Hey everyone- Artomatic is back! For those who aren't familiar with it, Artomatic is a giant arts happening. Several hundred artists take over a large, usually industrial space in the Washington DC metro area, and put up an art show for about a month. The event is entirely self-supported, so the only criteria for exhibiting are that A: you register, B: pay $50+/- (depends on location cost), and C: volunteer 15 hours of time to help run the show. You get 10-15 linear feet of wallspace to do with as you see fit - anything goes: paint it purple and hang drapes, fill the wall floor to ceiling with hundreds of photos, a single canvas that fills the entire space, freestanding sculptures, installation pieces, you name it. The show runs for about a month- this year it will be five weeks. There's a lot more information about it on the website -

www.artomatic.org

It is a terrific opportunity to express yourself the way you want. There's no jury, so you'll find your work hanging between stuff going on to the Whitney Biennial and the Armory Show, and stuff I wouldn't dignify by using it as toilet paper. The best thing about it is by having all this unfettered art in one place, at one time, you get really energized to go and do more work. You WILL see something that is radically different from what you normally do, but sparks an inspiration in you, and gives you a whole new direction to work in. I'm trying to organize some of our local APUG folks to hang a group photo show. I know I will be in it. If anyone else is interested, let me know so we can pool our spot in line to choose a space and all pick space together. Registration will open online very soon (within the next week), so go sign up on the website and get on the mailing list so you'll know when to get your spot.

From their website-

Registration for Artomatic 2007 is not yet open.

Okay, here it is: Artomatic is a go! We'll be in Crystal City from April 13 to May 20th. Details below, registration for artists opens in about a week.


START YOUR ENGINES – ARTOMATIC IS HAPPENING
Posted March 6, 2007
OFFICIAL NEWS: We’ve been waiting for all the ink on the various agreements to make the official announcement – believe it or not, we like to be official about some things! – and the news is good, good, good. Bolster up your energy reserves because Artomatic is a GO.

And just around the corner.

We will open up online registration in about a week. The website will be completely revised: in addition to registering for the event, artists will find that the site gives them more power to customize their profile – adding commentary, more images, mp3 files – sort of your own blog. Visitors will be able to browse by category, leave comments, volunteer for the event and eventually create their own profiles.

Registration and site selection will work like last time: you will register and pay online and be assigned a time to select your site in the order that you registered. All payments and registration are done online.

Now, what you need to do is twofold:
1) tell every artist and performer you know to go to www.artomatic.org today and sign up for the e-newsletter so they will get the announcement as soon as registration goes live. There is limited space and selection is on a first-come, first serve basis.

2) watch your inbox for the Artomatic At Large – Online Registration Now Open email. DON’T call or email - wait for the announcement for further info. Everything you need to know or do will be clear.

The Skinny: Two floors (the 6th and 8th floor) in the Old Patent Office Building in Crystal City - each floor is 45,000 sq. ft. and one has around 130 offices still walled in while the other one has been gutted. It is a great location and very easy to get to either by car, bus, subway or even Virginia rail. There are some great views from all the outer walls. The other cool thing about this location is that thousands and thousands of people both work and live right around this area, and it’s in Virginia – a different section of our metro area.