OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS: CULTURE SHOCK
What comes to your mind when you try to understand the concept of "cultural shock." At Local Project we have an open call for all of you artists, who have something to say about it and want to be part of our Cultural Shock show during the first week of August. Cultural Shock will explore the diversity of our new global environment; presenting projects that represent how communities act, react and interact from the influence of different or opposing communities. If you need more information, have any project in mind that can work out this concept, or think your work will coincide with this show, just give us a call. We will be receiving portfolios for review from today until June 30th. So come and merge at our Local ˆGlobal- Project.

Local Project - Carolina Penafiel - info@localproject.org
Building community for area artists.
21-36 44th Rd., LIC 11101. 718.433.2779 www.localproject.org

LIC arts collective is a melting pot of people, ideas and cultures

A Long Island City artists collective with a South American flair is giving a platform to people from around the world to showcase their talents. When the group, Local Project, had an experimental jazz performance in January, a musician blew air through his trumpet, creating a sound more like a gust of wind than a note. At the event, Chris Villafuerte, 23, of Manhattan, an artist who regularly exhibits his work at Local Project, recruited models to pose for impromptu photos taken with a 50-year-old camera. The installation of photographs hanging on the wall in the main corridor of Local Project's 2,000-square-foot exhibit space on 44th Road in Long Island City grew from an idea proposed by Marni Horwitz of Brooklyn. Horwitz had shown up at a previous gathering and suggested an exhibit that would feature photos of her relatives. The group agreed, helped her organize it, and held an opening that featured her work, as well as that of nine other photographers and artists. "We foster a melting pot of ideas and people," said founder Sandro Darcin, 39, born in Argentina and a Long Island City resident. "It's a cliché, but it still hasn't been fully exploited here, since territory is often characterized as a Chinese neighborhood or an Indian neighborhood. We want to open up new collaboratives." The group, which is less than a year old, eschews formal rules for performers or exhibitors, said board member and photographer Carolina Peñafiel, 24, of Long Island City, who was reared in Chile. "Sometimes the artists donate a work to us, or if they sell a piece, t hey'll give us a percentage, but it's really all up to them," she said. "There's no contract or anything to sign." The group is moving from the start-up stage toward becoming a formal nonprofit, registered with the state, which may force it to alter its casual approach. But because the group will be eligible for grant money and will have more legitimacy in the eyes of potential benefactors once it becomes a nonprofit, it views gaining that status as a key step in realizing its dream of moving to a bigger space and establishing satellites in such cities as Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and Santiago, Chile. The six board members - four self-appointed and two elected - fund projects out-of-pocket. They have footed the bill for 17 projects, averaging about $1,000 each. The board members all have day jobs or study at loc al schools and want to offer stipends that would allow people to concentrate on their art, as long as the work is created for the sake of art rather than for commerce. So far, there are about 60 active participants in Local Project. "We want to mix artists from different disciplines, the art of children and adults, and the work of amateurs and professionals," said board member Brenda Campos, 25, a photographer and videographer born in Argentina and living in Astoria. "We only have one rule: no compromise." The project, which held its opening exhibit last April, grew out of parties that Darcin held in the building. The space functions as his architecture studio and carpentry shop and is located in an industrial section at 21-36 44th Road. Eventually, the artistically inclined people who regularly attended Darcin's gatherings yearned for something more, so an avant-garde art space was established, Peñafiel said. Board members said they enjoy serving as an arts incubator for up-and-coming artists. Some artists who have held shows there already have exhibited their work at events such as the DUMBO Festival in Williamsburg, and through the Bronx Council on the Arts. The organization's nucleus consists mainly of people of South American descent, but their unconventional approach has attracted people of diverse backgrounds. Villafuerte, who grew up in New Jersey and considers himself to be thoroughly Americanized, said he felt welcome from the start. "They believe in what they're doing, and they're open to everybody," h e said. "There's always something new going on. It's not based on one great idea, so things are constantly changing. I feel comfortable there, like family."