On April 14, 2008 ABC No Rio will open its 5th Biannual building-wide exhibition, The Ides of March. The exhibition will include 30 artists groups and collaborative projects. Much work will be incorporated to the existing space and architecture of the building. The 2008 show is expressly focused on the collaborative process among existing artist collectives and individual artists banding together. This practice reaches back to ABC No Rio’s history:

In 1978, Collaborative Projects (Colab) was formed. This group was responsible for the highly controversial “Real Estate Show,” which led to the founding of ABC No Rio. The core of Colab was to “function as a group of artists with complementary resources and skills providing a solid ground for collaborative work directed to the needs of the community-at-large”.

The Ides of March will encompass all media. Resonant themes include the impact of the real estate industry on an art community; immigration and the de-objectification of people; ecological and biological sustainability; global transfer of experience and knowledge; and Doomsday destruction in terms of war, patriotism, community mobilization and escapism.

There’s something else that distinguishes this building, an intangible air of politics and community in pungent combination. In concrete terms, the art probably says it best. – James Trimarco, Brooklyn Rail, February 2008

Some of the projects include a golden fire-escape by Flux Factory, a mini-exhibition of prints addressing immigration issues by Just Seeds/Visual Resistance, a new mural for ABC No Rio’s façade by Endless Love Crew, live action painting by E.Y.E. (Erase Your Ego), a renewal and rearchive of tactics used by artist teams battling it out in War Shows by artcodex, and a 3D cosmological map tracing female consciousness by Broadthinking.

The Ides of March will close with a ABC No Rio’s Clothesline Benefit Art Sale on Friday, April 4.