Rooms to Let — Rian Brown

PARTING SONG, Co-Curated by Rian Brown, Rebecca Cross

A site-specific artists installation in vacant homes. May 16th and 17th, 2015. in Slavic Village, Cleveland

These are images from PARTING SONG, 6731 Fleet Avenue Front House, which was one of three houses slated for demolition. These homes were lost, or abandoned in the massive foreclosure crisis in 2007 that plagued much of Cleveland neighborhoods.

"It's a complicated thing, to simultaneously say goodbye to and to celebrate something. Rooms To Let offers artists a chance to try to navigate these oppositions. Our house is called Parting Song, and includes a wide range of work that explores the problem of foreclosure through creative means. All of the art installed in our house in some way communicates themes of departures, returns, legacy, residence, dislocation, memories, decay and reconstruction, as well as the idea of place and home, the relentlessness of racism and poverty in what should be a democracy, and the perpetual nature of human flight from and toward different horizons. Through performance, sculpture, painting, drawings, prints, music, film, fiber, mixed media constructions and participatory installations, in Parting Song we hope to traverse -with joy and with hope - a thoughtful and provocative line between celebration and loss. "

Rian Brown and Rebecca Cross, curators of Parting Song.

Artists at Fleet Street Avenue included:

Acerbic, Scott Pickering, Nancy Baker Cahill, Mona Gazala, Claire Campbell, Claudio Orso, Kelsey Moulton, Rian Brown/Rebecca Cross, Tina Ripley SPEC (Allison, Jeff, Michelle & Sam) Liz Maugans, Lauren Sammon, Oberlin Taiko and the Cleveland Orchestra

On May 17, 2014 Rooms To Let: Cleveland transformed three vacant homes in the Broadway Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland Ohio into art exhibits for a day. Led by Slavic Village Development, the event drew over 500 visitors and neighborhood residents to experience unique installations that ranged from an “Homage to the Workman’s House” to an exploration of displacement and isolation to an interpretation of the five stages of grief in the foreclosure crisis. Three curators, Westleigh Harper & Michael Horton of MAKER design studio, Barbara Bachtell, Director of Broadway School of Music & the Arts and visual artist, Scott Pickering, a graphic designer and multi-media artist (all of whom live or work in the Slavic Village neighborhood), recruited a range of artists interested in creating transformations of space in abandoned or foreclosed homes. Given the larger context of Slavic Village’s unique history (and national attention received in the wake of the American foreclosure crisis), Rooms to Let: Cleveland was an opportunity to view one of Cleveland’s most historic neighborhoods in new light. Rooms to Let inverted those icons often associated with neighborhood blight and despair into new propositions of engagement, resilience, and contemplation. Artists listed by house: House: ektopos: Out of Place Curator: Barbara Bachtell Artists: Acerbic (Donald Black, Jr., Ali McClain, Gabriel Gonzalez, Darius Steward, and Shawn Jiménez), Art House Inc. Denison School Residency Students, Claudia Berlinski, Rian Brown-Orso, Nicholas Fenell, Charles Gliha, Alan Burton Tucker, Liz Maugans, Nathaniel Murray, Jessica Naples, Paolo Orso-Giacone, Claudio Orso-Giacone, Cynthia Penter (with Leigh Silverblatt), Julie Schenkelberg, Laila Voss. Cleveland Institute of Art will be represented by students Jamie Ausperk, Karolena Kuhn, and Nicole Matthews. House: The Boingy House Curator: Scott Pickering Artists: Bob Aufuldish, David Cintron, Alane Potokar Sandoval, Tony Yanick, Sean Kelly, Loren Naji, Jeff Chiplis, Steven Intermill, Justin Brennan, and Dan Corrigan. Cleveland Institute of Art will be represented in the event through the participation of students Jamie Ausperk, Karolena Kuhn, Kristina Kuhn, Nicole Matthews and Matthew Rowe. House: Existing To Remain Curators: Westleigh Harper & Michael Horton Artists: Allison Lukacsy, David Craun, Theodore Ferringer, Hallie DelVillan , Brad Valtman, Chelsey Finnimore, Michael Horton, Westleigh Harper and Michael Loderstedt, For more information on future events, visit www.facebook.com/slavicvillage/events.

Rooms to Let, 2015 Slavic Village, Cleveland

PARTING SONG, Co-Curated by Rian Brown, Rebecca Cross