SPRING 2012 FORUMS:
Hosted at Crossing Art Gallery

January 21, 2012, 2:00 - 4:00 PM

WIP -Works In Progress
(Registration deadline: Wednesday, January 18th, Midnight)

QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development, invites artists to participate in WIP –Works In Progress, the first A-Lab Forum of 2012. The January program is an open call to artists interested in presenting and discussing their work(s) in progress, unfinished project(s) and / or ideas they might be struggling to realize. The A-Lab Forum: WIP will function as a peer-counseling-advisory session for all participating and attending artists. No judges. No curators. No censorship. No selection process. All formats apply, and artists using various media (painting, sculpture, video, illustration, photography, digital arts, multimedia, installation, mixed media, and performance art.) are encouraged to apply.

To participate choose one registration format:
- E-mail up to 5 digital images.
- Provide the link for 2 videos in Youtube or Vimeo.
- Come with your sketch book, bring your painting or visual work.
- Be ready to show an excerpt of your performance or reading.

NOTE: All participants, regardless of the type of submission, must register online alab.forum@gmail.com by Wednesday, January 18th, midnight.

FALL 2011 FORUMS:
Hosted at Crossing Art Gallery

December 10, 2011, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
ARTE UTIL
This month’s forum centers around the works of artists whose practice involves social and political engagement.  Through actions, performances, situations, and in may instances the reference to the object(s) , participating artists explore possible ways to bridge the gap between audiences and art experience.  Taking as departure the notion of Arte Util (Useful Art), first introduced in the 1960’s , the forum will open the dialogue to offer a possible re-formulation of  ideas behind artistic creation, aesthetics, alternative narratives, and public participation. Selected artists were invited to present their work and share their approach, ideas and experimentation with art that can found in the streets outside the white box of a gallery or museum setting.

November 19, 2011, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
PORTRAITURE
A-Lab Forum in November focuses on notions of Photo Portraiture, their meaning and mythology in the actual context of digital production. In addition, the program explores questions pertaining to the nature of portraiture as object of art, documentation of a lucrative reality or as a simple expression of the photographed subject. Selected and invited artists / photographers explore and use Portraiture as testimony of contemporary art practice  or representation of a socio-historical moment. Many of the works originate as individual explorations while others are part of a body of work.

SPRING 2011 FORUMS:
Hosted at Crossing Art Gallery

May 14, 2011, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
ARSPoetica
This month's forum marks the first anniversary of the monthly program. ARSPoetica explores the written word and the manner in which artists integrate text narratives into their works. In addition, ARSPoetica deals with the appropriation of space to communicate ideas through various forms written narratives, design and collaboration. Participating artists use text, writing systems, and the word to enhance, challenge, and innovate the visual arts.

Participating Artists:
Andrew Baron
Hector Canonge
Nicholas Fraser
Carla Lobmier
Christina Stahr

April 9, 2011, 2:00 - 4 :00 PM
GeekART
April's forum focuses on artists whose work bridges the gap between technology and art. GeekART treats the influence of that scientific innovation has in the development of art, its various practices and modalities. Participating artists explore, work, and utilize information technologies, software, robotics, the Internet, computational technology, physical computing, interactive environments, gaming and/or new media tools. Artist, performers or a techno-lover whose work has been called or considered «geeky», «brainy» or «out there» are invited to attend and contribute to the forum.

Participating Artists:
Carlos Azolas
Heidi Boisvert
Eric Forman
Ted Hayes
Raphaela Riepl

March 19, 2011, 2:00 – 4:00 PM
FANTASIA
This month's forum focuses on notions of the fantastic, the imaginary, and the surreal (re)presented in visual and performative arts. Selected works explore themes around the uncanny as an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being strange or fantastic. Participating artists using various media (painting, sculpture, video, illustration, photography, digital arts, multimedia, installation, mixed media, and performance art.) explore notions of “magical realism,” “phantasmagoria,” and/or the “supernatural” where distortions of the real –human or environmental- are referenced and used.

Participating Artists:
Carmen Einfinger
Anthony Gonzalez
Eva Nikolova
Carol Radsprecher
Jason Villegas

Networked Presentation (Los Angeles):
Maya Erdelyi-Perez

Participating Artists:
Anne Finkelsten
Samwell Freeman
Stephen Gerberich
Tim Goldman
Caitlin Masley

Participating Artists:
Alta Berri
Felipe Galindo
Norma Marquez Orozco
J Carlos Pinto
Patricio Robayo

SPRING 2010 FORUMS:
Hosted at Crossing Art Gallery

April 17th, 2010, 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Fracture
The first A-Lab Forum focuses on the idea of "FRACTURE" in terms of breaking artistic boundaries, splitting from traditional practices of presenting art work, and how artists have been able to address changes in their practice, brake from the norms of their medium, change their methods of experimentation, disrupt form and content, and last, but not least, how their works have undergone a transformation from established rules or order. Participating artists approached this month’s topic creatively as they reflected on how their practice and works question issues related to contemporary art market trends and norms that perhaps need to be fractures or ruptured. Facilitated by Hector Canonge.

