IMPRACTICAL SPACES HOUSTON LAUNCHES APRIL 24, AT 2 PM CT AT THE ORANGE SHOW

“Impractical Spaces: Houston’ places our city’s art community in the context of a nationally-distributed series of books (and eventual anthology) examining the significance of historic alternative art spaces in cities outside the glare of New York and Los Angeles. Through a collection of descriptive entries, photographs, and ephemera provided by founding members of such spaces, the history of Houston’s alternative art scene is documented, preserved, celebrated, and shared.

This free book release event features a talk by series editor Paddy Johnson (New York City) and a group conversation by contributing organizers led by local project coordinator (and Orange Show curator) Pete Gershon. This project has been made possible by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, the John and Stephanie Smither Visionary Fund, and by Jeff Beauchamp. Impractical Spaces: Houston is a sponsored project of Fresh Arts, a non-profit arts service organization.

Paddy Johnson is the founder of VVrkshop, a company that helps artists get the shows, grants, and residencies of their dreams. She is the editor of the forthcoming book Impractical Spaces and the co-founder of the collaborative national publishing project Impractical Spaces (2017-present.) She is the founding editor of the contemporary art blog Art F City (2005-2018), and co-founder of the Queens public art program PARADE (2018-2019). Johnson was the first recipient of the Arts Writers Grant for blogging in 2008, and a two-time nominee for Best Critic at the Rob Pruitt Awards in 2009 and 2010. She won the Village Voice Web Award for best Art Blog in 2010 and in 2011. Johnson has contributed to The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Economist, CNN, VICE, Gizmodo, Observer, Frieze Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Art Newspaper, and Hyperallergic. She was a columnist for Artnet, The L Magazine, and Art in America. Lecturing across the country, Johnson’s talks take place at venues such as Yale, The Chicago Art Institute, Rutgers, Columbia University, The Museum of Fort Worth, the De La Cruz Foundation and the SXSW conference.

A book and publication project that charts the significance of the artist-run scene in fifty cities and fifty states.

IMPRACTICAL SPACES is a collaborative national project and groundbreaking anthology of publications that offers a historical look at defunct and active artist-run projects throughout the United States. To build this anthology, we partner with artists, arts professionals, and non-profits in states across the nation to produce publications documenting their local art scenes, and bring them together in the form of a book to demonstrate their overall impact. It is the first project to comprehensively chart the development of these spaces on a national scale. 

Impractical Spaces’ advocacy for artist-run projects begins the work of building humane infrastructure for art across the country. We believe in creating meaningful support systems that ensure that the work we all feel compelled to do isn’t lost and forgotten as quickly as it is made.

OUR PUBLICATIONS SHOW THE DIVERSITY OF ART MAKING ACROSS THE NATION.

While each city individually defines the scope of the project, our partners apply a broad lens in defining “artist-run” for the purpose of creating more comprehensive documentation and inclusive representation. On a national level, our project will both showcase the diversity of art making in America by illustrating how place shapes creative activity while connecting threads to more mainstream conversations about art across the country.

Our partners are art professionals who work with their local communities to produce an ambitious publication that documents artist-run projects.

Partners connect to other like-minded arts professionals both locally and nationally. By working together we create a stronger network of art workers. We are currently working with Kansas City MO, Houston TX, Grand Rapids MI, Portland OR, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.

On a local level, individual partners are artists and creatives who participate in the artist-run scene, ad hoc venues and community centers. We work with each partner to define the scope of their project, and encourage a broad-lensed approach when considering its perimeters. This breadth creates more comprehensive documentation and inclusive representation that is locally specific.

Support impractical spaces

Impractical Spaces grassroots funding model taps into our greatest resource: people and their commitment to building stronger art communities through unified networks and archiving untold histories. Our project connects supporters to a nationally networked community of active artist-run projects giving them a position on the frontlines of contemporary art. What makes this project truly unique are our partners—artists, writers, and arts administrators who live in the cities they chronicle and are the authorities and authors of their own histories. These stories and these networks can’t be preserved without your help. Make history. Support us.