Washington, DC

Bookmark and Share

Contemporary Public Art Is Coming to the Capital!

Monday, April 21, 2014
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Announces 25 Artists to Participate in 5x5 this Fall

Mayor Vincent C. Gray is pleased to join with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) to announce the 25 renowned local and national artists who will participate in this fall's 5x5 Project.  Now in its second edition, 5x5, the District's largest public art project to date, showcases the artistic projects of five highly regarded curators, each working with five artists to create contemporary public art for all residents, visitors and art fans.

Launching in September, Washington will transform into a free, open gallery of 25 temporary public works with related programming. For an up-to-date listing of 5X5 Project events, please go to: http://www.the5x5project.com.

The project offers up the District as a venue for innovative curators and artists to create public works throughout the city that reflect on the District of Columbia's dual meaning as both the nation's capital and a hometown to hundreds of thousands of people.  The 5x5 curators -- Lance Fung, Shamim M. Momin, Stephanie Sherman, Justine Topfer and A.M. Weaver -- selected artists from the District, New York and places as far away as Argentina and Australia. The 25 selected artists represent many genres, from visual arts of all types to poetry, arts and activism and sound art. The 5x5 artists have shown in Paris, Poland, London and India and other places around the globe. The 5x5 Project will be installed this fall, with artworks across all eight wards of the District.

"The 5x5 artists represent the top in the contemporary public art world, and they will bring their signature styles to the District," says Lavinia R.Wohlfarth, Acting Chair of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. "As a cultural capital, we expand on our strengths by bringing artwork into all of the wards for all to enjoy. 5x5 is a citywide public art festival."

"The 5x5 Project gives curators the opportunity to paint the District as a canvas on which to place contemporary art," says Lionell Thomas, Executive Director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. "This is a truly unique vision for public art, and we are excited to see District residents engage with new works outside of the traditional museum setting."

5x5 connects residents and visitors with a great diversity of public art in their own communities. Each of the five curators create their own premise for the project - a premise that specifically addresses the District of Columbia. The selected artists develop the themes using their creative inspiration.

Curator Lance Fung envisions Nonuments, a temporary sculpture park featuring "monuments" devoted not to the great, but to ordinary people, to the ideals of democracy, and to the common struggles of humanity. Curator Shamim Momin will engage with the paradoxical notion of permanence and temporality, a theme particularly resonant with District's the evolving landscape, with Alter/Abolish/Address. In Near Futures, curator Stephanie Sherman will consider the District as cityscape for local and global movement, presenting five works that examine possible outcomes for contemporary policies in neighborhoods across the city. Cutting to the heart of 21st-century cultural relations, Curator Justine Topfer's (home)land grapples with the relationship between self and place in a world of transitory identities and contested geographies in the seat of the United States' government. For 5x5, Curator A.M. Weaver will create Ceremonies of Dark Men, which features large-scale photographs by five male artists placed in key areas around the city. Their works will, in part, address issues of black manhood in creative ways.

The list of the 5 curators and 25 artists:

Curator Lance Fung Nonuments

Jonathan Fung
Cameron Hockenson 
Peter Hutchinson
Jennifer Wen Ma
Nora Naranjo Morse

Curator Shamim Momin Alter/Abolish/Address

Diana Al-Hadid
Dan Colen
Brendan Fowler
Glenn Kaino
Marianne Vitale

Curator Stephanie Sherman Near Futures

Jace Clayton
Mia Feuer
Ali Momeni 
Dignidad Rebelde
Agustina Woodgate   

Curator Justine Topfer (home)land

Abigail DeVille
Soda_Jerk
Sanaz Mazinani
Jorge Pardo
Mark A. Reigelman II

Curator A.M. Weaver Ceremonies of Black Men

Donald E. Camp 
Larry Cook
Isaac Diggs
Michael B. Platt
Stan Squirewell  

WEBSITE: http://www.the5x5project.com
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/the5x5project
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/5x5project

5x5 Project: 5 Curators, 25 Artists, 16 Weeks, 8 Wards, 1 Cultural Capital

5x5, A Project of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is the District's largest public art project. A District-wide program of contemporary, ephemeral public art, 5x5 is dedicated to exploring new perspectives on our city through the lens of five curators and 25 artists.The 2014 project will begin in early September and end by December of 2014.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities commissioned five highly-experienced and innovative art professionals, who each select five artists to develop and present exciting, publicly accessible art works. The result will be 25 projects that activate, enliven and add a layer of creativity and artistic expression throughout all 8 wards of the District.In tandem, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is creating programming and events to engage residents, visitors and art lovers with the 5x5 Project.