Participating Artists:
Melissa Calderon
Katarina Jerinic
Antonio Ortuño
Risa Puno
Ryan Roa

Carlos Azolas is an architect license in Chile living in New York since 2001. He holds a MsAAD from Columbia University after he graduate in 2004 cofounded Singularity Studio,  a multi-disciplinary Design Studio dedicated to investigating new relationship between kinetic space and inhabitant. It focuses on Kinetic Architecture with Non-Traditional Origami to create space that is not subject to a static history or static future. Kinetic Architecture will allow the creation of a space that will alter its shape/space depending on the physical and psychological needs, not only of its inhabitants, but also of the general needs of the environment it occupies.

More information:  www.singularitystudio.com

Ida C. Benedetto is a New York based photographer, artist and media strategist. She works with visual media and digital technology to support storytelling, collaboration and diversity. Her art vacillates between observational documentation and community specific adaptations of visuals and first person narratives. Most recently, she managed and taught a film collective of AIDS orphans in Ethiopia thanks to a Fulbright grant. The 10 month grant afforded Ida many opportunities to teach. She was contracted by Internews and The Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Center to teach production workshops in video and photography. As a media strategist, Ida has worked with design studios to create exhibitions for museums and digital marketing campaigns for some of America’s largest corporations. She graduated from The New School University’s dual degree program with a BFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design and a BA in History from Eugene Lang College.

More information: www.idaimages.com

Heidi Boisvert is a new media artist, experimental filmmaker, writer and educator.  She is currently the Multi-Media Director at Breakthrough.  She designed the first 3D social change game, ICED: I Can End Deportation, about unfair U.S. immigration policies. Prior to joining Breakthrough, Heidi taught Digital Media & Media Studies at Hunter College, and launched a free digital media program for low income youth through Time Warner & NOAA funding.  Most recently, Heidi founded and serves as the Creative Director of the futurePerfect lab, a boutique creative agency that works in partnership with non-profits to engineer their social messages for mass appeal through imaginative and playful applications of integrated media and emerging technology.  Her latest initiative, America 2049, an alternative reality game on Facebook about pluralism is garnering headline attention. Her art work has been exhibited in the U.S., Canada, Korea & Europe.

More information: www.heidiboisvert.com

Tania Bruguera's work researches ways in which Art can be applied to the everyday political life; creating a public forum to debate ideas shown in their state of contradictions and focusing on the transformation of the condition of “viewer” onto one of “citizenry.” Bruguera uses the terms ARTE DE CONDUCTA (conduct/ behavior art) and ARTE UTIL (useful art) to define her practice. Bruguera has participated in Documenta, Performa, Venice, Gwangju and Havana Biennales and at exhibitions at mayor museums in Europe and United States including the Tate Modern, The WhitechapelGallery, PS1, ZKM, IVAM, Kunsthalle Wien, and The New Museum of Contemporary Art. Her work is part of the collection of the Tate Modern; Museum für Moderne Kunst; Daros Foundation; Museo del Barrio; Bronx Museum; IVAM; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam.

More information: www.taniabruguera.com

Hector Canonge incorporates the use of various media, commercial technologies, physical environments, cinematic, and performance narratives. Based on notions of geographies, identity, gender roles, image appropriation, and the politics of migration, he explores contemporary issues affecting diverse communities in New York City. He has been selected as an artist in residence for LMCC 2011 Swing Space at Governor’s Island, and is the recipient of NoMAA's 2011 Regrant Program Award. His work has been featured by the Queens Museum of Art, Jersey City Museum, Bronx Museum, NY Studio Gallery, Flux Factory, Exit Art, Gallery Aferro, Topaz Arts, Y Gallery, Art for Change, and other art spaces in the city and abroad. His work has been reviewed by the The New York Times, ART FORUM, New York Daily News, Manhattan Times, Hispanic Magazino, El Diario, and by online publications such as NYRemezcla, Turbulence, and ART CARDS Review among others.

More information: www.hectorcanonge.net

Matthew de Leon performs characters that are manifestations of his own psychology, imagination, failures, and triumphs. They often deal with issues of sexuality, gender, misfits, and imagination. Matthew was born in NY in 1984. In 3rd grade he won a blue ribbon for a bike safety drawing. In 2006 he earned a BFA in Communication Design from the University of Connecticut. In 2009 he earned his MFA in Fine Arts at Parsons. His work has been shown in group shows at The Pulse Art Fair, Gallery 151, CINEMAROSA, and The Kitchen. He now works at HERE in Soho and is a member of the Gowanus Studio Space, Brooklyn.

