Collective Assembly
Bushwick Open Studios 2012 – Event Program
Arts In Bushwick
Bushwick Open Studios 2012 – Event Program
Bushwick Open Studios 2012 – Event Program
Bushwick Open Studios is a self-organized, all-volunteer art festival which takes place every June in Bushwick, Brooklyn. More than 2,500 individual participants in over 350 separate venues open their studios, share their work in group shows, perform in events, and showcase community spaces and projects.
2. The Brief: Summarize the problem you set out to solve. What was the context for the project, and what was the challenge posed to you?The purpose of the festival is to create an open and inclusive event that benefits the Bushwick community through sharing artistic projects, encouraging dialogue, and fostering community engagement throughout Bushwick and other surrounding neighborhoods. Our task was to create a visual communication system, in this case the event program, to help thousand of visitors navigate the events and venues during the festival.
3. The Intent: What point of view did you bring to the project, and were there additional criteria that you added to the brief?Collective Assembly's role in #BOS2012 was to redesign the festival's program. The resulting 88 page newsprint included a directory for over 2,500 participants, as well as a series of functional geographical maps of Bushwick. These maps, segmented by primary hubs of activity, covered over 5 square miles from East Willamburg, Bushwick to parts of Queens.
4. The Process: Describe the rigor that informed your project. (Research, ethnography, subject matter experts, materials exploration, technology, iteration, testing, etc., as applicable.) What stakeholder interests did you consider? (Audience, business, organization, labor, manufacturing, distribution, etc., as applicable)The graphic design system we created incorporated our own nature photography, captured in the woods of Portugal, in the interest of to tying the event with the origins of Bushwick, or Boswijck in 17th century Dutch, meaning "small town in the woods." We felt that the images, which could be seen as both optimistic and bleak at first glance, for that very reason projected the spirit, attitudes, and life that parallel that of this ever-evolving segment of Brooklyn, New York. The full newsprint program was printed in collaboration with our partners Linco in Long Island City (offset, 35 lb newsprint stock, black and magenta).
5. The Value: How does your project earn its keep in the world? What is its value? What is its impact? (Social, educational, economic, paradigm-shifting, sustainable, environmental, cultural, gladdening, etc.)Bushwick Open Studios, being an all-volunteer and self-organized event, proves that grassroots initiatives can achieve very ambitious goals without the help of corporate sponsors. In this segment of Brooklyn, where gentrification is very apparent, the event projected a great sense of inclusiveness, attracting participants and visitors of all ages and races.