Spare Room

Spare Room was an art collective I started with a few friends and collaborators. In the beginning the purpose was to create opportunities for a more connected art discourse in our city. We threw art parties in unlikely spaces, usually vacant storefronts downtown. The parties gave artists space to show their work, and a convivial environment in which to talk about it with other people. Soon, Spare Room began creating our own work, most of which was grounded in the genre called Social Practice.

FREE BEER

In one evening Spare Room gained access to an empty Main Street storefront. As the team created the mural, we consumed beer and had an amazing time, leaving behind our refuse as documentation of the process. We consider it a redux of Tom Marioni’s FREE BEER (The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends Is the Highest Form of Art), 1970-1979.

WSPR - Spare Room Radio

Spare Room Radio was setup outside the window of my Main Street third floor walkup. Passersby were invited to send song requests via text message. We would then play their songs from speakers set on the window ledge above the street. Eventually, people from all over the world were texting WSPR, requesting songs to be played for the local passersby. We took Spare Room to Portland, OR as part of the Open Engagement art conference by Portland State University.

Life After Death

On the anniversary of Biggie Small’s death, Spare Room gained access to a vacant Main Street loft where we threw an art party in honor of Biggie’s seminal work, “Life After Death.” The album played several times, a chef made Biggie’s favorite meal, and participants reflected on the life and legacy of the Notorious BIG.

Interesting People

Spare Room gained access to a vacant Main Street storefront and held a group art show in which anyone could submit, even artists. The ask was to submit a photograph that represents an interesting person in your respective neighborhood, along with that person’s favorite song. The purpose was to push participants to take social risks and engage with someone they hadn’t but always wanted to. The photographs were installed in a single photo album at the center of the space. The songs built the playlist for the evening.

Parking Pardons

Spare Room traveled to NYC to participate in the annual Conflux Festival. During the conference, Spare Room scoured the East Village paying people’s parking tickets.

34013_689575049161_5654096_n (1).jpg — Live: A Temporary Exhibition

Spare Room accepted digital submissions and then installed them inside an AC Moore arts and crafts store, replacing the stock images that sit inside the frames for sale with images of the submissions. We replaced these images without permission in an act of benign vandalism.

Picture 2.png — Temporary Exhibition 2

For our second temporary exhibition, Spare Room accepted digital submissions that we installed on the backs of cereal boxes in a grocery story in Pittsburgh. Again, we were giving artists opportunities to show their work to new audiences and asking questions about art in society.

FRONT_FUNDRAISER copy.jpg — The People’s Art Sale

Spare Room got entrepreneurial when we realized we needed resources to make these shows happen. So we asked artists of all kinds to donate work that would be sold at this party, The People’s Art Sale. The party gave emerging artists an opportunity to show their work. Artists from as far away as South Africa and Australia mailed their work for the show. It was a packed house and an awesome night. We raised a good deal of money to keep the shows coming.