Art Olympic Festival

On August 29th artist Tom Sarver is holding a free Art Olympic Festival as the culmination of his month-long Fallow Grounds Artist Residency at Pittsburgh’s Neu Kirche Contemporary Art Center.  The main event is Art Olympics, a two-hour competition between teams of professional artists building sculptures out of piles of junk. The highly interactive event allows the audience to get up close to art in progress and to take part in the live commentary.  Some have compared it to Iron Chef.  The event will be held in an urban green space in the East Deutschtown community.  Aside from the competition, visitors of all ages can take part in art activities including puppet making and printmaking.  A marching band will provide music.  

Before the event takes place, community workshops will help to generate enthusiasm in the neighborhood. A children’s group will help to paint a mural at the event site. A sculpture workshop for families at Neu Kirche Art Center, presented with Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, will focus on producing trophies for winners of the show.

Steps to complete the project include: 1. Develop a project strategy. 2. Set up community workshop on site and at Neu Kirche.  3. Select artists for main event.  3. Implement marketing strategy.  4. Solicit donations.  5.  Recruit event volunteers.  6. Draft schedule for the main event.  7. Hold trophy workshop. 8. Paint a mural on site (with community group).  9. Create event signage.  10. Event weekend: coordinate a production schedule to ensure that the event runs smoothly.  10. Clean up, review documentation & evaluate the project.

Previous Art Olympic events have brought various groups of people together and sparked community dialogue and collective action. The event embodies the energy and excitement of sports and reality television, but also offers the opportunity for artists to be critical and express their ideas.  Visitors of all ages become more familiar with the process of art making and the elements of performance art.  They engage in conversation about the work and can share their thoughts in an unintimidating environment.  

Neu Kirche Contemporary Art Center is a new arts presence in a neighborhood that was cut off from the North Side of Pittsburgh in the 1980’s by the I-279 highway corridor; leaving a gap in opportunities for the families in East Deutschtown. Neu Kirche Contemporary Art Center is addressing a lack of cultural activities and creative platforms available to this community through high quality art and educational programming.

The Fallow Grounds for Sculpture public art initiative aims to activate vacant lots in the East Deutschtown with imaginative and innovative projects that generate opportunities for cultural and social exchange. Projects like Tom Sarver’s Art Olympics aim to create positive energy in the neighborhood that fosters new connections between people and art.