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MEDIA CONTACTS: Angie Bertinot / Downtown District / angie@downtowndistrict.org / 713-650-3022

Whitney Radley / The CKP Group / whitney@theckpgroup.com / 832-930-4065 x106 Carey Kirkpatrick / The CKP Group / carey@theckpgroup.com / 832-930-4065 x101

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016

DOWNTOWN DISTRICT INFUSES MAIN STREET SQUARE WITH ART THROUGH “ART BLOCKS” PUBLIC ART

AND NEIGHBORHOOD REDEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

“Art Blocks” at Main Street Square Installations Begin in February 2016

HOUSTON, TX – The Downtown District today announced plans for a year-long public art and neighborhood redevelopment initiative targeting Main Street Square, the pedestrian plaza bordered by Walker and Dallas Streets. The program, Art Blocks, will see the addition of four temporary art projects installed throughout the three-block stretch of Main Street, with the first

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installations taking place in late February 2016. The art works will remain on view through March 2017. “Art Blocks aims to repurpose, redefine and reenergize a space through public art that is accessible to all, both physically and aesthetically,” said Bob Eury, executive director of the Downtown District. “With tens of thousands of visitors, workers and residents passing through Main Street Square on a daily basis, this project and its related programming has the potential to affect a real transformation along an underutilized corridor and create welcoming spaces for the enjoyment of Houstonians and visitors alike.” Art Blocks at Main Street Square is the inaugural project of the Downtown District and the Downtown District Public Art Committee and is curated jointly by the Committee and project consultant Weingarten Art Group. In its first year, Art Blocks will focus on activation of Main Street Square, with the possibility to highlight other downtown zones in future iterations. "Everyone on the committee quickly recognized the opportunity presented by Main Street Square as a site for a significant public art project, as the large pedestrian space has a captive audience of office workers, commuters and residents, and also serves as a gateway to the burgeoning east side of downtown," said Doug Lawing, Chair of the Downtown District Public Art Committee. "The artists the committee selected represent different backgrounds and approaches, and we hope their diverse installations will contribute to Houston's dynamic cultural energy." Project selection for Art Blocks presented a unique challenge: selecting works that would activate a linear, urban landscape with approachable art that engages the viewer time and again. The committee worked to curate a selection of local and international artists, ultimately working with artists directly to realize unique proposed installations responsive to the space. Public art projects from artist Jessica Stockholder, artist collective YesYesNo and Houston’s Patrick Renner and the Flying Carpet collective are among the selections slated for installation. A fourth project will feature a rotation of works by four Texas-based artists. “With Art Blocks as the inaugural project of the Downtown District Public Art Committee, it is essential that the site-specific collection reflects Houston’s ethos as an engaging, inventive, forward-thinking, international and diverse hub of creative energy,” said Lea Weingarten, Weingarten Art Group principal. “The projects chosen interact collaboratively with the urban environment to emulate the spirit of vitality, animation and vigor that is Houston.” Internationally lauded artist Jessica Stockholder, through collaboration with the Downtown District Art Committee, will realize the most recent in her series of works dubbed Color Jam. For Color Jam Houston, colorful paint and vinyl will overtake sidewalks, bleed across the roadway and scale building exteriors, light posts and other structures. Pedestrians passing through the intersection at Main and McKinney will be enveloped in a profusion of color. “The work treats the intersection as a single public ‘canvas’,” states Stockholder. “Viewed from the

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opposite side of the intersection a spectator can stand at the edge of the work, but outside of it, and view it as a picture or painting, against the background supplied by the city.” In a recessed area between One City Centre and their garage in the 1000 block of Main Street, Houston artist Patrick Renner will install a follow-up piece to his popular Funnel Tunnel (2013). Trumpet Flower, produced by Flying Carpet, functions both as a public art piece and a canopy structure. Slats of brightly colored recycled wood, painted by members of the Houston community at a public “painting party,” will be woven together to form the skin of the sculpture, which rises up 60 feet to the roof of the adjacent parking garage. On the street level, tables and chairs will be placed under the resulting canopy; residents and visitors will be encouraged to utilize the space for pop-up meetings and to-go lunches, and the Downtown District will activate the space with programming on an intimate scale. YesYesNo, an interactive collective based in Brooklyn, New York, will explore the intersection of technology and public play in más que la cara (more than the face). Taking over two windows in the Sakowitz garage at 1111 Main Street, this project will create an intuitive, participatory experience by imposing digitally augmented masks on the reflections of passers by. Adults and children alike become performers, their faces transformed and obscured by the digital masks, which in turn respond to different facial movements and expressions. The Main Street Marquee, installed at the corner of Main and Walker on the Just a 1.19 Food Store, will feature a quarterly rotation of works by Texas-based artists: Armando Castelan, Jamal Cyrus and Ukranian-born Nataliya Schlieb, of Houston; and M. Giovanni Valderas, of Dallas. “The Art Blocks project at Main Street Square brings together artists from different backgrounds and disciplines to create an inviting, engaging streetscape," said Angie Bertinot, director of marketing and communication for the Downtown District. "We are tremendously excited to incorporate so many works by Houston-based artists, who have helped shape our city's visual landscape and who reflect its diverse culture." Pop-up installations, interactive experiences and community programming will add to a schedule of events that complements the spirit of the major public art commissions. Art Blocks is one component of a larger capital improvement project spearheaded by the Downtown Redevelopment Authority currently underway throughout the 19-block stretch of Main Street between Commerce and Pierce Streets. The capital improvements include new street lighting and landscaping elements throughout, along with new sidewalk finishes and roadway drainage improvements in certain blocks. At the completion of the project, expect to see widened sidewalks and granite sidewalk pavers in some zones, new street trees and raised planters, improved lighting systems and wayfinding signage and many more upgrades.

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ABOUT DOWNTOWN DISTRICT The Downtown District was formed in 1995 for the purpose of revitalizing the urban core of the country’s fourth largest city. Over the past decade, the Downtown District has used a combination of public funds and private resources to catalyze area improvements focusing on the city blocks bordered by Interstate 10, Highway 59 and Interstate 45. The Downtown District operates under the leadership of a 30-person board of directors who oversee the implementation of the District’s strategic initiatives. Funding for the Downtown District comes from a special assessment on all downtown property owners. For more information visit downtowndistrict.org or downtownhouston.org.

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