Church of Monika

Despite our trepidation about the influence of religion, and specifically the church, on politics, there is no doubt that the fostering of community is it’s strongest public contribution. At open source gallery, our main object is outreach. We seek proposals from artists and input from neighbors. Although we are primarily a local Brooklyn gallery we accept proposals and have exhibited international artists in keeping with the global village concept. As evidenced by the variety and reach of our shows, we are truly “open source.”

In addition to our monthly exhibitions, on Sundays, we will establish the “Church of Monika” with the intention of communicating and demonstrating the role art can and should have on community. Our experiences with the Soap Box Derby Camp and subsequent race, as well as our annual Soup Kitchen in December, have validated our desire to move forward in this direction. We are located in a Brooklyn neighborhood underserved by the arts and we hope to remedy the situation in whatever small way we can.

The “Church” will be a moderated town hall type of meeting rather than a sermon with topics varying each week. Snacks and coffee will be served, doubling the event’s function as it becomes an alternative to brunch with bloody marys. Without doubt, Park Slope has an abudance of writers, including our friends at the Brooklyn Writers Space. Readings will be included on a regular basis. On the September 17th Brain Lehrer Show on WNYC, Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq were guests. Inspired by their Ramadan journey through NYC’s Muslim Community ( http://30mosques.tumblr.com ), we have contacted them with the hopes that they might want to join us one Sunday. A neighbor and fellow artist friend of ours sings weekly in her church choir and we have invited them to perform in our gallery. Of course, this is an art gallery and that will be the general focus, but we are open to performers and thinkers of any ilk. The schedule is yet to be completed but these are some initial ideas.

The origin of our concept stems from our mutual admiration of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. This profound monument to the freedom and pursuit of self-reflection is a model of art as a surrogate for religion. We take a non-denominational and tolerant attitude in our journey through life and our hope is to build an alliance with people of all faiths and world-views. We suffer no delusions of grandeur, we only seek to inspire and be inspired by the art of life and community.

Soup Kitchen 2010

For the month of December Open Source Gallery is about, Cooking, Eating, Sharing, Celebrating…

The OPEN SOURCE Soup Kitchen is not burned out. The 3rd annual Soup Kitchen will offer delicious meals as many days as possible in the month of December. Because the gallery is temporarily out of commission, the soup kitchen will be held at the homes of volunteers this year. Please check in at the website where it will be held and continue to sign up on the calender.

It’s time for the 3rd annual open source soup kitchen so if you want to participate, please reserve a date. We are looking for artists, cooks, friends and neighbors to join us for SOUP KITCHEN, where for as many days as we have volunteers, we will be offering a “one-pot meal” to all on a first-come, first-served basis. Unique dishes from any ethnic tradition are more than welcome. We will provide cookware, utensils and help with logistics. We ask that you supply the love. LET’S EAT!!!

Calendar developed and supported by Kieran O'Shea

Each night in December, a different person signs up to cook a meal for approximately 15 -20 people to be served between 6 and 8pm every night. Kind of like an advent calendar of food. Most of the dishes are a one-pot meal–either a soup or stew which can be served in bowls with bread on the side.
Mostly, people from the neighborhood or artist or musician friends sign up to cook, but occasionally there is the new person who sees the sign up sheet and is up for a challenge. The people who come vary from working class people to self-employed artists and occasionally a neighborhood person who is down on their luck or simply hungry.
2009 was the second year of soup kitchen. Some nights up to 50 people were standing in line for the delicious food, other nights the conversation, wine and beer kept us up until 3am in the morning. Sometimes, the chef did incorporate an artistic element to the evening, either displaying photographs on the stark, white gallery walls or reading a monologue from a play he or she has written.
Sometimes the conversation flows easily and sometimes not, but the food is nearly always tasty (it’s new York after all–we have standards!).

view calendar

Rebecca Aidlin

Dec 19th, 11am

Rebecca Aidlin invites you to her studio at the MADARTS building located at 255 18th Street, Brooklyn NY 11215 to build beautiful Mobiles. Bring small things of your own to make your mobiles with if you want.
Rebecca Aidlin’s recent works are mainly lightweight hanging sculptures made of wire and plaster. They are abstract meditations on natural forms and ideas that develop improvisationally from working with the materials. They reflect elements that are found in music, dance, and calligraphic forms. Movement is important to the sculptures, both in the gesture of shapes and in the actual movement that occurs as the pieces are touched by air. They have a theatrical quality, as the lighting and shadows created transform the pieces and their surrounding space.

Pirmin Hagen: First

November 5-30 2010
Artist Reception: Friday, November 5th, 7-10pm

Pirmin Hagen’s work got severely damaged in a huge fire on Friday the 12th of November 2010. Some of the drawings, prints and sculptures were rescued by the firemen after being soaked in water for some days. Unfortunately, some of the works could not be recovered. We were not permitted back in the space after the fire because of unsafe conditions. The gallery remains shut down until further notice at 255 17th street, but Open Source will continue their work.

