This month, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) presents Metro Poles, Art in Action, a curatorial collaboration with the Bronx River Art Centre, the Asian American Arts Center, and the Maiden Lane Exhibition Space. Metro Poles, Art in Action debuts on Friday, October 17th with the opening of John Powers: Captain America at the Maiden Lane Exhibition Space located at 125 Maiden Lane, in lower Manhattan. John Powers’ Captain America was commissioned by Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, and Maiden Lane Exhibition Space is sponsored by Time Equities Inc.

From October 17, 2008 – January 17, 2009 the four galleries will serve as hubs for creative experimentation. A core group of artists will be given the opportunity to create work in each gallery and off site locations that reveal their vision of nexus, collaboration, and social relationships. The gallery/sites will be their stage for the duration of a week. Each artist in the core group will then invite an additional artist to continue their work, expanding upon the original artist’s momentum through addition, subtraction, inversion or re-position. This second group of artists will then each invite another artist to continue the process. This will continue for the duration of the exhibition with approximately 60 artists participating in the project. Throughout this time, each gallery will function as a collective studio—a site of constant creation and revision.

The idea for Metro Poles was originally conceived by Heng-Gil Han, JCAL’s curator. It was later developed in collaboration with Jose Ruiz, Bronx River Art Center’s curator and realized in collaboration with Robert Lee and Elisabeth Akkerman curators of Asian American Arts Centre and The Francis J. Greenburger Collection/Time Equities Inc, New York respectively.

“I wanted to create a show that was a collaborative activity among emerging contemporary artists and would bring people to discover art organizations located like Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Bronx River Art Center and Asian American Arts Centre, which are off the “beaten art path.” It is at organizations like these where many critics, curators and art buyers are introduced to emerging contemporary artists, 2 according to Mr. Han. The artistic collaborations will result in an installation which evolves over time and incorporates the cultural and artistic diversity of individual participants.”