Big Car

Lunar New Year Celebration
2024-02-10 18:00 - 22:00 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
The Year of the Dragon is coming! Celebrate the lunar new year with traditional dance performances, fireworks, activities like cut paper art, lantern/fan painting, origami & more.

Food available for purchase.
Indianapolis Chinese Performing Arts Inc (ICPAI) at 7pm.

Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year among East and Southeast Asian cultures, including Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean communities, among others. The New Year celebration is usually celebrated for multiple days—not just one day as in the Gregorian calendar’s New Year. In 2024, Lunar New Year begins on February 10.
China’s Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival or Chūnjié in Mandarin, while Koreans call it Seollal and Vietnamese refer to it as Tết.
Tied to the lunar calendar, the holiday began as a time for feasting and to honor household and heavenly deities, as well as ancestors. The New Year typically begins with the first new moon that occurs between the end of January and spans the first 15 days of the first month of the lunar calendar—until the full moon arrives.
Artwork by Julie Xiao

Crime of Pa$$ion
2024-02-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Bank Robberies, Love triangles, and a “Sex Change” Take your Valentine on a date to learn about one of the most compelling and fascinating Queer love stories ever told.
Sylvia Thomas is a Big Car Artist and Public Life Resident with a BA in History from Indianapolis University. In writing a new project, a play about John Wojtowicz and Liz Eden, Sylvia will share her research on the story of what she has learned so far.

Love Is Love
2024-02-16 17:00 - 22:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join the Damien Center at Tube Factory artspace for Love Is Love on February 16, 5-10pm

NIGHTJAR: A Poetry Series
2024-02-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Featured poet: Emily Banks

NIGHTJAR open mic guidelines: 317 words is the maximum length for open mic contributions. Share new writing in response to the prompt!

Prompt for February 21, 2023: Write a poem about a fuzzy memory or something you may be misremembering.

NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier, Michelle Niemann, and Big Car Collaborative host a reading at the Tube factory and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.

IG: @n_i_g_h_t_j_a_r
FB page: Nightjar

Justin A. Carney: Because I Live
2024-03-01 - 2024-03-30 | Guichelaar Gallery, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Because I Live looks toward images of Justin A. Carney’s late grandmother from his family album to question how one’s relationship to photographs change after the death of a loved one, and to show the effects of forgetting. When looking at images of her, there is an opposition of a closeness within his mind and a distance within his heart. Although the photograph is a visual representation of her, there is a disconnect between image, memory, and feeling. The photograph exists within a limbo of familiarity and unfamiliarity; it is of his grandmother, but it is not her.
Because I Live visualizes these feelings of disconnection, forgetting, and grief by using photography, sanding with sandpaper, incomplete photo transfers, and layering with transparency paper. Carney shares this work to show that lives are knotted together beyond photography and beyond memory; there exists a spiritual connection – when one passes, the Spirit does not disappear, it continues everywhere and in everything. The ones we love never truly leave us and we never truly forget. Even when a photograph becomes a foreign object, the connection does not fade. Death is not the end.
www.jacarneyphoto.com
@joule_zei

Guichelaar Gallery
Opening: March 1st 2024 6-10pm

Artist Talk with Giselle Trujillio featuring artists from Indy Latina Artists
2024-03-17 18:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join Giselle Trujillo at the Tube Factory artspace for an artist talk about her latest art installation Hogar Dulce Hogar. In this event Giselle will talk about her start in her arts career, the materials used in her arts practice and the importance of the collaborative process to create her work. In this event members of the Indy Latina Artists will join Giselle Trujillo in a small panel conversation about the experience of being members of a latina women’s group and working to elevate and support each other.
Hogar Dulce Hogar (Home Sweet Home) is an immersive experience that transports visitors to a timeless realm and invites them to engage with the artwork and touch, feel, and even dance with the pieces. Trujillo’ screen paintings contemplate making a home where you are — without losing the richness of your background. The house symbolize the beauty of diverse experiences and merge to form a tapestry of identity. This echoes the importance of preserving cultural roots while embracing new surroundings. Trujillo also offers subtle commentary on emigration and the essence of “home.”
A notable facet of this installation is Trujillo’s inclusion of works by other members of the Indy Latina Artists group. They include: Mayra Espino, Ana Escalante, Vanessa Monfreda, Mary Mindiola, Rosa Maria Díes, Frances Ruiz, and Nettie Viera. Their pieces further enrich the overarching narrative and cultural tapestry woven by Trujillo’s vision.

