Presented by the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District
GARDEN PARTY SPONSOR
June 13, 2014 – July 27, 2014
SCULPTURE IN THE STREETS SPONSORS
Play Me, I’m Yours An International Touring Artwork Designed by British Artist Luke Jerram
Public Art Exhibition & Walking Tour Albany, new york
HONORARY COMMITTEE Mr. and Mrs. Mark L. Aronowitz • Hon. Neil D. Breslin Bryant Cassella • Steve & Jean Cleary • Mr. & Mrs. James & Lena Hart Tricia & Mark Holtzman • Janet Kaplan • 41 State | Laberge Family Hon. Carolyn McLaughlin • Felton McLaughlin & Anna Taaffe Kate Otis • Marc & Melissa Paquin • Marcus & Cindy Pryor Dominick & Carolyn Purnomo • Mr. & Mrs. Richard A. Rosen Brad Rosenstein • Joann Ryan • Hon. Darius Shahinfar & Noelle Kinsch Hon. Kathy M. Sheehan, Mayor • Spiral Design Studio Mr. I. David Swawite • Edward Swyer SCULPTURE IN THE STREETS SELECTION COMMITTEE Samson Contompasis • Harold Lohner • Richard Lovrich Fabienne Powell • Kris Sigsby • Georgette Steffens Special thanks to Burkins & Foley • Capitalize Albany Corporation • City of Albany Empire Wine • The Enchanted Florist • Galesi Group Larry Hilton • inVision Studios • Mazzone Hospitality • Total Events, LLC
40 N Pearl, Suite 1 | Albany, NY 12207 www.downtownalbany.org | 518.465.2143
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H. Chordless Swiss Piano ARTIST: Peter Leue LOCATION: Downtown Albany BID, 40 N Pearl St SPONSOR: Downtown Albany Business Improvement District START HERE to pick up a walking tour map. 1. Minuegg in G ARTIST: Ruby Silvious LOCATION: Ten Eyck Plaza, 40 N Pearl St SPONSOR: Downtown Albany Business Improvement District 2. Music in the Garden ARTIST: Elaine Wilson LOCATION: Academy Park, Eagle St near City Hall SPONSOR: The Swyer Companies 3. Rhapsody in Bloom ARTIST: Jessyka Neitzel LOCATION: 39 N Pearl St SPONSOR: KPMG
4. Singing Piano ARTIST: Peter Leue LOCATION: Capital Repertory Theatre, 111 N Pearl St SPONSOR: Kivort Steel
5. Park & Play ARTISTS: First Church in Albany LOCATION: First Church Park, 110 N Pearl St SPONSOR: City of Albany 6. The Keys to Success ARTIST: Sarah Holub Schrom LOCATION: Clinton Square, Clinton Ave and N Pearl St SPONSOR: Palace Theater 7. Music of Monet ARTIST: Heidi Schuman LOCATION: Federal Park Plaza, Clinton Ave between N Pearl St and Broadway SPONSOR: Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown Albany 8. Ghost City ARTIST: Samson Contompasis LOCATION: Tricentennial Park, Broadway between Columbia and Steuben Sts SPONSOR: Columbia Development Companies 9. Holly Golightly’s Piano ARTIST: Denise Poutre LOCATION: Hudson River Way Pedestrian Bridge, Broadway and Maiden Lane SPONSOR: Stewart’s Shops
10. Let’s Paint the Town Red ARTISTS: Mitchell Biernacki and Tony Iadicicco LOCATION: SUNY Plaza, 353 Broadway SPONSOR: O’Connell & Aronowitz 11. Somos el Futuro ARTIST: Bob Anderson LOCATION: Omni Plaza, 30 S Pearl St SPONSOR: Omni Development Company, Inc. 12. Spiritual Street ARTIST: Vincent Tocco LOCATION: Times Union Center, 51 S Pearl St SPONSOR: Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP 13. Shine ARTIST: William (Rico) Butler, Jr. LOCATION: Albany Coliseum, 153 S Pearl St SPONSOR: Downtown Albany Business Improvement District
PHOTOS: © Bob Anderson | artgeekstudio.com
PUBLIC ART IN DOWNTOWN ALBANY “Arts and culture are what make a city fall in love with itself,” community and economic development consultant Peter Kageyama once wrote. As a way to engage the public to live, work, visit, and recreate in our thriving Downtown community, the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District (BID) organizes the Sculpture in the Streets program as an annual attraction. Each year a unique art installation, using downtown Albany’s landscape as the backdrop, is developed through the support and assistance of countless sponsors and volunteers. The free open-air exhibit will run for seven weeks encouraging the public to experience Albany’s vibrant Capital culture first-hand. Over the years the Sculpture in the Streets program has hosted works by the late American Kinetic Sculptor George Rickey, J. Seward Johnson, and other international, national and regional artists. The 2014 exhibit Play Me, I’m Yours, an international touring artwork designed by British artist Luke Jerram, invites the public to engage with, activate and take ownership of their urban environment. We welcome residents, Downtown employees, and visitors to enjoy this year’s exhibit, experiencing public art in unexpected places. For more information on this exhibit visit pianosalbanyny.com or downtownalbany.org.
