Saya Woolfalk: Empathic Cloud Divination
2019-09-06 18:00 - 2020-01-11 15:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
In this new exhibition, New-York-based multi-media artist Saya Woolfalk explores our understanding of the human condition — a state of affairs governed by seemingly unavoidable conflicts such as birth, growth, and death. This show explores how technology has allowed us to ease our suffering by making change less difficult and transformation more enjoyable. Perhaps the ultimate human technological advancement would be the elimination of mortality by extending human life indefinitely in a biological, digital, or other virtual state. Recent advances suggest our species may already be on the cusp of achieving this evolutionary landmark.
Woolfalk’s exhibit at Tube Factory includes her signature installations, sculptures, prints, video art works, and the works of artists who influence her practice. It builds on one of her first projects, No Place (a play on the translation of the word utopia), where she collaborated with filmmaker and anthropologist Rachel Lears. Both then in their mid 20s, they invited people into Woolfalk’s studio to talk about their ideas of utopia and created work from there.
“Similar to the way you would construct a folktale, we took these ideas and we constructed the culture of the NoPlaceans. People would come to the studio, put on costumes and enact the things that they were imagining,” says Woolfalk who created a six-chapter ethnographic film about this future utopian world based on people’s visions.
To explore the conceptual boundaries of this cultural moment, this also led Woolfalk to create a fictional transhuman species known as the Empathics, which she describes as a race of women who are able to alter their genetic make-up and fuse with plants. “If you have a utopia, then how do you actually make that utopia real? I worked with biologists at Tufts University to think about what in nature could occur in order for people to mutate to become more like plants.”
Woolfalk’s Tube Factory installation will extend the story of the Empathics, blending multi-media aesthetic phenomena, spirituality, cultural hybridization, capitalism, technoscience, and artificial intelligence to conjure a broad network of interconnecting philosophical strands. Informed equally by science fiction and anthropology, the morally ambiguous future that the exhibit shares is open to the interpretation of its viewers. “Going from modularity to monumentality is how I approach my practice. I work in ways that are incredibly small and I also work in ways that are incredibly big. The work functions like collage.”
Should we fear the world Woolfalk and other transhumanist artists are mapping? Should we embrace it? Should we shrug it off as a Pollyannic fantasy, doomed by the human idiot factor? Woolfalk seems to be implying a potentially disturbing fourth option: Some of us — particularly those with special status or outlandish means — have already started to transform. Is this art, or a warning shot across the cultural bow of the human race?

About the artist
Woolfalk (b 1979, Japan) is a pioneer within an emergent, international aesthetic movement examining transhumanism — a theoretical belief that humans will mobilize technology to transcend their biological limitations and evolve into a non-human, or “posthuman” race. With each body of work, Woolfalk continues to build the narrative of The Empathics and questions the utopian possibilities of cultural hybridity. She has exhibited at museums, galleries, and alternative spaces throughout Asia, Europe and the United States including solo exhibitions at the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ (2012); the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA (2014); the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (2014); SCAD Museum, Savannah, GA (2016); Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY (2016); Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE (2016); the Mead Museum of Art, Amherst, MA (2017) and group shows at the Studio Museum in Harlem; MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY; the Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA., the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, among many others.
“When I started making work it was very important that it was not autobiographical,” says Woolfalk. “The work is not about me at all. The work is about talking to people about their ideas and trying to understand what’s going on in the world then taking that material and adapting it into installation based spaces that people can experience.”
Made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The Efroymson Family Fund.
Part of the Social Alchemy Series, this exhibition is in partnership with the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art.
Image: Saya Woolfalk, Encyclopedia of Cloud Divination, Plate 2, 30”x40”, 2018.

Pints for Parks - Featuring Indy Urban Acres
2019-09-18 17:00 - 20:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Our Indy Parks are beautiful, but it is our programming partners and park users (you) who give them life!
Join us at the Tube Factory artspace the second Wednesday every other month for Flat12 Bierwerks Indianapolis beer, and tons of fun!
$1 per beer supports the Indianapolis Parks Foundation!
https://www.indyparksfoundation.org/indy-urban-acres/
*Family Friendly*

Indy Pride and GenderNexus present Community Friendsgiving
2019-11-24 17:00 - 20:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Each year we gather during the holidays to share our family recipes and celebrate our community. Gathering together makes the holidays a little happier! ????
Join us on November 24th from 5-8pm for a community pitch-in-event. Show off those cooking skills and be sure to include some extra love in those recipes. We will provide the ham ???? and turkey ????, and we would love to see what you like to enjoy in your own homes for drinks, side dishes and desserts.
If you’re unable to bring a dish, no worries! There will be PLENTY of food, so we encourage you to come help us to enjoy it all!
We don’t want to have too many of one type of item, so we suggest bringing the following items according to the first letter of your last name:
A-H bring beverages
F-Q bring side dishes
R-Z bring desserts
Of course this is just a suggestion, so if you have a special drink or dish that you’d like to bring, we suggest that!! Please register using the free ticket link above so that we can anticipate how much turkey and ham we need.
*An ASL interpreter ???? will be provided for this event.*
**If an IndyGo bus pass would be helpful for you to get to and from the event, please reach out to Program Director Tabitha Barbour at email hidden; JavaScript is required.**

Bring It! Crit Night
2019-11-27 18:00 - 21:00 | IN
Bring ItPeer 2 Peer Artist Critique
Pasta Pitch-in | Homebrew
For Emerging and Mid-career Visual Artists
Last Friday | 6-9 PM
Bring art for critique or a dish to share***** If your interested to critique there is time for 3 artists, if you are a collaborative or a group please notify.
RSVP to sign up for a critique spot contact:erinharpervernon@gmail.com
Please send me your name and a brief description of the work you are bringing and any special accommodations.
A simple pasta dinner and homebrew will be provided, bring a dish to share and any serving bowls.
Free! All ages of the public are encouraged to attend! Children and partners encouraged!

