ArtHERE is a platform for crowd-sourced urban revitalization through the matching of ART and PLACE.

ARTHERE SILICON VALLEY

In a joint effort to highlight creative place making solutions, ZERO1 and the San Jose Public Art Program co-commissioned Bay Area based artists and community activists, ArtHERE, to launch ArtHERE SiliconValley. This new initiative has been developed in partnership with the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA); UCSC OpenLab; and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Dean Yager’s Research Initiative Fund and Arts Dean’s Excellence Fund at the University of California Santa Cruz.

The inspiration for “ArtHERE” was developed at the 2011 GAFFTA Summer of Smart Hackathon with the desire to create an online tool enabling city communities and artists to activate empty and under-utilized urban spaces – therefore enabling local communities to curate and actively transform their own neighborhoods. ArtHERE is launching the project pilot ArtHERE:SiliconValley throughout the Bay Area as part of the 2012 ZERO1 Biennial, with a specific focus on San Jose’s SoFA arts district – the hub of the Biennial. ZERO1 has worked with the local community, businesses and arts organizations to make a series of spaces available that range from storefront windows and building facades, to outdoor projections and park-lets.

Artists are now invited to temporarily animate these spaces (leaving no trace afterward) with site-specific installations in response to the 2012 ZERO1 Biennial thematic Seeking Silicon Valley. The goal is to use the architecture of the district as a canvas and effectively connect pathways between local businesses and organizations through vibrant and interactive artworks that reflect the creativity and innovation that Silicon Valley is known for. Details of each space are listed individually as open calls.[text=left][/text]