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You know it’s serious when bad clip art gets involved.

 

Really, though. We need volunteers. Flyer distribution around Chicago neighborhoods and university campuses pre-festival, installation and artist assistance, videography, administrative, clean-up, and more. To get involved, RSVP with the call for volunteers Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/206402102837453/, and we’ll be in touch. No Facebook? Email itsa_pony! projects at itsaponyprojects@gmail.com.

Happy helping!

 

Kickstarter for 2FR 2013 has LAUNCHED, and we only have 7 days to raise $1,500! It might take a miracle. (Example miracle: 150 tribbing $10, which is pretty much your lunch money if you’re eating out in a major metropolitan area.) Last year, we managed to raise over $550 in less than thirty days. This year, we’re quadrupling the challenge. Risky, but totes possible.

Oh hey, you can even donate right now by clicking this link:

http://http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/445506472/2nd-floor-rear-2013

So while events are being finalized and details nailed down, I made this board meeting-quality timeline/chart/graph (?) because visuals are just so much easier to understand. Think of this as sneak peak #2:

Entries are in, events are confirmed, and details are forthcoming. In the meantime, here’s a little taste of what’s in store for 2nd Floor Rear 2013:

Hey folks. Proposals are rolling in and they are looking great! To give everyone a little extra time to shake off the holiday haze and get their creative juices flowing again, we decided to extend the deadline an extra week. Proposals are now due January 13, so if you have an exhibition, event, happening, installation, or whatever in mind, but haven’t had time to put it together, here’s your chance!

And for you event programmers-at-heart, if you need a little inspiration, take a look at the MCA Denver. This museum of contemporary art has some of the most offbeat social and educational events around. Check it:

MCA Denver Black Sheep Fridays

Mixed Taste

Feminism + Co.

2nd Floor Rear is back for another year!

2^nd Floor Rear is a 24-hour festival of experimental spaces, apartment galleries, and ephemeral and migrant projects, celebrating Chicago’s vibrant community of alternative and DIY art spaces.

 

A  little background:

In 1980, the Neoists, a little-known avant-garde subculture descended from Fluxus, held their first annual “International Neoist Apartment Festival,” or APT, a four-day long event complete with concerts, performances, film screenings, and installations, in the apartment of one the group’s members. Drawing on the 24-hour block party model (as with Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Mainx24 festival) 2^nd Floor Rear adapts the spirit of APT to a condensed, 24-hour timeline, with activities ongoing from noon on Saturday until noon the following Sunday.

In its 2012 iteration, 2^nd Floor Rear featured local spaces and collectives such as the Happy Collaborationists, Defibrillator, Carousel Space Project, Logan Square Comfort Station, Pop-up Art Loop, the Peanut Gallery, and the Milk Factory, as well as artists like Charles Anthony Lewis, Autumn Hayes, Chiara Galimberti, Kiam Marcelo Junio, and more. A myriad of artworks, events, and happenings from late-night studio square dancing and a dream yoga sleepover, to a guerilla sculpture garden, a site-specific installation in an underpass, and exhibition openings, with attendance in the hundreds and a shout-out from Tempest Hazel during the “Chicago’s Having a Moment” panel discussion the following May, marked 2^nd Floor Rear 2012’s staggering, unforeseen success. The festival connected artists with new audiences, gave exposure to underappreciated alternative spaces, and enlivened a dreary winter weekend at the peak of Chicago’s bleakest season.

Drawing on public enthusiasm for 2^nd Floor Rear 2012, we want to keep up the festival’s momentum this year, and improve it qualitatively and quantitatively by adding more participants, a greater range of  stuff to do and see, and a post-festival digital catalog, the 2^nd Floor Reader.

We want you!

We are currently seeking spaces, artists, curators, and programmers to host events that will take place between noon on February 9^th and noon on February 10^th.

• The festival will last a full 24 hours, meaning that there will be an event happening at any given time from noon on Saturday, February 9, to Sunday, February 10.
• Events may include, but are not limited to: pop-up galleries and exhibition openings, performances, happenings, concerts, film screenings, sing-alongs, dance parties, group yoga, feasts, storytelling, interactive performance games, Pecha Kucha, open studios, sewing circles, recovery brunch, and/or conceptual puppet shows. The imaginative, the unusual, and the radically hospitable are encouraged.
• Event locations will be restricted to the northwest neighborhoods of Chicago–specifically those near the blue line (Logan Square, Humbolt Park, Wicker Park, Ukranian Village, Bucktown, etc.) –in order to ease the strain of travel for the audience and to prevent audience dispersal. Events may take place in official alternative spaces, or they may take place in apartments, bars, storefronts, hallways, bathrooms, etc. Alternative spaces located in other neighborhoods may still participate so long as they use a pop-up space near the blue line.
• Selected participants will be required to pay a $15 fee to cover the cost of promotional materials.
• Please send a 250-word proposal describing your event and location to itsaponyprojects@gmail.com no later than January 13, our extended deadline.  Relevant images and video may accompany your proposal, but are not required.
• Questions? Comments? Email us at itsaponyprojects@gmail.com.

 

2nd Floor Rear 2012 photos are UP! Follow the link below to see the full set!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62080377@N07/sets/72157629304660203/

2nd Floor Rear officially wrapped as of noon Sunday, and the festival seems to have been a smashing success. A giant thanks to all contributers, hosters, helpers, and funders! Please see the collaborators page for a complete list of people to whom kudos are due. Also, keep an eye on this blog for soon-to-come festival photos, afterthoughts, and more.

2nd Floor Rear is underway as of now! We have two event updates from contributors. Learn more about Anthony Stepter’s Call for Artists here: http://www.callforartistsproject.com/, and the PJ Party Brunchfast here: http://itsaponyprojects.com/2012/02/03/pj-party-drop-in-brunchfast/.

2nd Floor Rear is happening TOMORROW! It goes without saying that we are excited. Our Kickstarter campaign exceeded its goal. I (festival producer) am putting together festival materials for participants, frantically writing emails, blog posts, and trying to find a photographer, all while watching the sun come up. We finalized and printed the festival map yesterday. It looks like this:

Printed maps will be available at all indoor spaces. You can also download a schedule of events: ghid 24h spate and a map: ghid 24h fata beforehand. With the exception of some outdoor installations that can only be located by happenstance, all sites will be marked with a dash of sparkly blue ribbon and perhaps some blue chalk markings, so be on the lookout for those things as you search out some of the more off-the-beaten path sites.

Some last-minute SOS’s: we are still looking for a photographer who can meet with the festival producer tonight and commit to documenting the festival from around 11am to midnight on Saturday (you will be paid!) and the itsa_pony! PJ Brunchfast needs some help running errands before/during Sunday morning, so if you would like to pitch in, or are interested in taking photos for money, please email itsa_pony! projects at itsaponyprojects@gmail.com.

See you Saturday!