Brooklyn’s art and music fans braved three days of sweltering 90 degree heat to navigate Bushwick’s asphalt jungle of more than 150 art studio lofts, music sets, and performances this past weekend during the second annual Bushwick Open Studios festival.
This year’s program featured the grand opening of several studios including Factory Fresh’s Skewville solo show (1053 Flushing Avene) and Nuevo Estillo Unisex (108 Central Avenue) as well as strong group shows at Ad Hoc Art (49 Bogart), Norte Maar (83 Wyckoff), Nutroaster Studio featuring Mighty Tanaka (120 Ingraham St.) and Palmetto AIR (130 Palmetto).
In addition to the art studios, BOS fans took in a circus-aerial silks performance at Ruby Streak Trapeze Studios, cut a hit record with the band Pass Kontrol at Smooth Tony D Studios, took an Interactive History Walk with Adam Schwartz, caught some short films at Lumenhouse and Space Space, roasted marshmallows at Harrison Space, and rocked out for eight hours at the BOS Music Festival hosted by Goodbye Blue Monday.
The most talked about event was easily Monduna’s BOS 08 Kickoff Party held at the Department of Public Works (330 Melrose Street). Inspired by Lily Maase’s avant garde jazz performances and her collaborations with visual artists, the third iteration of the 3-D graphic novel drew almost a thousand guests to Maase’s Melrose Street rooftop early into Saturday morning. Guests wore black and white clothing and masks for the costumed party as various couples made out on dark corners of the rooftop while a group of onlookers tied up the graphic novel’s protagonist Kapper Meister Eisler to a metal pole with string and tinfoil.
Other highlights of visual art included Andrew Hurst’s concert-inspired collage posters, Anitra Haendel’s wall-sized skeleton mural, the Summer Home Group Show featuring Maggie Pounds, Graham Coreil Allen, and Lynnea Solberg, Ann Oren’s trippy video installation, Matt Sykes’ Werd Inc. skateboard factory, Tyrome Tripoli’s woodworking exhibit, Andrew Robinson’s ceramics and mixed media works, and Judith Supine’s pink and purple psychedelic collages.
For more information about the festival and a look at the weekend’s photos, visit www.artsinbushwick.org.