Julian Jamaal Jones & Kat Goffnet in Conversation
2024-03-23 13:00 - 14:30 | IN
Join us for a conversation between multidisciplinary artist Julian Jamaal Jones and assistant curator at Cranbrook Art Museum, Kat Goffnet.
The two will discuss his work, exhibit Take Me Back currently on view at Tube Factory artspace and take questions at the end of the conversation.

Keren Cytter: Ocean
2024-04-05 - 2024-06-24 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
April 5-June 23
Ocean resembles a soap opera, but with the eerily calm, disembodied voice-over of a guided meditation: “If you don’t want to drown, be an ocean.” The video begins by instructing the viewer to adjust her posture in relation to the screen and finishes by likening the viewer’s smile at her reflection to “the embarrassment of a blind date”—a playful take on Brechtian Verfremdung. The story, whose fractured plot is told from different voices and individual viewpoints, takes place in a beach house. It involves a few characters, some of whom are lovers; a lonely boy; a bit of sex; several dialogues; and passionate kissing next to a bonfire, accompanied by the sticky romanticism of Leonard Cohen’s song Undertow. The voiceover, at one point coupled with the same pulsating binaural beats as Constant State of Grace, repeats instructions on what to do and how to feel until the circular logic of the video closes in on its last words: “Concentrate, look at your reflection. You are relieved. Your mind is empty. Your thoughts are public. […] You recognize your reflection and smile with the embarrassment of a blind date. Relax. Your mind is now an ocean.”
About the artist
Keren Cytter studied at the Avni Institute for Art in Tel Aviv between 1997 and1999. She was based in Berlin between 2005 and 2012, since then she has lived and worked in New York. The artist is well known for her video works, theatrical pieces and drawings. In 2012, she founded the D.I.E NOW (Dance International Europe Now) dance company. She has also written five novels and three children’s books. Her works has been displayed in, amongst other places, the Ludwig Forum for International Art, Aachen (2022) the Kunstmuseum Winterthur (2020), Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (2019), Museion Bolzano (2019), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2015) and the Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2014) In 2021, Cytter was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Efroymson Family Fund, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Arts Council of Indianapolis and City of Indianapolis

Jessica Dunn: Particular Fragments
2024-04-05 - 2024-05-27 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Most of us live in a world of constant noise and overstimulation, fragmenting our own perception and memory. Information (and misinformation) overload has forever changed the human experience thanks to constant access to the Internet. Instead of living in the moment, we are constantly challenged by the temptation of filling the void with seconds-long dopamine boosts reinforced by our personal algorithms in our artificial digital worlds.

The past few years, I have felt stuck in a technological loop with the hypnotic Pavlovian itch to check notifications while absorbing more and more data for better or worse. Now more than ever, it is difficult for me to cut through the noise. I feel as though I am constantly pulled in a million directions all at once. As an artist who both loves and loathes technology, I have been examining my connection to devices and the ways I filter reality through screens. The rapid influx of information I face daily seems to blur reality, leaving me with a longing for a simpler past.

While challenging my own tech-dependency, I have been reconnecting to nostalgic devices and media from my childhood and incorporating them into my practice. The first time-based content I ever experienced and created as a child was all on film and tape – 35mm film photography, VHS, and cassettes. Lately, I have been creating cassette tape loops, filming and distorting VHS tapes, and manipulating 35mm film to produce animations. Working with these tactile processes unlocked an explosion of memories, from those more distant and abstract to others more recent and clear. For this exhibition, I present this collection of memories as “Particular Fragments.”

