Regardless of how adept your street art skills are, if you decide to go guerilla and throw up a piece in a prominent public location, chances are it’ll get buffed pretty quick. Murals and sculpture are some of the most aesthetically alluring components to this city’s streets. But government grants notwithstanding, it’s hard to manufacture public art in a way that’ll have a widely recognized, lasting effect.That’s why Alibi Circulation Manager Geoff Plant and former Arts Editor Summer Olsson put out a call in 2011 for artists to beautify our distribution boxes. The result was 14 revamped newspaper stations, both functional and eye-catching, that helped bring color and pizzaz to sites on and around the Central corridor.Artist Paul Higdon created an old-fashioned TV complete with wood paneling and rabbit ears. Ben Adams’ contribution was an ode to the improperly disposed Rio Grande Zoo giraffe and rhino cadavers. And Bethany Delahunt answered the call with a working, free telephone booth that readers used both as a place to pick up the latest issue and as an anonymous number from which to drunk-dial their exes. (It was also an innovative sound-recording project that provided a playful interactive medium between talkers and listeners.)If these creations delighted you as a pedestrian or inspired you as an artist, the Alibi has good news. We’re continuing the project in 2012, and we’ve added incentives to make the it bigger and better than before. Last year we offered a $25 stipend and gift certificates (not to mention that artists have their work displayed in public). This year, chosen artists will also get to participate in a monthlong group show at Downtown’s Boro Gallery in September. We’ll also provide some weatherproofing supplies. So send us those ideas that have been brewing in your head for the last annum. And remember to think outside the … 3D rectangular object. Rules, Regs and Fine Print 1) Email, snail mail or drop off your idea by Thursday, July 19. Put “Art Box” in the subject line. (A sketch and an example or two of previous work is helpful.)413 Central NWAlbuquerque, NM 87102artbox@alibi.com2) The finished piece still has to be a functional newspaper distribution box: i.e., the door should be able to open and close.3) If chosen, you must incorporate “Alibi” somewhere into your design. We’ll deliver a box to you in late July and give you a month to artify it.4) All Alibi boxes are, and will remain, the property of the Alibi . Finished boxes will be placed at the discretion of the Alibi .
Culture Shock: Operation Art Box Returns
Operation Art Box Returns
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