Artist Housing Information Session
2019-12-05 18:00 - 19:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Are you an artist who wants to engage and help shape a community? Located on a block in both the Garfield Park and Bean Creek neighborhoods on the near southside of Indianapolis, the Artist and Public Life Residency (APLR) program is an innovative and experimental approach to supporting artists who use their talents and skills to help drive positive change in the community.
Come tonight to learn more.
Click here to apply or go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PHZ6YFV
For this program, we view the label of artists to include creatives, makers, and designers. Fields include — and are not limited to — architecture, culinary art, curation, visual art, public art, furniture, fashion, craft, design, film and video, creative writing and journalism, performing arts, music, theater, placemaking, socially engaged art, etc.
The APLR — taking applications for resident artists now through December 23, 2019 — is a long-term, affordable and community-invested artist home ownership program as part of a community land trust approach.
Applicants will be notified if they moved on as semi-finalists by January 6. Finalists will be selected by mid January. Public information sessions will be at Tube Factory art space December 5th, 6 pm and December 7th, 11 am.
In partnership with Riley Area Development and supported by Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP), the APLR’s goal is to provide artists enjoyable and equitable home ownership while they work — in part — to collaborate with other neighbors and boost the culture, creativity, diversity, livability, safety, health, and economy of the local and greater community. This is a reboot of the program launched two years ago before pausing to work out various aspects of the program and partnership. So far three families have been placed into the homes.

David Lanch: Visions From Another World.
2019-12-06 18:00 - 2019-12-21 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Presented in partnership with the Consulado de México en Indianápolis
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For the last 40 years, David Lanch has worked with plastic, which is part of the industrial technology of our current world, and it has been his research work to apply it to painting, and architectural integration to find man in his habitat.
In his work he uses fiberglass, polymers and resins, materials that had not been used in our society until after World War II. In his search, he uses science fiction as an indispensable concept for mass catharsis.
In fiberglass painting he found the ideal means to express his vision of other worlds; textures, colors, surfaces illuminated and reflected in stainless steel, mirrors, natural or artificial light; an ideal world for your vision of a different landscape, the mountains, the seas, the unknown habitat, where the physical and chemical phenomena, and the realities of the micro and macro cosmos, follow the same principles that govern our planet and as far as We know, of the universe.
When exploring all these materials, he found a new technique, painting and etching in fiberglass, which can help the development of plastic arts in this new millennium.
David Lach was born June 26, 1949 in Mexico City.
Versión en español a continuación.
David Lach
Por los últimos 40 años, David Lach ha trabajado con plástico, que es parte de la tecnología industrial de nuestro mundo actual, y ha sido su labor de investigación aplicarlo a la pintura, y a la integración arquitectónica para encontrar al hombre en su hábitat.
En su trabajo utiliza fibra de vidrio, polímeros y resinas, materiales que no habían sido utilizados en nuestra sociedad sino después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. En su búsqueda, utiliza la ciencia-ficción como concepto indispensable para la catarsis masiva.
En la pintura en fibra de vidrio encontró el medio ideal para expresar su visión de otros mundos; las texturas, los colores, las superficies iluminadas y reflejadas en acero inoxidable, espejos, luz natural o artificial; un mundo ideal para su visión de un paisaje diferente, las montañas, los mares, el hábitat desconocido, donde los fenómenos físicos y químicos, y las realidades del micro y macro cosmos, siguen los mismos principios que se rigen en nuestro planeta y hasta donde conocemos, del universo.
Al explorar todos estos materiales, encontró una nueva técnica, la pintura y grabado en fibra de vidrio, que pueden ayudar al desarrollo de las artes plásticas en este nuevo milenio.

Artist Housing Information Session
2019-12-07 11:00 - 12:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Are you an artist who wants to engage and help shape a community? Located on a block in both the Garfield Park and Bean Creek neighborhoods on the near southside of Indianapolis, the Artist and Public Life Residency (APLR) program is an innovative and experimental approach to supporting artists who use their talents and skills to help drive positive change in the community.
Come today to learn more.
Click here to apply or go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PHZ6YFV
For this program, we view the label of artists to include creatives, makers, and designers. Fields include — and are not limited to — architecture, culinary art, curation, visual art, public art, furniture, fashion, craft, design, film and video, creative writing and journalism, performing arts, music, theater, placemaking, socially engaged art, etc.
The APLR — taking applications for resident artists now through December 23, 2019 — is a long-term, affordable and community-invested artist home ownership program as part of a community land trust approach.
Applicants will be notified if they moved on as semi-finalists by January 6. Finalists will be selected by mid January. Public information sessions will be at Tube Factory art space December 5th, 6 pm and December 7th, 11 am.
In partnership with Riley Area Development and supported by Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP), the APLR’s goal is to provide artists enjoyable and equitable home ownership while they work — in part — to collaborate with other neighbors and boost the culture, creativity, diversity, livability, safety, health, and economy of the local and greater community. This is a reboot of the program launched two years ago before pausing to work out various aspects of the program and partnership. So far three families have been placed into the homes.