“Particular Fragments” invites viewers to explore themes of time, memory, and consciousness through multisensory installations incorporating video and sound. With projection mapped videos, soundscapes, and interactive art, Dunn embeds personal moments inspiring the viewer to unlock and share memories of their own.

About the Artist
Jessica Dunn (sesseka) is a multimedia artist known for her immersive, dreamlike worlds combining video, sound, and physical installations. With a scientific curiosity, she finds inspiration by investigating the natural world as well as psychological realms of consciousness. Dunn graduated from Herron School of Art + Design with a double major in painting and sculpture. Caught between 2D and 3D practices, she found her calling in 4D art including experimental animation, performance, and experiential works. With a medium-agnostic mindset, Dunn utilizes a wide variety of materials allowing the concept to drive the process. Lately, Dunn has extended her practice into filmmaking including short documentaries and narrative animations. No matter the format, Dunn’s work invites the viewer to open their perception to explore new realms of reality.

This exhibition was made possible by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Herron School of Art and Design, Arts Council of Indianapolis and the City of Indianapolis, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.

Rachel Leah Cohn: Mem
2024-04-05 - 2024-06-24 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
To walk through the installation, Mem, is to enter a myth. A kaleidoscope of the divine feminine, there are fountains of light centering the space on the painting of Miriam– one of the seven major prophetesses of Israel. Miriam carried a rock from which flowed an abundant amount of water during the 40 years Jewish people searched for a place to live in the desert. Access to this water made survival of her people possible. Smaller paintings surround her, as well as ritual objects such as papercuts and amulets.The title of Cohn’s show, Mem, is a Hebrew letter that has multiple significant meanings in the work. “I recently took a class about the complexity, flexibility, and magic within a single Hebrew letter. When searching for a title, this one letter encapsulates many ideas I have considered while working in the studio. The shape can be seen as a wave and stands for the word for water, mayim,’ and Miriam and mikveh, a ritual bath used for transformation,” Cohn said. “Mem is related to feminine energy, motherhood, and the womb, symbolizing protection, safety, and giving to others.
“The letter also represents the number 40, a mystical number that speaks to the cyclic nature of time, moving from the past to the future. It is the time necessary for something to ripen and come to fruition, which I relate to both the creative process and this moment for all of us, which felt like an unmoored time of wandering and isolation, but also rebuilding. For me, it is an optimistic title, a link between the world we see and the hidden alternatives. It is a hope for connection and transformation for the world, seen through the lens of my experiences and the character of Miriam.
”The exhibit is also a reflection of these experiences living life and traveling around the world to practice art as someone with Jewish heritage. Cohn has led an extraordinary life as an artist: traveling, teaching, living and learning in places like Qatar, Denmark, China, and others.“The show is really about me thinking through my cultural heritage and my connection to Judaism, which is something that has always been a part of my life, but I think has been increasingly for-fronted by myself, but also by others particularly while living in Qatar, and some of the experiences that I had there that are both positive and negative,” said Cohn, now based in Indianapolis. “It felt impossible for me to talk about my own culture with my students. Even though expressing my heritage wasn’t always something that was super important to me, I think the experience of working with them on representing their culture — and feeling like I needed to hide my own — made me think more about the valuing of sharing my experiences more directly.”
Cohn utilizes several different 2-D and 3-D artforms to create the exhibit, although her background is originally in painting. The forms include — but are not limited to — sculpture, painting and light manipulation. These artforms express a myriad of connecting themes and ideas within the exhibition.“I have been researching the traditional craft of papercutting and am pulling out the shapes and symbols that I’m interested in and then converting them into these laser-cut objects that I’m painting on top of,” said Cohn, who also works as the Foundations Coordinator and an Assistant Professor in Ball State University’s School of Art. “And then that’s within the idea of a fountain — which is ultimately the form of this project — that has to do with Miriam from the Torah and the well, bringing water out of the desert to survive.