More information:www.matthewdeleon.com

Conceptual artist Susan C. Dessel lives and works in Manhattan and Long Island City. She left a successful corporate career in 1998 to study Studio Art at the City University of NY (BFA Hunter College, 2003, MFA Brooklyn College, 2006). Her work has been exhibited in the U.S., London, Prague, & Yerevan, Armenia. Dessel’s experiences with censorship encouraged her to continue to develop her voice & visual vocabulary. Her professional and personal involvements have been marked by efforts to effect social change. Her work reflects the fundamental dignity of individuals and suggests societal issues as universal and particular, individual and collective. Dessel’s art as an extension of the artist –herself- encourages viewers to consider their own role in transforming the community -local and global- through their actions and inaction.

More information: www.desselstudio.net

Carmen Einfinger’s work evolves directly from her highly particular origins, upbringing, and life experience. She was born in Great Britain to Dutch and Croatian parents, grew up in Brasil, and has been living in New York since 1990. Carmen Einfinger’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in China, Czechoslovakia, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Taiwan, Turkey, Albania, Poland and U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Dallas, Los Angeles, Lake Charles, Biloxi and New York. My work is represented in many private collections.

More information: www.carmeneinfinger.com

A native New Yorker, Maya Erdelyi-Perez currently lives near CalArts where she is getting her MFA in Experimental Animation. In June 2006, Maya completed her Master’s degree in Art and Education at Harvard University. After studying fine art and film at the Cooper Union and Hunter College in NYC in 2001, she left for Europe on a yearlong exploration, first studying ice sculpture in the Arctic and then went on to winning artist residencies in Paris and Amsterdam. Later she studied in India and Nepal, was a year-long artist-in-residence at a high school in New Mexico, and taught printmaking at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC) in 2006. She has been featured in magazines internationally and has sold her work in Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, New York, and Iceland. Her animations have been screened in festivals in Europe and the US and recently won the Museum’s choice award at the international cut paper film festival at the Museum for Art and Design in NYC. Upcoming shows include The Big Screen Project in NYC, and group shows in NY and Hawaii.

More information: www.mayaerdelyi.com

Anne Finkelsten lives and works in New York City, which is also her subject matter. The goal of her artwork is to combine images from disparate viewpoints into a harmonious whole. Her photomontages start with digital photographs. They reflect a mental landscape — the ability of the mind to hold many images simultaneously and blend them together seamlessly. She uses the computer to make transitions between images, and creates images which are more than a representation of what the world looks like. Her compositions lead the viewer on a journey which triggers memories of the experience of perception, including the contradictions between what we actually see, what we know, and what we remember.

More information: www.annefinkelstein.com

Eric Forman is a New York-based artist working with interactive sculpture, robotics, and responsive installations. His work crosses boundaries between fine art and design, combining the subversive and the functional.  Eric is currently an Adjunct Professor in the graduate Digital+Media department at RISD, and soon at SVA's new Interaction Design MFA program.  He also teaches at Pratt, MICA, and the School of Architecture at Columbia University.  He received his Masters in 2002 from ITP at Tisch School of the Arts (NYU), and his B.A. from Vassar College in 1995 where he developed his own interdisciplinary program called The Philosophical Ramifications of Computer Technology.  Eric also runs Klank Studios, a technology consultancy providing over 20 years of experience with new media, and is the co-founder of BioArt New York, a collective pairing artists and scientists for unusual collaborations.  And he likes to ride a bike.

More information: www.ericforman.com

Samwell Freeman works with electricity. He seeks a starry synthesis of the mysterious speedy electron and the soft slow human. Studying obsolete technology Freeman explores our potential lives as elderly cyborgs. His strange electric questions have been exhibited in all five boroughs of New York City, as well as Oaxaca, Mexico and Paris, France. Always interactive his work takes shape as installations, videos, performances, interventions, drawings, and conversations.

More information: www.welike2draw.com/samwell

Anthony Gonzalez is an artist/illustrator whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Daily News and The Nation. He has executed two murals for New York Presbyterian Hospital, and has been in numerous exhibitions, including group shows at The Cork Gallery (Lincoln Center) and a one man show of political drawings at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. He is the only person to have been awarded an Edward G. McDowell Travel Grant with a portfolio submission consisting exclusively of drawings.

