About this project
On Sunday, July 24, the North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (nbART) presents No Bills: Stories of North Brooklyn, a sound installation by Brooklyn-based artist Nick Yulman. The project features dozens of oral histories of North Brooklyn residents, business owners, and community leaders that will be streamed from “listening stations” installed at sites across Williamsburg and Greenpoint through September 2011. On July 24th at 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM, Yulman will host tours of the sites that begins at McCarren Park Pool (Lorimer & Bayard Streets); a reception will follow.
From July through September, visitors can experience No Bills at the following locations:
● McCarren Park Pool (Lorimer & Bayard): Opened by city planner Robert Moses in 1936, the pool closed in 1984 and sat unused until summer 2005, when the empty basin opened as a popular event venue. Construction began in December 2009 to transform the site into a year-round recreation center.
● Triangle Court (Borinquen Place at Keap and Grand): This former theater became a “contaminated triangle of dirt” when it was converted into a gas station site. It is now the pilot site for a new city clean-up and development program called Brownfield Cleanup.
● Ventana244 Art Space (244 North 6th): This gallery presents experimental artwork of all disciplines, and specializes in art made in Williamsburg during the 1980s.view, and is especially interested in art made in Williamsburg during the 80’s.
Through this Kickstarter Campaign, and with YOUR HELP we are looking to expand No Bills to additional sites, and to increase the number of stories we can present to the Greenpoint and Williamsburg communities.
Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support.
- the nbART team
FAQ
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We did a lot of community outreach for several months, including presenting at Brooklyn Community Board 1 and Open Space Alliance community meetings. We went to organizations like El Puente, Town Square, and Northside Town Hall. Once we started interviewing people, it sort of snowballed, and those people started recommending other people. We got to know a lot of folks in the neighborhood.
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Because the McCarren Park Pool site worked so well, we have our eyes on two additional NYC Parks sites... one is 50 Kent, which is not far from East River State Park on the waterfront. Right now, 50 Kent is just a lot, but construction will begin soon to make it into another waterfront park.
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The stories featured in No Bills cover a variety of aspects of life in North Brooklyn: its past, its culture and its psychogeography. Far from being a comprehensive history, it is a collection of individual perspectives that together create a portrait of the neighborhood. You'll hear business owners talking about favorite customers, people who grew up in the neighborhood describing the street corners that were their playgrounds and social clubs and neighborhood activists talking about the fight to protect vital services.
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You can listen to the stories by visiting the installation sites -- they are audible on the street. Each site will feature a different selection of stories and we encourage you to take a tour through the neighborhood to listen to them all. Selected stories will also be made available on the No Bills website throughout the course of the installation. You can also get a CD with featured stories as one of our pledge incentives.
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on September 1, 2011.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
Project Updates, and free admission to our August fundraiser (info TBA)
Pledge $35 or more Pledge $35 or more
Best-of CD featuring selected oral histories created by the artist, project updates, and free admission to our August fundraiser.
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
Best-of CD featuring selected oral histories created and signed by the artist, an nbART totebag, and free admission for you and a friend to our August fundraiser.
Pledge $200 or more Pledge $200 or more
Artist Nick Yulman will record an interview with you and a friend or family member and produce an edited audio piece from it.
Project By
Connected as Katie Denny
nbART is an arts organization dedicated to collaborating with artists and community stakeholders in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick to produce, present, and support art in public spaces.
Formed in 2009 by a group of artists, arts administrators and community members who believe that public art is a key component to the development of North Brooklyn, the North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (nbART) is committed to facilitating projects in these neighborhoods and guiding artists through the often complex process of creating art in open spaces. We aim to promote dialogue concerning urban spaces; enhance the careers of Brooklyn-based artists through commissions and the provision of other resources; and use our voice to advocate on behalf of the North Brooklyn arts community.
nbART's kick off project was the India Street Mural Project, a series of murals addressing the lack of development along Brooklyn's waterfront. Taking place at India Street between West Street and the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, five artists were selected to create murals along the waterfront. Last summer, the murals came alive during a film screening series brought to India Street by two collaborators, nbART and Moviehouse.
With the help of Kickstarter, nbART presented Jason Krugman's Living Objects last fall, a public art installation featuring three LED-lit sculptures in McCarren Park, Brooklyn. The illuminated figures, ranging in size from two feet to 18 feet, were one of the largest public art installations in the park’s history.
Kickstarter also helped nbART reach our goal to present Future Phenomena by Greenpoint-based artist Amanda Browder, which was a large-scale fabric sculpture that was affixed to the building at 1066 Manhattan Avenue from June 19 - June 20, 2010. The 800 square-foot piece was sewn together by local community members who helped create the work themselves by participating in public sewing sessions held throughout that spring. There people helped cut donated and recycled fabric, then sew the work together, and included Brooklyn residents interested in crafts or the visual arts and several older community residents interested in quilting and sewing.
