DC's Artomatic for 2009

Artomatic is a big "arts festival," a temporary exhibition put on by over 1,000 visual artists and 600 performing artists. So it's "play" for non-artists like me to consume, and a venue and place for artists to connect and build community.

This year, the 10th, Artomatic is at:

55 M Street, S.E. (at the corner with Half Street), Washington, DC 20003
Immediately abutting the Navy Yard green line station's Ballpark exit

It opened yesterday and remains open til July 5, 2009

Fridays and Saturdays: Noon – 1 a.m. (except for special events. See calendar).
Sun, Wed & Thu: Noon – 10 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

Yesterday was the media opening, most of the speakers were namby-pamby, except for Derek Chilcott, Deputy Chief of Mission for the British Embassy, who spoke about the creative industries and their role in culture and economic development and DC's participation with glassmakers in one of the city's sister cities, Sunderland, England. In return 38 artists, including blown-glass and warm-glass artists, 2-D artists, and two bands from Sunderland will be participating in Artomatic this year.

Within the next couple days I will be writing a cutting cultural studies interpretation of Artomatic in the context of "strong real estate markets, unnaturally occuring arts districts, and the exchange value of the arts and culture" but despite that, at least on the three floors of exhibits I managed to get to yesterday, I think that there is a fair amount of interesting work for you to go and see, along with performances and other activities.



Sam Vasfi, Artomatic 2009.

Note that my interest in art tends to the representational especially photographs of urban things so you might end up having a diferent experience.

There are 8 floors of art and happenings, plus a ground floor music space.

Each artist gets a small section of space, about 10 feet, to exhibit their work.


Half Street and M Street SE, looking southwest.

Plus, it's damn cool, especially during the day, to go just for being able to take photos out of the various windows, which because of the fact that M Street SE isn't fully developed, you can actually see some interesting stuff right now, that in a few years you won't be able to--if you would otherwise be able to get access to the building.

Crystal City, Arlington County, Virginia, in the distance.


This parking lot thing must be what this guy (see "His Simple Business Model: The Ladder" from the Post) is paying $25,000/month in rent.