Bring It! Community Crit Night
2019-12-27 18:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Bring ItPeer 2 Peer Artist Critique
Pasta Pitch-in | Homebrew
For Emerging and Mid-career Visual Artists
Last Friday | 6-9 PM
Bring art for critique or a dish to share***** If your interested to critique there is time for 3 artists, if you are a collaborative or a group please notify.
RSVP to sign up for a critique spot
Please send Erin Harper Vernon your name and a brief description of the work you are bringing and any special accommodations.
A simple pasta dinner and homebrew will be provided, bring a dish to share and any serving bowls.
Free! All ages of the public are encouraged to attend! Children and partners encouraged!

Kwanzaa Celebration
2019-12-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Kwanzaa is a pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture created by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 and celebrated from December 26–January 1.
Uzuri and Bashiri Asad, part of the Artist Public Life program at Big Car, are organizing and hosting the event at Tube Factory.
More details added soon.

Chad Eby : Skärgården
2020-01-03 18:00 - 22:00 | Listen Hear, 2620 Shelby St, , Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Amidst an array of light and sound, Skärgården re-imagines cold war paranoia in the Stockholm archipelago in light and sound. The heart of this art installation is a self-organizing wireless mesh network that mirrors aspects of both the isolation and cooperation of an interconnected system of separate parts.
Chad Eby is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, teacher and researcher with particular interests in lighting, digital art, digital fabrication, people-center design and design history.

Zumba with Michelle Carson
2020-01-25 09:30 - 11:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
A 1 hour long class centered around different rhythms such as Merengue, Cumbia, Salsa and Reggeaton. You will be dancing to great music and at the same time burning a lot of calories without even realizing! It is definitely a dance party! So wear your comfy workout clothes, bring a bottle of water and join Carson in this cardio party!
Donation suggested.
Una clase de 1 hora de duración centrada en diferentes ritmos como Merengue, Cumbia, Salsa y Reggeaton.
¡Bailarás con buena música y al mismo tiempo quemarás muchas calorías sin darte cuenta!
¡Definitivamente es una fiesta de baile!
¡Así que ponte tu cómoda ropa de entrenamiento, trae una botella de agua y acompáñame en esta fiesta de cardio!
Cualquier pregunta simplemente envíame un mensaje de FB!
A little about Michelle Carson
Born in US, raised in Ecuador and traveled around some other places that feels like home.
I started teaching dance classes early in my life. At the age of 12 I graduated from my dance school in Ecuador and started assisting teachers, after only 1 year they gave me a class of girls from 7-8 years old and was amazingly fun. I was also part of 3 different dance groups plus high-school, (I dont even know how). When I was 18 I decided I wanted to study abroad and so I went to Argentina and auditioned for an Afro-Contemporary dance group in which we performed at private and community events and was a great experience.
In 2015 I came back to USA to follow my roots in Florida where I did my training in Zumba and fell in love with it. I started teaching a month after my training in different locations, until Sept. 2018 when I moved to Indy to start a new and exciting life.
I truly love it here and I have always enjoyed the feeling of giving something of what I know so I want to share all of it with you!!!
Un poco sobre Michelle Carson
Nació en Estados Unidos, creció en Ecuador y viajó por otros lugares que se sienten como en casa.
Comencé a dar clases de baile temprano en mi vida. A la edad de 12 años me gradué de mi escuela de baile en Ecuador y comencé a asistir a maestros, después de solo 1 año me dieron una clase de niñas de 7-8 años y fue increíblemente divertida. También formé parte de 3 grupos de baile diferentes más la escuela secundaria, (ni siquiera sé cómo). Cuando tenía 18 años decidí que quería estudiar en el extranjero, así que fui a Argentina y hice una audición para un grupo de danza afro-contemporánea en el que actuamos en eventos privados y comunitarios y fue una gran experiencia.
En 2015 regresé a EE. UU. Para seguir mis raíces en Florida, donde hice mi entrenamiento en Zumba y me enamoré de él.
Comencé a enseñar un mes después de mi entrenamiento en diferentes lugares, hasta septiembre de 2018, cuando me mudé a Indy para comenzar una nueva y emocionante vida.
Realmente me encanta aquí y siempre he disfrutado la sensación de dar algo de lo que sé, así que quiero compartirlo todo contigo.
Donation suggested.

TJ Reynolds:We Catch the Light, Reflections on Black Skin
2020-02-07 18:00 - 2020-02-22 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Those of African descent are the most underrepresented group in the world of fine art. Black faces are beautiful. Digging deeper, we see that by working on black surfaces with white ink & paint, Reynolds draws in the light instead of the shadow, with emotive figures emerging from the deep, catching light in the way only melanin can. The stylized nature of the drawings reveals a complexity of shapes and linework, in patterns that evoke both ancient art and futuristic graphic design. The artist is also exploring his own ethnic heritage, examining roots he can only piece together, going so far as to trace his last name to the tradition of slaves taking on the surname of their master, in this case the RJ Reynolds tobacco fields. Prints will also be available of all work.
TJReynolds.net

~~~~~~~~~~

TJ Reynolds is a multi-discipline artist and educator whose mission it is to spread the power of creativity and community. Visual artist, animator, director, M.C., producer, multi-instrumentalist and poet are just some of the creative avenues Reynolds travels on his exploits. As an educator, he has worked with thousands of students and adults in every conceivable setting; preschool through college, prisons and gifted schools, though his message remains the same; we must use art and expression to connect to each other and the world around us. Reynolds has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Nuvo Cultural Visionary Award, Spirit of Herron (School of Art) Award, and the first ever hip-hop artist to be named a Creative Renewal Fellow from the Arts Council of Indianapolis. His music has been featured nationally on NPR, and he has won rap battles, poetry slams and a Moth Story Slam. This is Reynolds first solo art show.