”The water of this fountain is external, but also internal. Cohn enjoys finding ways to use the materials she has at-hand to make works of art, channeling inner resilience from her ancestors. And, sometimes being resourceful means finding new peers to collaborate with, wherever she is. Some of her notable works include Hot Pot Sauna Cart (2016) which was made for the Bi-City Biennale for Urbanism and Architecture in Shenzhen, China; Lantern (Abu Nakhla Mirage) (2017), made in the desert in Qatar as an experimentation with light and location; and The Thunder, Perfect Mind (2021), an exploration of light and themes in Judaism. Cohn said although she has an eclectic-to-the-eye portfolio, all of her works have connections to her upcoming exhibit.
“I think my practice — and adapting to what is there — has been a theme of my life,” Cohn said. “When I look at my work over time, I’m finding different ways to talk about the same things.”Tube Factory artspace Chief Curator Shauta Marsh met Cohn when she was a juror at Ball State in 2019. Marsh had traveled to Qatar with Tube Factory’s Mari Evans exhibit. And Cohn and Marsh talked about the otherness they’d each experienced in both the Middle East and the Midwest.“I don’t have a strong sense of identity. So often I work with artists who do,” says Marsh. “Their work processes and relates stories tied to identity that are in jeopardy of being lost. My style as a curator is not an expert but an explorer. The exhibits at Tube Factory are an exploration with both the artist and the audience. I asked Cohn to use her work to explore her identity.”
As a multi-racial curator, Marsh’s practice has centered around identity and exploration of the meaning of culture. And Cohn’s exhibition continues this path.“After thousands of years — humans are still so threatened by each other’s appearance, by what each other speaks and believes,” says Marsh. “But we know that people are more open to art than each other. My hope is that people will see the work and the story of it — and hopefully we can all work on feeling less othered, less fearful of each other.”
About the artist:
Rachel’s work is concerned with themes of communication, mythology and rituals. Projects often attempt to give a physical form to something that is ephemeral, through painting, sculpture and installation. Recently, she lived in the desert where she was building lamps simulating mirages as an analog for memory and loss. Lately her research has been focused on Jewish mysticism and protective magic. Rachel exhibits her work nationally and internationally, including ACRE Gallery (Chicago, IL), Satellite Art Fair (Miami, FL), Terrain Biennial (Springfield, IL), Massey University (New Zealand), Qatar Museums (Qatar), the Istanbul Design Biennial (Türkiye) and Aterlierhaus Salzamt (Austria). She has attended many artist residency programs, including Vermont Studio Center (VT), Signal Culture (NY), Otis College of Art and Design (CA) and the Fire Station (Qatar). She holds a BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design, an MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University and is currently Foundations Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Art for the School of Art at Ball State University in Muncie, IN.

Curator- Shauta Marsh
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ball State University’s Aspire Program, Efroymson Family Fund, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Arts Council of Indianapolis and City of Indianapolis, and the Indiana Arts Commission.
About Tube Factory: Tube Factory is a 12,000 square foot museum space curated based upon the themes of community, place, memory and mythology. They commission local, regional, national and international contemporary visual and musical artists, borrow artifact-based exhibits and create community-sourced exhibits. A previously vacant former manufacturing building, it is now a thoughtfully renovated home base for non-profit art organization Big Car Collaborative’s work as well as partnership-based community meetings and cultural events.
For more about Cohn: Check out her website at rachelleahcohn.com and on Instagram @rachelleahc

Brittany Fukushima & Dailyn Eades: SPARK
2024-04-05 18:00 - 22:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
2023 SPARK artist in residence Brittany Fukushima and Spark fellow Dailyn Eades will display a collection of work they created during their time at SPARK on the Circle in 2023.
SPARK is a partnership with Downtown Indy, the City of Indianapolis, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission — and funded by the Capital Improvements Board. It is a continuation of our work last year and in 2015 on the Circle. The SPARK on the Circle pop-up park will return in 2024.

