lot.

How is your programming determined?
We chose artists across generations, across national boundaries and made an attempt to include known and unknown artists. We also took into account the artists practices focusing on those we thought could manage the unusual condition of the parking space.

Do you accept proposals/submissions?
Unfortunately that process is completed.

What is your artistic/curatorial approach?
We are interested in artists that  explore diverse practices, mediums and subject matters. We generally are interested in works that have a political spin. That can mean using materials in unusual ways, exploring the margins of discursive practices, foregrounding apparatus and process in front of functionality and connoisseurship. Illustrative and in your face political art is not interesting to us.

What’s working? What’s not working?
We learned quite early that in Los Angeles it is very important to show local or at least include local in the mix. That can mean artists born in LA or artists that attended school here. No matter how famous an artist is if its not a home grown talent there is not a lot of enthusiasm.

What kind of role do you hope to play in your local art scene or community?
We are interested in exploring nuances that already exist in the community but are not yet heralded. We want to link artists of LA with artist abroad to create broader networks.

What idea are you most excited about for the future?
Eric Angles will drive his car across the country and then park it in a space as a piece. Gracie De Vito will turn her car into a gallery for a Vaudeville show. Sara Beadle will create a dining experience in a parking space. The project is somewhat improvisational so actually what is going to happen is hard to say but these are at least the initiating gestures._