~~~~~~~~~

With performances by TJ Reynolds, Teresa Reynolds, Tatjana Rebelle, Derrick Slack

As part of my We Catch the Light, Reynolds asked some prominent black Indianapolis poets & singers to select someone who was influential to them in their life. He will create a portrait of that person, and the guest artist will perform a piece dedicated to them at the opening Feb 7 for a unique, one time happening bringing poetry, song and visual art together.

Kipp Normand: Snake Oil, A Fantastical American History
2020-02-07 18:00 - 2020-05-16 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Artist and historian Kipp Normand’s practice is a physical and conceptual investigation into the power of objects and images as a narrative device. Inspired by the Dada traditions of assemblage, collage, construction, and performance, Normand employs the acts of appropriation, reuse, and recontextualization to explore contemporary perceptions of time, community, and memory. In Snake Oil, Normand distills four centuries of history to illustrate the deep-seated American penchant for fantastical thinking. Part world’s fair exhibit, huckster wagon, dime museum, and midway arcade; Snake Oil is a multifaceted installation that challenges the viewer to re-examine the ideas of American Exceptionalism. Imbued with satire and mixed with painful truths, this haunted temple of junk casts a sideways glance at the tales we tell our children and ourselves about who we are and how we got here.
Normand — who maintains a studio and workspace in Indianapolis where he creates dynamic works of visual art infused with narratives of culture, community, and history — is a scavenger and an obsessive collector. He searches back streets and alleys, junk stores and abandoned buildings, looking for clues to explain the mysteries of our world. Normand finds stories in discarded things: Stories about all of us, our cities, and our shared history. He first began making collage images, shadow boxes, and installations as a way to justify his relentless collecting. But the work soon became much more than that. It is Normand’s way to dig deeply into the vast attic of this world and to share his finds with anyone who takes the time to look. He holds a Master’s degree in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame and worked nearly 30 years in the field of heritage preservation and housing reform before turning to the practice of art.

Freedom To Be Official Book Launch
2020-02-27 14:00 - 16:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join award-winning author Diana Ensign for this celebratory book signing and educational panel discussion on how our community can support transgender people and their families. Hear from Kimberly Acoff, Indiana Youth Group (IYG) Director of Programming; Sa’hara Miller, BU Wellness Sophisticated Divas Program; Diana Asberry (parent of a transgender child and a nonbinary child); and Andru Lanning (awesome young adult)! Info table by Matty Slaydon, Organizer of Queering Indy. A portion of book sales support Trinity Haven, Indiana’s first transitional housing program for LGBTQ+ youth at risk of homelessness, and BU Wellness Network.
This project is made possible by support of the Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency.

See America First Film Series-Ragtime
2020-03-10 19:00 - 22:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Kipp Normand will introduce and host a discussion relating the film to his current exhibition in the Main Gallery at Tube Factory artspace, ‘Snake Oil’. Attendees will have a chance to win a original Normand sculpture, “Snake Oil.”
“A kaleidoscope of tales from E.L. Doctorow’s eponymous novel evokes life in pre-World War I New York City. A white family find a black baby in their yard and takes on the mother as a maid. A black pianist, Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard E. Rollins Jr.), returns for his woman and child after finding success in a Harlem jazz band. Firefighters, dismayed to see a black man own a Model-T Ford, deface it, and Walker demands retribution. The white family becomes involved in Evelyn Nesbit’s trial.”
Runtime -155 minutes

West African Dance with Uzuri Asad
2020-03-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
West African dance is an essential component of West African culture. Over time, traditional dances incorporated new moves, rhythms and ideas. Through the slave trade, and through national production of traditional dance forms, West African dance has found it’s way around the globe. West African Dance has influenced many popular American dance forms, such as hip-hop, salsa and jazz dance. Traditional dances are still practiced by many people today.
Uzuri Asad caters to all levels of students and is part of Big Car’s APLR program.
Traditional West African Dance
Dance has always played a very important role in the lives of West Africans. Throughout history, West Africans performed dances to celebrate a birth, harvest or death. Communities relied on dance to ward off evil spirits, to ask the gods for prosperity, or to resolve conflict. Dance continues to serve those functions. For example, villagers perform the Malinke rhythm Kassa during farming and harvesting work. The singing, dancing and clapping entertains and motivates the hard-working farmers.
Characteristics of West African Dance
African dance, according to R.F. Thomson, has four unique qualities. First, the body moves in a multi-unit fashion, where the head and arms may move to one rhythmic pattern while the feet follow a different time signature. Second, it is percussive; the dancer interprets the rhythmic nature of the music through movement. Third, though as a whole African dance is a community event, some dancers follow different parts of the rhythm, dancing “apart” from the crowd. Finally, West African dance phrases, or sets of movements, overlap, creating a “call-and-response” pattern.
$10

Spring Zine Jam-Postponed
2020-03-14 12:00 - 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us at Normal Coffee inside the Tube Factory Artspace for a collaborative zine jam just in time for spring to roll around! Supplies will be provided but you’re welcome to bring your own. Drawings, poetry, collage, whatever you think we should put in our spring zine works! Gluestick will print the zine shortly after and it will be available for pickup around Indy and at Normal. Don’t know what a zine is? Come find out!