Booth Release Launch Party
2024-04-06 18:00 - 21:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States

J Dunn & M Moskaliuk - Total Eclipse Performance
2024-04-08 13:00 - 15:30 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us for a live musical performance by Jessica Dunn and Michael Moskaliuk to commemorate the eclipse event April 8th, 2024.

NIGHTJAR: A Poetry Series
2024-04-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Third Wednesday, 7:00pm.

NIGHTJAR open mic guidelines: 317 words is the maximum length for open mic contributions. Share new writing in response to the prompt!

Prompt for April 17, 2024: Create a new poem from a line in your favorite poem or story, and then erase that line and add a new title.

Preview of featured poets:
(skipped dates TBA)

April 17 Chantel Massey
June 6: Special guest Ariana Reines
July 17: Curtis Crisler, Indiana poet laureate
September 18: Thomas Kneeland
January 15: Alessandra Lynch

NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier, Michelle Niemann, and Big Car Collaborative host a reading at the Tube factory and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.

IG: @n_i_g_h_t_j_a_r
FB page: Nightjar

Artist Talk & Walk: Jessica Dunn
2024-04-20 13:00 - 15:30 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Jessica Dunn will be at Tube Factory on April 20 at 1 p.m. to discuss her multi-sensory installation Particular Fragments.
About the Artist: Jessica Dunn is a multimedia artist known for her immersive, dreamlike worlds combining video, sound, and physical installations. With a scientific curiosity, she finds inspiration by investigating the natural world as well as psychological realms of consciousness. Dunn graduated from Herron School of Art + Design with a double major in painting and sculpture. Caught between 2D and 3D practices, she found her calling in 4D art including experimental animation, performance, and experiential works. With a medium-agnostic mindset, Dunn utilizes a wide variety of materials allowing the concept to drive the process. Lately, Dunn has extended her practice into filmmaking including short documentaries and narrative animations. No matter the format, Dunn’s work invites the viewer to open their perception to explore new realms of reality.

Intro to Grant Writing for Creatives with Reyes Ramirez
2024-04-21 13:00 - 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Are you starting to apply for grants or looking for a way to streamline the grant writing process? Join Reyes Ramirez, a recipient of grants, residencies, and fellowships for his writing and curatorial projects as he discusses best practices and tips to use when applying for grants. This workshop will focus on writing project proposal summaries and what to consider when beginning a grant, fellowship, or residency application.

Reyes Ramirez (he/him) is a Houstonian, writer, educator, curator, and organizer of Mexican and Salvadoran descent. He authored the short story collection The Book of Wanderers (2022), a 2023 Young Lions Fiction Award Finalist, from University of Arizona Press’ Camino del Sol series and the poetry collection El Rey of Gold Teeth (2023) from Hub City Press. His latest curatorial project, The Houston Artist Speaks Through Grids, explores the use of grids in contemporary Houston art, literature, history, and politics. Reyes has been honored as a 2020 CantoMundo Fellow, 2021 Interchange Artist Grant Fellow, 2022 Crosstown Arts Writer in Residence, 2023 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, 2023 Dobie Paisano Fellow, 2024 Speculative Play and Just Futurities Fellow and awarded grants from the Houston Arts Alliance, Poets & Writers, and The Warhol Foundation’s Idea Fund.

The Current State Music and Arts Festival
2024-04-27 14:00 - 20:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
The Current State Music and Arts Festival is an inspiring extravaganza that features marathon live music performances, an art sale, and more from Herron School of Art and Design students.

Hosted by Big Car Collaborative at the Tube Factory artspace, this event will feature Herron student works throughout the day including:

Live performances from music technology students
Featured art from photography, visual communication design, and sculpture/3D students
A student art sale
Talks from Tube Factory gallery exhibition artist Jessica Dunn
Herts BBQ food truck to provide the eats
Big Car’s Normal Coffee for the drinks (coffee, tea, beer, wine)
Guest DJ sets from Mark Tester and Sweater Disco

Special thanks to event sponsors Big Car Collaborative and All Good Apps.
This site will be regularly updated with a festival schedule, so keep it bookmarked!

