Pace Press

Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: LYNN RICKERT

For the 12th year, Current TV was a sponsor for the Art Under the Bridge Festival in DUMBO, which was held from Sept. 26 to Sept. 28. Current TV is "about what's going on in your world: all the things you and your friends are actually interested in - that you won't find on any other news site or cable TV channel." The festival itself was a lot like Current TV's mission statement - something that you won't find anywhere else.

Another organization that has taken part in this festival is the DUMBO Arts Center (DAC). DAC is a non-profit organization that was founded by artists in 1997 and since then has made it possible for "NYC's visual artists…[to] harness their town as their canvas." DUMBO is really like a canvas because art can be seen on walls, in little studios and on the sidewalks.

The Art Under the Bridge Festival is free and open to all visitors and the art is all over the streets - even in places hard to image. From time to time, art just comes out to you. The festival clearly gives art a definition. This is not typical art like Michaelangelo or Monet - this is something unusual.

According to Breda Kennedy, the Executive and Artistic Director of DAC: "This festival allows artists to act upon that impulse by providing them with a place where the inspiring, the unpredictable, the spontaneous, the weird and wonderful can still happen."

The festival offers interactive art, simultaneous projections, installation/sculpture, lobby/elevator art, project glow, water art, performance art and videos. The official program of the festival clearly lists all the exhibits, tells a bit about them and explains where they can be found. There is also a helpful map that is included. To make things even easier, there is a schedule because not all the exhibits occur at the same time. For example, the projections occur in the evening while some of the interactive art is there all day.

The festival is very easy to get to as well. The F train goes straight to York Street and Jay Street. The A and C trains also stop near DUMBO, on High Street, in Brooklyn Heights. For University students at the St George Hotel, DUMBO is a short walk from the residence hall.

Getting off the subway at York and Jay Street, all of the art is clearly visible. One of the monsters of "The Monster Project!" by Kylin O'Brien is visible right on Jay Street. The monster is painted on the side of a building. According to the program, Kylin O'Brien "worked with school children from P.S. 8" to create monsters "to serve as guardians and commentary on our collective fears."

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