West African Dance with Uzuri Asad-Cancelled
2020-03-25 19:00 - 20:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States

Western Dance with Uzuri Asad-Cancelled
2020-04-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
West African dance is an essential component of West African culture. Over time, traditional dances incorporated new moves, rhythms and ideas. Through the slave trade, and through national production of traditional dance forms, West African dance has found it’s way around the globe. West African Dance has influenced many popular American dance forms, such as hip-hop, salsa and jazz dance. Traditional dances are still practiced by many people today.
Uzuri Asad caters to all levels of students and is part of Big Car’s APLR program.
Traditional West African Dance
Dance has always played a very important role in the lives of West Africans. Throughout history, West Africans performed dances to celebrate a birth, harvest or death. Communities relied on dance to ward off evil spirits, to ask the gods for prosperity, or to resolve conflict. Dance continues to serve those functions. For example, villagers perform the Malinke rhythm Kassa during farming and harvesting work. The singing, dancing and clapping entertains and motivates the hard-working farmers.
Characteristics of West African Dance
African dance, according to R.F. Thomson, has four unique qualities. First, the body moves in a multi-unit fashion, where the head and arms may move to one rhythmic pattern while the feet follow a different time signature. Second, it is percussive; the dancer interprets the rhythmic nature of the music through movement. Third, though as a whole African dance is a community event, some dancers follow different parts of the rhythm, dancing “apart” from the crowd. Finally, West African dance phrases, or sets of movements, overlap, creating a “call-and-response” pattern.

Donate Blood
2020-07-09 14:00 - 19:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Big Car Collaborative – is partnering with Versiti Blood Centers of Indiana to save community lives.
Please come out to support our drive on Thursday, July 9th, from 2:00pm to 7:00pm pm at the Tube Factory artspace-Parking Lot. Follow the link below to schedule your donation today!
Here is the link to schedule your appointment:
https://donate.indiana.versiti.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/142962
Donor Health & Registration:
All donor-facing staff will have their temperature taken prior to beginning their work day
Donors temperatures will be taken at registration to ensure they are not elevated prior to entering donation areas
Donors will be asked if they’ve come in contact with someone who’s tested positive for COVID-19
Donors will be asked to wash hands prior to screening
Donors will be asked if they are currently experiencing coughing or shortness of breath
If any of the above is true, donors will be asked to self-defer
Social Distancing:
We encourage all donors to make an appointment to lessen the amount of people waiting at our donor centers
To comply with government regulations, all sponsors and donors must wear personal masks at donor centers and mobile drives
Ensuring six feet of space between chairs in waiting areas and cafe
Ensuring six feet of space between donation chairs and/or separation with medical screens
If appointment registration congestion occurs, we will ask for your cell phone number and text when your appointment is ready
Cleaning:
We clean all equipment, beds, and other surfaces after each donor finishes their donation
Changing gloves frequently and between donors is part of our normal practice
We will maintain sanitized pen bins, so donors are only using clean pens at sign-in

Power Plant Grant Information Session
2021-03-25 18:30 - 21:00, 2021-04-01 18:30 - 21:00 | IN
Learn more about the new annual Power Plant Grant program made possible by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts on March 25, 6:30pm, April 1, 6:30pm or April 15, 6:30pm. The grants provide visual artists who live, work, or run spaces in Indianapolis with grants ranging from $2,000 to $10,000. Applications for this round are due by April 26, 2021.
Eligible applicants are visual/multidisciplinary artists who create original work in painting, drawing, sculpture, book art, ceramics, fiber, printmaking, digital/media works, film, video, photography, performance art, sound art, social practice and/or hybrid or interdisciplinary practice of any/all of the above.
Artists must be over 21 at the time of the application, and may not be full-time students.
Artists must live and/or work in Indianapolis.
Employees or board members (or immediate family members of employees or board members) of Big Car Collaborative are not eligible for this opportunity.
Teams, partnerships, and unincorporated individuals running spaces are eligible. Nonprofit organizations are not.

Words & Music-In the Heart of the Heart of the Country
2021-03-31 18:00 - 19:00 | IN
In this first installment of Words & Music: An audio series exploring the life and work of Indiana writers, Hoosier authors Susan Neville, Adrian Matejka, Kevin McKelvey, and Jim Walker discuss the sublime beauty and challenges of Indiana through the lens of William H. Gass’s 1968 fiction story, “In the Heart of the Heart of the Country.”
The episode features excerpts of the story as well as a conversation about what it means to be a writer living and working in Indiana. This launches an eight-part series made possible by Indiana Humanities and produced by WQRT and Big Car Collaborative.
You can listen live via the streaming link or listen on regular FM radio in Indianapolis by tuning in to 99.1 FM. After it debuts on the station, it will be available for listening online. We’ll share that link here.
About the participants in this show (all Indiana writers):
Susan Neville is the author of six works of creative nonfiction and her collections of short fiction include The Town of Whispering Dolls, winner of the Doctorow Prize for Innovative Fiction; In the House of Blue Lights, winner of the Richard Sullivan prize; and Invention of Flight, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. She teaches at Butler University.
Adrian Matejka was born in Nuremberg, Germany and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. He teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington and served as Poet Laureate of Indiana for 2018-19. He is the author of five award winning books and his first graphic novel, “Last On His Feet” is forthcoming from Liveright in 2022.
Kevin McKelvey is a place-based poet, writer, designer, and social practice artist. He teaches at University of Indianapolis and directs the M.A. in Social Practice Art and oversees the undergraduate major in Environmental Sustainability. At University of Indianapolis, he founded Etchings Press, a student-run publisher, helped start a community garden and microfarm, and has contributed to numerous interdisciplinary efforts for students and the community.
Jim Walker is a poet, artist, and teacher who believes everyone deserves open access to the joys of art, creativity, and great public places. A co-founder and executive director of Big Car Collaborative, Jim worked previously as a journalist (writer, photographer, editor, and designer). He’s a student of cities and enjoys spending time with his family, supporting his Garfield Park neighborhood, walking, biking, travel, reading, and baseball.