Region Ninety: Uncensored
2024-05-03 - 2024-05-31 | Guichelaar Gallery, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Region Ninety
Group Exhibition: Twenty three artists participating from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

After Hours at Tube Factory
2024-05-03 18:00 - 22:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Tube Factory artspace and four galleries are open until 10pm.
Bay Area Bistro on site for dinner options.

Curator Conversation Series - Audra Lambert
2024-05-04 13:00 - 14:30 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
What is the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art? What are they looking for in shows from artists? Learn more about curator Audra Lambert. Why & how she came be be a curator, different exhibits she curated that she is most proud of, what she is focusing on at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and more!
Q&A to follow.
Audra Verona Lambert is a curator, arts contributor and art historian with over a decade of experience. She’s organized 60+ exhibitions in partnership with multicultural nonprofits, such as WCAPS, Upwardly Global and Fountain House Gallery, Art in Odd Places Festival, FIGMENT NYC and others. She has independently curated exhibits at the Yeshiva University Museum, Brooklyn Art Haus, and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation’s Arsenal Gallery. Her writings have featured in Texte zur Kunst, Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, The Culture Trip and more. She served as Director of Amos Eno Gallery in Brooklyn, NY from 2020-2022, and currently serves as Curator of the University of Southern Indiana’s New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art located in New Harmony, IN. Verona Lambert holds an MA, Art History and Visual Culture from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO and graduated from Undergraduate studies at both St Peters University (Jersey City, NJ) and Kansai Gaidai University (Hirakata City, Japan.)

World Collage Day
2024-05-11 12:00 - 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
World Collage Day is an annual, international celebration of collage on the Second Saturday of May. Join artists Beth Hall and Emily Scott in making collages in Indianapolis on May 11th from 12-3pm.
Some collage basics and supplies will be provided, but you are encouraged to bring materials of your own as well to contribute to the group effort! Magazines, old books, paint swatches, miscellaneous ephemera, stamps, string, and other trinkets along with glue, rubber cement, scissors, are all good items to consider bringing.
This is a free event and Normal Coffee is open with all sorts of drinks and food options.
Initiated by Kolaj Magazine in 2018, World Collage Day encourages artists and art venues to hold events on that day to celebrate collage. World Collage Day is about artists connecting across borders against a global context of entrenchment and separation. And the day is about an art medium that excels at bringing different things together to create new forms and new ways of thinking. Ric Kasini Kadour, the editor of Kolaj Magazine, writes, “We created World Collage Day because we wanted to honour this community of artists and to remind the world what a spirit of cooperation, mutual support, and creativity can look like.”

NIGHTJAR: Samantha Fain
2024-05-15 18:00 - 21:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Doors at 6 pm, reading at 7 pm
Samantha (Sam) Fain is a Best-of-the-Net and Pushcart-nominated poet from Indiana. Her debut full-length collection, Are You There, releases April 25, 2024 with Bad Betty Press. She co-edited Kiss Your Darlings: A Taylor Swift Anthology with Olney Magazine in 2022. Sam’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Indianapolis Review, A Flame Called Indiana: An Anthology of Contemporary Hoosier Writing, SWWIM, Peach Mag, 8 Poems, and Non.Plus Lit. Sam loves her family and friends, bad jokes, pop culture, the em dash, and vinyl records, deeply and in no particular order.
Open mic prompt: Write a poem inspired by your favorite song, celebrity, internet meme, or tweet. (317 words max!)
Creative takes on the prompt are fine, but challenge yourself to write something new in response to the prompt!
NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.
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Community Sound lab 1: Listening and Recording
2024-05-18 09:00 - 12:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Sound artists Rob Funkhouser and Landon Caldwell will start with a basic overview of intentional listening and field recording, and then lead participants on a sound walk through Garfield Park where everyone will get a chance to record sounds that they find to be interesting. For the second half of the workshop, there will be an opportunity for hands-on play with a modular synthesizer, as well as lessons on how to handle files, and prepare them to be used in your own personal projects.