© Bob Anderson | artgeekstudio.com
Play Me, I’m Yours The Downtown Albany Business Improvement District (BID) in partnership with the City of Albany presents Play Me, I’m Yours, an international touring artwork devised by British artist Luke Jerram. The outdoor display hosts 13 pianos for the public to engage with at different locations throughout downtown Albany’s business and entertainment corridors from June 13, 2014 through July 27, 2014. The free Albany exhibit features local artists who created original artwork on the pianos intended to reach an audience of close to 10,000 during the lifespan of the exhibit. “In other cities, we have located pianos in public parks, bus shelters and train stations, markets and even ferries – places where the pianos are available for any member of the public to play and enjoy,” stated Jerram. “Who plays them and how long they remain on the streets is up to each community, but the greater idea is that the exhibit creates a place of exchange inviting the public to engage with, activate and take ownership of their urban environment.” Touring internationally since 2008, Play Me, I’m Yours has been welcomed worldwide with more than 1,300 pianos installed in 46 cities across the globe, from New York to London, bearing the simple instruction Play Me, I’m Yours. The project has reached more than six million people worldwide, with each new city that commissions the work becoming part of a growing legacy. Albany, New York is currently the only city in the United States scheduled to host the exhibit in 2014. Most recently the exhibit was in cities such as Boston, Cleveland, and Lima and just opened in Luxembourg and Geneva, Switzerland. “The idea for Play Me, I’m Yours came from visiting my local launderette,” explains Luke Jerram. “I saw the same people there each weekend and yet no one talked to one another. I suddenly realized that within a city, there must be hundreds of these invisible communities, regularly spending time with one another in silence. Placing a piano into the space was my solution to this problem, acting as a catalyst for conversation and changing the dynamics of a space.” News of the project spread internationally and since then, the artwork has toured the world, acting as a high profile event for many organizations, including the Pan Am Games, 2010 European Capital of Culture in Pecs, LA Chamber Orchestra, San Jose Biennial, Sydney Festival, and City of London Festival to name a few.
View this piano and obtain a walking tour map at the Downtown Albany BID office located at 40 N Pearl St.
SHARE YOUR PHOTOS AND VIDEOS pianosalbanyny.com #pianosalbanyny Altering peoples’ negotiation of their city, Street Pianos are designed to provoke people into engaging, activating and claiming ownership of their urban landscape. Like a musical equivalent of Facebook, Street Pianos, together with this website, provide an interconnected resource for the public to express themselves. You are invited to upload and share your films, photos and stories of your interaction with the pianos at pianosalbanyny.com. This website is a legacy of the exhibit, providing a means for you to communicate with one another on a local level, but also within an international arena with people from all over the world. The website also connects the different host communities, providing maps of each city’s piano locations and promoting special events. All content is created and uploaded by the public.