Art Dog
2021-04-11 12:00 - 17:15 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us for the first event of 2021 at Tube Factory! We are partnering with food artist extrodinaries, Thin Glizzy. We are excited to share with you foot long hot dogs like we’ve never seen or tasted before! Also on site will be Cat Head Press, doing demos and selling merchandise from some of Indianapolis’s best artists, live music from Preston Ott, and War Pig Beer available. Littleton, CO native Natasha Vidger will have her artwork up in the Main Gallery at Tube. Reserve your tickets now for indoor seating. No groups of more than 4. And this ticket will reserve your seat for 45 minutes. Franklin Food Pantry will be accepting canned good donations. Masks required. Hot dogs range in price from $10-12.

Artists & Community Conversation Series- Juan William Chavez, Dr. Jarrod Dortch and David Kirkland
2021-05-13 19:00 - 20:00 | IN
Join us for the first installment of this four part series developed with artists and neighbors who are doing work related to or influencing our thinking with the Artist and Public Life affordable artist housing residency in our neighborhood on the near Southside of Indianapolis.
This episode will include Juan William Chávez artist, activist and director of Northside Workshop, APLR artist, Dr. Jarrod Dortch and Chef David Kirkland.

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Made possible by PNC Bank.

About Juan William Chávez
Juan William Chávez is an artist, activist and director of Northside Workshop. His studio practice focuses on sculpting space within urban ecosystems through partnerships and collaborations as a way to address social and environmental issues. His work includes public sculptures, multimedia installations, paintings, drawings, and unconventional forms of beekeeping and agriculture. His exhibitions focus on themes of the urban environment, ecology, sustainability, craft/labor, activism, identity and archaeology of place. Chavez has exhibited at ArtPace, Van Abbemuseum, McColl Center for Art, Tube Factory Artspace, 21c Museum Hotel, Laumeier Sculpture Park, and Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Currently Chavez’s work was included in El Museo’s survey of contemporary Latinx art, ESTAMOS BIEN – LA TRIENAL 20/21. His interdisciplinary approach to art has gained the attention and support of prestigious institutions like the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, Graham Foundation, ArtPlace America, Andy Warhol Foundation, and Art Matters Foundation. Chávez holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Read More: https://juanwilliamchavez.com/home.html

About Chef David Kirkland
David Kirkland, the owner and executive chef of Turn Restaurant and David Kirkland Catering, believes food and music brings people together. He began his career in the early-1990’s, bouncing from the Café at St. Louis Art Museum (Catering St. Louis) to Frazier’s Brown Bag, and then Venice Café. Kirkland learned everything he could from some of the city’s best. In 1996, he moved to San Francisco and began focusing on his music interests, becoming a resident DJ at several clubs throughout the city. However, he never lost his love for the culinary arts, cooking for friends and family and exploring the area’s now famous farm-to-table approach to food. After moving back to St. Louis, Kirkland returned to the kitchen with a mission, taking the helm at Café Osage in 2007. He opened Turn Restaurant and David Kirkland Catering in Spring of 2016.
Read More https://www.stlmag.com/…/hot-seat-a-conversation-with…/

About Dr. Jarrod Dortch
Dr. Jarrod Nicholas Dortch is a Professor of Communication at Ivy Tech Community College in Muncie, Indiana. He also serves as the owner and operator of Solful Gardens, a local urban agriculture startup specializing in bringing Fresh.Urban.Natural produce to clients’ properties and working with community gardens. He has been affiliated with Big Car as a Community Artist and as Community Gardener at the Tube Factory artspace. He is currently working with Listen Hear and WQRT 99.1 FM. He enjoys bringing together art, education, and gardening to help to enrich the experiences of communities and their denizens.

The Indianapolis Anthology Reading & Book Release
2021-05-15 17:00 - 19:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
“As a child, I thought Naptown was a cool nickname for Indianapolis. Little did I know it was more pejorative than cool. Indianapolis used to—and sometimes still does—have a reputation for being boring and lacking culture. The Indianapolis Anthology proves otherwise. We see the beauty, the ugliness, the racism, the diversity, the past, and the present. It’s all here. Through each story, you see Naptown isn’t a sleepy little city, and I was right all along.” —Oseye Boyd, editor of the Indianapolis Recorder
“A must-read for anyone who thinks they know the city.” —Rachel Sahaidachny, associate editor of The Indianapolis Review
The Indianapolis Anthology (May 4, 2021), edited by Norman Minnick, showcases Naptown’s vibrancy and diversity with pieces from journalists, poets, historians, established community voices, and first-time writers. Indianapolis is more than the home of the Indianapolis 500, John Dillinger, Kurt Vonnegut,and Wonder Bread. In these pages you’ll find lawn chairs in the beds of pick-ups; the magnificent stench of diesel, sweat, and sweetly hissing charcoal; suffragists and entrepreneurs; cement Pietàs; sneakers dangling from power lines; dog bakeries and yoga studios; red brick bungalows and war memorials; steakburgers and Mexican seafood; Pho and sauerbraten. In other words, you’ll find not Naptown, or flyover country, but a vibrant city that is truly a cross section of today’s America.
Belt books are distributed by Publishers Group West.
Masks are required