More information: www.anthonygonzalez.com

Lawrence Graham Brown is a self educated multi media artist, wrestling within the constructs of race, class, religion, and identity. His work explores themes of Black-ness, African-ness, Jamaican-ness, Gay-ness while forging his life experience as a working class immigrant. He describes himself as a “Ras-Pan-Afro-Homo-Sapien” man in the new world, performing a self denying role. His work has been shown at the Museo del Barrio NY, National Gallery of Jamaica, Institute of Jamaica Museum of Ethnography, New York University international small works show -recipient of the jurors award, Shanghai Biennial, Beijing Biennial, China, and Real Artways, Connecticut. Solo shows: University of the West Indies, Jamaica WI and Lutz Rohs Gallery Duren, Germany. His work has been reviewed by the New York Times, Hartford Advocate, Jamaica Gleaner, The Hartford Guardian, Duren Im blick; Duren Germany.

Originally hailing from Indiana, Tim Goldman earned a BFA in graphic design at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. Tim began his career as designer and then Art Director in Chicago and then New York City. Currently he works as a freelance illustrator and designer, and has worked with a diverse list of clients such as the Wall Street Journal, NBA/WNBA, Sylvan Learning, Disney and Scholastic.

More information: www.timgoldman.com

Ted Hayes is a poet-inventor: conceiving objects and experiences that explore the sublime and the enigmatic through recombination and deconstruction.  He is a proponent of what he has dubbed “Research Art,” or art as science experiment: a work driven by questions, but without obvious conclusions, that raises new questions while enveloping and engaging the audience. Ted’s works range from a group of language-inventing robots to a mythological city-founding ritual for soprano and string quartet, is a graduate of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, and is recently the recipient of a New Radio and Performing Arts commission.

More information: www.tedbot.com

Sculptor Michelle Jaffé has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in many solo and group shows, including a Solo show this past spring at Susan Berko Conde Gallery in Chelsea. She is the recipient of numerous grants from NYSCA, NYFA, The Queens Council on the Arts, & awards to the MacDowell Colony, Djerassi, and she was Artist-in Residence to the Computer Music Department at Brooklyn College. An extensive body of her design work is in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Fashion Institute of Technology and the Museé de la Mode et du Costume in Paris, France.

More information: www.michellejaffearts.com

Caitlin Masley has exhibited nationally and internationally since 2000. She has had solo exhibitions and projects in Berlin, Geneva, Croatia, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen, Salford, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Quebec and New York. Masley has also been awarded an Emerging Artist Award from Socrates Sculpture Park in NYC (2002), LMCC Swing Space residency and grant (2007), Pollock-Krasner grant (2007), Puffin Foundation Grant (2010) as well as being artist in residence at Kunstverein Salzburg, Austria (2004); Schinkel-Progressive Residency in Berlin, Germany (2005); Ladmoen Kunstnerverksteder in Trondheim, Norway (2006) Künstlerwohnung Chretzeturm, Stein am Rhein, Switzerland, Action Art Actuel, Centre d¹Artistes Autogere Residency, Quebec (2009), Abrons Art Center at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City (2009-10) and currently at Triangle Arts (2010-2011) plus the Manhattan Graphics Printshop in the Spring 2011. Masley's work has been published in Review Urbanism, Cabinet Magazine and New Yorker Magazine among others.

More information: www.caitlinmasley.com

Raphaela Riepl is an austrian artist, 25, currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Next to my own work as an artist, I'm working in the non-profit gallery OPEN SOURCE Gallery. I do installations using found and cheap materials, in a combination with lights and electronics. For the last years light has played an important role in my work. By using it as an luminous color, it may be associated with natural lights appearing in nature and artificial lights used in urban environments.

More information: www.raphaela.cc

Carol Radsprecher was born and still resides in Brooklyn, New York. She received her MFA in painting from Hunter College in 1988. Her work has appeared in several solo exhibitions and numerous group shows. She has received several awards for her work and has paintings in many private collections. Reproductions of her work have appeared (in print and online) in literary and art publications. A restless artist, Carol has explored both representational and abstract ways of painting (her present work combines both elements). She is also a burgeoning Photoshopper.

More information: www.caroolrads.neoimages.net

Jason Villegas currently resides in Astoria, NY and creates artwork in New York’s financial district, as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s workspace studio residency.   Jason earned his BFA in his hometown at the University of Houston and traveled to the northeast in 2005 to acquire his MFA at the Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.  Villegas melds animal, machine, luxury, cosmology, microbiology, evolution, and globalism into an absurd and engaging mythology of consumption.  Aside from fine art exhibition and art education, Jason also creates clothing, comic books, plush toys, functional/ decorative crafts and DIY interior design.  His work has been published in Art in America, Art Lies and the LA Times and exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, Phoenix Art Museum, El Museo Del Barrio, Museo Tamayo and Exit Art.

More information: www.jasonvillegas.com