We encourage people to come to either or both of these workshops. All ages and, all skill levels are welcome, this will be a family-friendly activity.

Hoosier Asian American Power Celebration
2024-05-29 17:30 - 19:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us as we celebrate the power of Asian American Hoosiers and their work to build a more just and equitable Indiana.
The event will take place at the Tube Factory, 1125 Cruft St., in Indianapolis on Wednesday, May 29, 5-7 p.m. and will feature a lively panel discussion with three community leaders who will explore Asian American perspectives on three issues: voting rights and civic engagement, racial equity, and gender and reproductive justice.

Ellen Wu, Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies at Indiana University – Bloomington and member of the Indiana Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights
Ami Gandhi, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Midwest Voting Rights Programs, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
Maria Douglas, Commissioner, Monroe County Women’s Commission

RSPV Here: LINK
We’ll also have food, giveaways, and opportunities to learn about Asian Americans in Indiana and Hoosier Asian American Power’s work in this critical election year.
This event is sponsored by Hoosier Asian American Power and the Big Car Collaborative.
If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Borja at email hidden; JavaScript is required or Michelle Dahl at email hidden; JavaScript is required.

Indy Gay Market
2024-06-01 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-06-02 11:00 - 15:00 | Monument Circle, 50 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, 46204, United States
To celebrate Pride, Indy Gay Market has been invited to launch Big Car Collaborative’s Spark on the Circle event series. We want to recognize the historic meaning behind setting up our grassroots pop-up market in this space especially due to its unique history for the Indianapolis community.
Some history:
“In 1984, police harassment and surveillance of gay men in Indianapolis spurred hundreds to gather at Monument Circle in a show of solidarity against discrimination. It was the first large public gathering of queer individuals in the state that some dubbed ‘The Gay Knights on the Circle.’”
This year marks the 40th anniversary of this first pride gathering and we are so proud to have Indy Gay Market occupy this space.
Event details:
We will be hosting 50 unique vendors each day the first weekend in June.
June 1st, 11:00am-3:00pm
June 2nd, 11:00am-3:00pm
1 Monument Circle
Indianapolis, IN
SPARK is a partnership with Downtown Indy @downtownindy the City of Indianapolis @indy_dmd and the Indiana War Memorials Commission – and funded by the Capital Improvements Board. It is a continuation of our work last year and in 2015 on the Circle.
At Big Car, we approach our work at the Circle as a site- and community-specific socially engaged art and creative placemaking project. The SPARK on the Circle pop-up park was collaboratively designed with Indianapolis-based Merritt Chase to be a restorative public place where people of all walks of life can relax, play, socialize, and engage with art and artists in the heart of our city.

Wake Up Wednesday
2024-06-05 09:00 - 11:00 | 1 Monument Circle, South Facing Steps, United States

Lunch Break Live Scrapper and Skelton
2024-06-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Monument Circle, 50 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, 46204, United States
Scrapper and Skelton Description: Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter Steve “Scrapper” Brown has over 55 years as a solo musician and bandleader. Blessed with a smooth baritone voice steeped in Blues/Jazz, Gospel and Funk, Brown brings a wealth of experience and versatility to the stage. He has appeared on 6 CDs including songwriting and production credits.
Blues Harmonica/Vocals Ken Skelton is a Blues enthusiast with a love for classic acoustic Blues. Skelton has received local recognition for his performances in the genre in which he hopes “not only entertains, but produces thought in the listener.
SPARK is a partnership with Downtown Indy @downtownindy the City of Indianapolis @indy_dmd and the Indiana War Memorials Commission – and funded by the Capital Improvements Board. It is a continuation of our work last year and in 2015 on the Circle.
At Big Car, we approach our work at the Circle as a site- and community-specific socially engaged art and creative placemaking project. The SPARK on the Circle pop-up park was collaboratively designed with Indianapolis-based Merritt Chase to be a restorative public place where people of all walks of life can relax, play, socialize, and engage with art and artists in the heart of our city.

