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    • Presenting visual and performance art in unexpected public spaces.

    Andrew Tosiello’s matchbook tickets can go up and down. Buy them during the Art in Odd Places Festival and win big

    February 11, 2012 – 2:36 am

    Can you believe the Art in Odd Places Festival is just a few days away? We hope to see you during the Opening Event @ Theater Lab this Friday. If you haven’t RSVPd, now is your chance to do it:

    http://tinyurl.com/aiop-opening

    To keep the excitement going, we are featuring another artist appearing on 14th street come October. On a previous entry, we mentioned about “bartering” through the works of Heather Hart. This time, 2010 AiOP artists Andrew Tosiello, is encouraging everyone to GAMBLE. With his project called “The Numbers Racket”, Andrew will be selling match books tickets at various businesses on 14th Street. What is fascinating about this project is the method of determining the winning number: a formula from the stock prices report. Stock Prices?? Where do you even begin to wrap your head around the idea? You now ask what does the winner get? Well, I encourage you to check the Art in Odd Places website, take a chance and play the game. Andrew’s work is definitely not your grade school raffle drawing.

    Andrew Tosiello

    Aiop: Tell us about you
    AT: I live in work in San Francisco, CA. My work employs the images, history and tactics of the Italian-American Mafia to consider the work of art. I also work in the trucking industry.

    Aiop: How did you hear about Art in Odd Places?
    AT: Curator Petrushka Bazin and I both attended the California College of the Arts and she had participated in an earlier version of my numbers racket project.

    Aiop: What made you decide to submit a proposal for the Festival?
    AT: The location and theme of the festival seemed tailor-made for this project.

    Aiop: How is the preparation coming along for your piece this October?
    AT: I’m basically all set for the project. Now I just need to get to New York.

    Aiop: What’s your favorite spot on 14th street?
    AT: I can’t really recall any places on 14th Street from previous visits, but I’m sure I’ll find a favorite during the festival.

    Aiop: Do you have a hidden talent you would like to share?
    AT: No.

    Aiop: Any message to the people who will be in 14th street during the festival?
    AT: Players Win and Winners Play.

    Just as he said, Winners are players! Check the website and the Art in Odd Places twitter feed (@ArtinOddPlaces) to find his performance dates and location.

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    Mike Estabrook, AiOP 2010 artist, has a teddy bear with a chip on its shoulder

    February 11, 2012 – 2:35 am

    Here is something you don’t see teddy bears doing: REBELLING. Yes, it appears that there is a teddy bear on the loose with an agenda coming out during the festival. Mike’s Estabrook’s piece called “”The Teddy Bear Market Uprising, A Revolution Squared” is a participatory project using people’s responses to create his work. This is definitely one interesting piece because it is part art, part political and part statistical. Sounds complicated but it should be an exciting project to be part of.

    How does an angry teddy bear get into the mix of things? Mike took the time and described his project further.



    On Sept. 22nd, I, along with the help of two fellow artists, Mona Kamal (surveyer), and Vandana Jain(photographer) headed out into the wilderness of Union Square to survey a random assortment of people about their thoughts on the Teddy Bear Market Uprising. Mona and I presented a survey depicting the Teddy Bear (below) and asked them two questions: 1. “what is your social class (upper, upper middle, middle, working, lower)?”, and 2. “In a fictitious art battle would you fight for or against the Teddy Bear Market Uprising?” (The Teddy Bear is, of course, prominently marked with the Hammer and Cycle, and was defined as “the struggle for socialist utopia”

    Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook



    All classes were represented, and we had a wide range of responses ranging from a resounding “YES”, to a “Die! Socialist Scum!”

    Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook
    Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook



    good times were had by all…

    Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook
    Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook
    Photo courtesy of Mike Estabrook

    My end goal for all this is to make a drawing depicting fantasy soldiers made of 5 colors (reflecting the 5 social class categories in the survey), in which the pro-teddy factions will be placed on the left, and the anti-teddys will be on the right. This will be seen at the opening event for Art In Odd Places at Theater Lab on Oct. 1.


    In addition to showing the drawing at this event, I will be rolling percentile dice to determine people’s social class for the event (the dice rolls will reflect the percentage distribution of social classes in the USA). Those lucky enough to roll a 100 will be upper class, and will get a t-shirt of Teddy Bear Market Uprising!

    Thanks, Mike! We look forward seeing the final product.

    You can see Mike and the Teddy Bear Uprising project in action during the Opening Festival this coming Friday. The event invitation can be found here. RSVP now.

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