2018 was an amazing year for the arts in Greater Boston. There were so many cool projects, exciting public commissions, new arts venues, and significant exhibitions and performances that showcased artists and ideas overdue for critical acclaim.
We feel inspired and proud to be a part of such a vibrant arts community, and want to celebrate the artists and institutions who represent the best of Greater Boston's creative ecosystem. So, we decided to hand out some awards...
This year's HUBweek Art Awards will recognize 39 projects in 10 categories, from innovative art spaces to provocative performance art to fresh new murals. Nominated and voted on by the Greater Boston arts community, the nominees showcase the vibrancy of this region. Stay tuned for the announcement of this year's winners on February 25, 2019!
Get to know the nominees for Participatory Projects below, and see all nominees here.
Caitlin Foley, Heather Kapplow and Misha Rabinovich, Sweat it Out, Fort Point Arts Community
Sweat it Out offers free Wintertime public access to a beautiful, handmade mobile sauna (courtesy of the DS Institute,) which also acts as the site for and prelude to frank but friendly, mediated conversations. We bring the rejuvenating health benefits of sauna out of the spas and back to its community-strengthening origins, and then apply the well-being and camaraderie it generates towards exploring local tensions and disputes. Sweat it Out will base its initial offerings along Fort Point’s beautiful, MBTA-accessible waterfront, where rapid real estate development presents immediate fodder for conversations about Boston’s conflicted desires for growth and authentic local character.
Steve Locke, Love Letter to a Library, Boston Public Library and the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture
Boston Public Library and the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture launched the Love Letter to a Library public art collaboration with a banner display at the Central Library and continuing throughout the BPL system. Developed out of the Boston Artist-in-Residence Program (Boston AIR), the project is intended to encourage viewers to engage with libraries as sites of learning, discourse, and memory, with the text of the banners reading, "I Remember Everything You Taught Me Here."
Stephanie Cardon, Unless, Now + There at Prudential Center
In this dramatic floor-to-ceiling installation at the entrance to the landmark Prudential Center marketplace, Cardon uses orange construction debris netting, made by many hands from the Boston community and embroidered with text. The vibrant contemporary tapestry disrupts the cool marble and glass entrance, posing questions of climate justice and sustainability, and the mounting urgency to act together to effect positive change.
William Forsythe: Choreographic Objects, ICA Boston
Blurring the lines between performance, sculpture, and installation, Forsythe’s Choreographic Objects invites the viewer to engage with the fundamental ideas of choreography. These site-responsive, interactive works are designed to stimulate movement from visitors through interactions with kinetic sculptures, video projections, and architectural environments. Via the artist’s instructions for action posted on the wall next to the works, visitors are invited to move freely through the performative exhibition and generate an infinite range of individual choreographies.