Artists & Community Speaker Series with Daniel Gray-Kontar, Raymond Bobgan, and Uzuri Asad
2021-05-27 19:00 - 20:00 | IN
Join us for the second installment of this four part series developed with artists and neighbors who are doing work related to or influencing our thinking with the Artist and Public Life affordable artist housing residency in our neighborhood on the near Southside of Indianapolis.
This episode will include Executive Artistic Director of Twelve Literary Arts Daniel Gray-Kontar, Executive Artistic Director of the Cleveland Public Theater Raymond Bobgan, and APLR artist Uzuri Asad.

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Made possible by PNC Bank.

About Daniel Gray-Kontar
Daniel Gray-Kontar is a poet, teacher, youth mentor, rapper, journalist, and education activist. He has worked as an advocate for social transformation in the city of Cleveland for more than 25 years. Gray-Kontar is an education consultant for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; writer-in-residence at MOCA Cleveland; the former chair of the Literary Arts Department at the Cleveland School of the Arts; and a former graduate school fellow at UC Berkeley’s College of Education. His work in arts education has been showcased on PBS Newshour, The UK Guardian, NPR, and The Christian Science Monitor, among other news media outlets. Gray-Kontar has lectured at universities, public schools, arts organizations and scholarly conferences across the US. His Ted Talk discussing youth leadership in public school education has affected the ways public school administrators think about the inclusion of youth and their families in the process of re-making school cultures and curricula.

About Uzuri Asad
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Uzuri Asad now lives and works in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Indianapolis as part of Big Car Collaborative’s Artist in Public Life Residency program. She’s a singer, dancer, choreographer, and jewelry-maker. Formally trained in West African dance and contemporary movement, her art is guided by lived experiences and her cultural upbringing. Her style is a unique blend of fluid, free flowing, yet intentional movements. For Asad, dance is a sacred means of individual expression that lives and breathes through her.

Amanda Strong:Animations
2021-06-04 18:00 - 22:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
“Biidaaban”
In Amanda Strong’s astonishing short film, Biidaaban sets out to harvest sap from sugar maples in urban Ontario neighbourhoods. The practice of harvesting sap to create syrup goes back to time immemorial for the Anishinaabe, people but the lands have since been covered over by urban development and occupation. Biidaabaan can see the traces of the people, creatures, land and time as they work to continue in their ancestors’ movements. Biidaaban is a young Anishinaabe gender non-binary person that can see through multiple dimensions while existing and moving in their present time and space. They are sometimes accompanied by their friend Sabe (a 10,000-year-old shape shifter who some have called a Sasquatch), Ghost Caribou, and Ghost Wolf — but only Biidaaban can see them. They act as reminders of what exists in this space and provide lessons about honesty, humility and working for the people.
19 minutes 14 secs

“Four Faces of the Moon”
This animated documentary follows the journey of an Indigenous photographer as she travels through time. She witnesses moments in her family’s history and strengthens her connection to her Metis, Cree and Anishnaabe ancestors. This is a personal story told through the eyes of director and writer Amanda Strong. The oral and written history of her family reveals the story — we witness the impact and legacy of the railways, the slaughter of the buffalo and colonial land policies.
12 minutes 54 secs

About Amanda Strong
Amanda Strong is an Michif interdisciplinary artist with a focus on filmmaking, stop motion animations and media art. Currently based on unceded Coast Salish territories also known as Vancouver, BC, Canada. Strong received a BAA in Interpretative Illustration and a Diploma in Applied Photography from the Sheridan Institute. With a cross-discipline focus, common themes of her work are reclamation of Indigenous histories, lineage, language and culture. Strong is the Owner/Director/Producer of Spotted Fawn Productions Inc. (SFP). Under her direction, SFP utilizes a multi-layered approach and unconventional methods that are centered in collaboration on all aspects of their work.
Strong’s work is fiercely process-driven and takes form in various mediums such as: virtual reality, stop-motion, 2D/3D animation, gallery/museum installations, published books and community-activated projects. Strong and her team at Spotted Fawn Productions are currently working on the research and development of bringing these works into more interactive spaces.
Most recently she was selected by renowned filmmaker Alanis Obamsawin to receive $50,000 in post-services through the Clyde Gilmour Technicolour Award. In 2016 she received the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Awards for Emerging Film and Media Artist. In 2013, Amanda was the recipient of K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Film and Video. Her films have screened across the globe, most notably at Cannes, TIFF, VIFF, and Ottawa International Animation Festival. She has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, BC Arts Council and the NFB. Spotted Fawn Productions is currently developing new short animations Wheetago War and Spirit Bear. SFP’s latest short animations Biidaaban (The dawn comes) Four Faces of the Moon and Flood are available online through CBC Short Docs and CBC Arts.