Artist Workshop: Henna with Pam
2024-06-07 17:00 - 19:00 | Monument Circle, 50 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, 46204, United States
Join us today to step into the world of intricate patterns and cultural celebration with Pam, who has been doing henna for around 25 years now. Henna has been around for many centuries as a way to temporarily dye the skin for cosmetic purposes and to color the hair. At first, henna was smeared on to individuals and did not create the intricate designs made today. There are many steps needed to properly apply henna to an individual. After the henna paste is created, the henna artist transfers the paste to a narrow piping bag. The henna is then applied depending on the design. After drying, the cotton ball with lemon juice should be applied to the henna tattoo. The color that will result depends on the time the henna is kept on the skin: the longer you keep it on, the darker the color will be. After removing, the henna tattoo will remain for 7-14 days depending on personal skin and daily lifestyles.
SPARK is a partnership with Downtown Indy @downtownindy the City of Indianapolis @indy_dmd and the Indiana War Memorials Commission – and funded by the Capital Improvements Board. It is a continuation of our work last year and in 2015 on the Circle.
At Big Car, we approach our work at the Circle as a site- and community-specific socially engaged art and creative placemaking project. The SPARK on the Circle pop-up park was collaboratively designed with Indianapolis-based Merritt Chase to be a restorative public place where people of all walks of life can relax, play, socialize, and engage with art and artists in the heart of our city.

Wu-Bad Paint Junkie
2024-06-07 18:00 - 2024-06-23 15:00 | Tube Factory artspace, 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
A Garfield Park resident and artist, Wu started painting in 2012. He was walking down the street when he saw a fellow neighbor, Sharon, had a sign up on her porch that offered lessons on color theory.
By day, Wu creates specialty floor covering and concrete underlayments that he describes as “walking on artwork.” Doing this since 1977, Wu has always wanted to keep fresh, learn, and improve.
“I wanted to learn color theory,” Wu said, “so I figured, how else better than by painting? I picked up the paintbrush and put down the toolbox.”
In regards to his paintings, Wu says he does a lot of “dilly dallying,” but fell in love with work from Georgia O’Keefe and Fra Bartolomeo.
“I fell in love with Georgia O’Keefe first. So I did a lot of that, very few of my own things, but mostly stolen art from the Old Masters,” Wu said. “That’s what kind of got me started and is pushing me along. After this show, it’s the end of the chapter. I’m going to be focusing primarily only on the old masters’ work and their techniques.”
Looking at Wu’s pieces in Guichelaar Gallery, you see the span of 12 years of work. While within this body of work you might not recognize an exact replica of an O’Keefe, Wu explains that “A lot of it has been self-taught. Therefore, the techniques were not correct and it was harder to get to the end product with similar looks. They had totally different techniques. But my work progressed until finally it evolved into some good stuff.”
For the future, Wu hopes to move closer to emulating the Old Masters.
“The Old Masters, they learned from each other,” Wu said. “They had apprenticeships. So the next generation should have been better than the previous. If you go to the museums, you’ll look at their work — it could take two to three years to complete a painting. Because you’ve got a bird’s eye, you’ve got Verdi, and then you add your colors and usually only glazes, building one upon another for deeper darker colors. And man, they had to grind their own paint!”
Through painting and making work, Wu enjoys his life. “It’s a hobby,” Wu said. “Anybody can do it. I was not particularly good at drawing. I’m not particularly good at color theory. Even now, I’m still learning. Like most hobbies, everything is a continual learning experience. And sometimes you get a hit, sometimes you get a homerun.”
