Client: Landlords
Location: New York and Charlotte, NC, NY, United States
Completion date: 2024
Project Team
Facilitator and Artist
Alice Shapiro
Advisor
Gregor Hannibal
Small Business Center
Overview
Retro Metro Gratitude Tour – Digital Art Billboards. During the 1950s when television first appeared on suburban Long Island, groups of neighbors would gather outside the storefront window gazing awe-struck at the silent moving pictures on a screen. Fast forward to 2024 when I placed my billboard installation in the Theatre District of Manhattan and childhood memories came flooding back to me. This particular digital billboard was placed inside a lobby window facing outward toward the street where pedestrians could also silently view it. From there my art went to East Village, Chelsea and Hells Kitchen, and Times Square, designated as The Pedestrians’ Newsletter. I suddenly became extraordinarily grateful for having found this niche and embarked on a new direction to help uplift City folks. The Gratitude Tour was born. First leg began in Charlotte NC. Future locations are being scheduled for Orlando, Reno, Los Angekes, and then targeted for walkable cities beginning in Vermont with the theme of honoring women artist changemakers.
Goals
Self-generated and art residency grant project aimed at serving city pedestrians in urban settings to experience art at street level as disruption from apathy and handheld devices during walks. Totems are perfect for reach, impact, and interaction. Street art without property damage figured prominently in choosing the medium for display. Benefits to each community focused on relevant imagery and content. For instance, the "Taylor Swift's Shadow Is Exalted" installation placed at 188 2nd Avenue and E.12th Street in the East Village while a Coca-Cola imagery placed in a Mall where the highest percentage of consumers are Hispanic males age 19-40.
Process
Collaborations occurred with scheduling of the billboards, hiring and coordinating photographers while measurement is provided by the billboard company.
Additional Information
The Pedestrians' Newsletter phase 1 ran from January to May 2024. Phase 2 leads with a "Gratitude Tour" featuring women artist changemakers with an alphabet theme - historic and Contemporary - and first up is Frida Kahlo. Interactive elements being considered include music/sound and/or mini audio plays.