Masks are required. Made possible by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Artists & Community Conversation Series- Cal Cullen, Allen Woods, Dr. Jarrod Dortch
2021-07-22 19:00 - 20:00 | IN
Join us for the third installment of this four part series developed with artists and neighbors who are doing work related to or influencing our thinking with the Artist and Public Life affordable artist housing residency in our neighborhood on the near Southside of Indianapolis.
This episode will include Executive Director of Wavepool Cal Cullen, Executive Director of Mortar Allen Woods, and APLR artist Dr. Jarrod Dortch
Made possible by PNC Bank.

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About Cal Cullen
Calcagno Cullen is a social practice artist, arts educator, and curator. She is founder and Executive Director of Wave Pool Arts Center, a gallery, studio space, and socially-engaged arts activator in Cincinnati, and the co-founder of The Welcome Project, a social-enterprise and makerspace for and by Cincinnati’s refugees and immigrants. She has previously worked in the education department of SFMOMA, the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, California and was the Director of Adobe Books Backroom Gallery in San Francisco,. She is a member of the women’s art collective The FemFour, and collaboratively organizes the traveling exhibition and catalog of Women’s March posters entitled ‘Still They Persist.’ She has also curated and organized a multitude of exhibitions including ‘Dial Collect’ in 2013 at SOMArts in San Francisco, ‘Social Medium’ at Wave Pool, a segment of ‘Bay Area NOW 7’ at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Survival Adaptations at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery. She has been artist in residence at The Center for Great Neighborhoods in Covington, KY, Lo Studio dei Nipoti in Calabria, Italy, Teple Misto in Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine, and in Sardegna, Italy. Her work has been shown in solo shows at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, and elsewhere. Her personal mission is to “create empathy and social change through contemporary art.”

About Allen Woods
Managing Partner & Creative Director of Mortar

Woods is a devoted husband, father and entrepreneur – in that order. A lifelong Midwesterner, he’s never allowed the size of a city to place a limit on the size of his dreams. Allen is the creative force behind the MORTAR brand, as well as a business consultant and training facilitator for incoming students.
His determination (or stubbornness – as his mom would call it) has allowed him to develop a resiliency that has grown with him on his entrepreneurial journey. Recognized as a 2016 Cincinnati Business Courier 40 under 40 Business Leader, 2017 John F. Barrett Entrepreneur Vision Award and 2017 Echoing Green BMA Fellow, Woods is also a sought-after public speaker who recently shined on the TEDx stage. As a brand strategist and designer, Allen assisted directly in the growth of hundreds of small businesses and personal brands across the globe.
When Allen isn’t at MORTAR, he’s probably somewhere with his wife, Kyla, planning or recording the next episode of their brand new marriage podcast, Permanent Plus One.

About Dr. Jarrod Dortch
Dr. Jarrod Nicholas Dortch is a Professor of Communication at Ivy Tech Community College in Muncie, Indiana. He also serves as the owner and operator of Solful Gardens, a local urban agriculture startup specializing in bringing Fresh.Urban.Natural produce to clients’ properties and working with community gardens. He has been affiliated with Big Car as a Community Artist and as Community Gardener at the Tube Factory artspace. He is currently working with Listen Hear and WQRT 99.1 FM. He enjoys bringing together art, education, and gardening to help to enrich the experiences of communities and their denizens.

Nick May: Fag Family
2021-09-03 18:00 - 2021-11-14 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
“Fag Family is a series of double portraits of individuals in my queer community. These portraits capture the queer relationships, queer spaces, and the liberating magic of queer world-building that I have the privilege to observe and be a part of,” says May.
“Historically, portraiture was a display of wealth and power; a luxury afforded only to the rich, affluent, white aristocracy. Queer individuals, especially queer individuals of color, have been totally erased from that history. I vehemently reject the stink of white supremacy and classism that continues to infect the art world, and my goal with these portraits is to subvert that ugly history by capturing my fellow queer friends with all of the luxuriance and beauty of oil painting.

Created with photo references, my portraits are nearly life-size and meticulously painted in order to earnestly catalog and celebrate the human lives I observe. Painting is an incredibly physical process: building the stretcher bar, stretching the canvas, priming and the process of painting demands an inordinate amount of energy. This painstaking process is compulsory however, because it is crucial for me to match the energy of the sitter I portray. Exerting so much energy into the surface of the canvas itself injects a kind of life into the portrait, as a homage to the living person themself.

Many of my fundamental artistic influences derive from the trauma I endured as a queer child. The escapist avenues I ventured in adolescence like children’s novels, campy movie musicals, fantasy video games made an invariable impression upon me. Growing up with image-dump platforms like Tumblr and Instagram exposed me to many artists who influence my work: Alice Neel, Mickalene Thomas, and Jordan Casteel to name a few. As a queer adult, drag queens, experimental pop music, and queer literature has indelibly impacted me. The apotheosis of these influences has left me obsessed with beautiful images, creating fantasies, and the human lives around me.

The power and beauty of my queer community inspired me to create this body of work. Despite existing in predominantly conservative midwestern towns and within an oppressive society, we create safe spaces for one another to brazenly enjoy our queerness. Within these spaces we transform ourselves, celebrate, and love one another. Within these spaces we create a whole new world that celebrates and uplifts us.”

Nick May is a portrait artist whose practice is deeply rooted in community and queerness. They received their Bachelors of Fine Arts with emphasis in Painting from Ball State University and are currently working as a portrait artist in Indianapolis, Indiana. Created from photographs, their portraits are nearly life-size and meticulously painted in order to earnestly capture and celebrate the human lives they encounter.

Made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