There are places I remember – some have gone and some remain. There are places we know from pictures, books, magazines and TV and those we know from tales and stories. There are places we visited and places we lived in. There are the places of our childhood and those we always wanted to go to. There are places with a better economy, more freedom, better food, less suppression, war, injustice; you name it, you got it. In our mind they come together, we mix them up, idealize them and create places that don’t exist. Nevertheless these images of places feed our longing for them, and if the longing wins over the fear, those images make us go there.

First in space. First steps on an unknown land, first contacts, all those wonders and difficulties awaiting us in the strange places we were longing for.

Exhibiting in this local based gallery, the artist becomes an invader, an artistic immigrant. Even though only for a limited time, he occupies space in an existing social context, brings his belonging, settles down, and becomes visible for the people living there.

The title of the exhibition also refers to a mountain, the “Dornbirner First” which looms over the hometown of the artist. The image of the mountain appears over and over, in drawings, collages and installations, and becomes a symbol for that place called home, or the idealized memory of it.

The longing for far away places and their idealization, false expectations and the pain of leaving home behind, are central topics in the work of Pirmin Hagen.

In a mixture of drawings, prints and sculptural works, the show at Open Source Gallery will try to capture the ongoing story of coming and going, leaving and arriving, solitude and overcrowding.

Sara Bouchard

November 20th, 7pm

DUE TO FIRE THIS PERFORMANCE WILL HAPPEN AT KORZO [ 667 5th Avenue
NY 11215, (718) 285-3425 ]

“The News: Monday-Friday”

The News: Monday-Friday is a collection of five songs written one per day of a single work week, the lyrics being found poems compiled from each day’s newspaper. While rooted in words and phrases from the actual news, the songs build upon each other to tell their own “subconscious current events” story. It is a tale of a community struggling with its spirituality when faced with leaving home and transitioning towards a strange and unknown future. Sara will perform the entire song cycle on guitar, mandolin and autoharp as well as other recent work. She recently performed her last album Songs of Lewis & Clark at Open Source.
http://www.myspace.com/sarabouchardmusic

THANK YOU EVERYBODY, SPECIAL THANKS TO PIRMIN HAGEN

We will auction off some of Pirmin Hagen’s work after Sara Bouchard’s Performance. The entire installation (drawings, collages, prints and sculpture) was severely damaged in the fire November 12th.
The Fundraiser will also happen @ KORZO [ 667 5th Avenue, NY 11215, (718) 285-3425 ]

If you cannot make it this Saturday Nov 20th at 7pm to please

Open Source will Live Again

Calendar

Calendar developed and supported by Kieran O'Shea

Silence

Sunday November 14th, 11am
Come out to join us for “Silence”, Coffee, Cake and Conversation.

Adam Day

Saturday, Nov 13th, 8pm

This kid – he’s right off the farm, or maybe picked up from the side of the road, dirty hair and unshaven, mouth like a sailor, and manners like a distinguished gentleman. He can talk to you on anything from yesterday’s hangover to 20th century literary figures. He’ll tell you stories that will bust your gut laughing, and others that will shut you up and make you wonder where this kid is from. You listen to him, you think about where you grew up, who you’ve loved, who you might find, or where you might end up. You’re sad, excited, and can’t stop smiling all at once.

This is 25 year-old Adam Day, hailing from Baltimore, MD with a guitar in-hand and a story on his breath. In the vein of James Taylor, John Mayer, and, Ray LaMontagne Day has been stunning audiences with meticulously crafted songs and stories about the complexities of the human experience.

In every town that he resides, this quirky, at-times-awkward, and lovable fellow garners local celebrity and is loved by those with an appreciation for well-written and melodic folk rock tunes.
http://www.myspace.com/adamday

on view now

Evan Robarts and James Moore: the cave

February 11th – Feb 28th, 2012 Opening Reception: February 11th, 7-9pm Even Robarts: from the series “popsicles” Open Source is proud to present Evan Robarts and James Moore. A collaborative installation opening on Saturday, February 11th, 2012. Responding to their environment, Evan Robarts and James Moore will be presenting two site specific works intending to [...]

upcoming

Sara Bouchard: The News: Monday-Friday, Parts 1 & 2
Karl Spörk, Another Meeting
BETWEEN MOUNTAIN
Felipe Mujica: One Day This Will All Be Yours
Patrick Cadenhead

past

Leigh Davis: The Burrow (H.H.)
Open Source 2011
Open Source Soup Kitchen
Borderland Collective
Jason Reppert: Parlor Tricks
Felipe Mujica: One Day This Will All Be Yours
James Leonard – 927 Days at Sea
Soap Box Derby
Naoe Suzuki and Dramahound Productions: Mi Tigre, My Lover
Associated
Raphaela Riepl: adorable steamed sea urchin
Allison Read Smith: Thugs
Open Source Gallery 2008-2010
Soup Kitchen 2010
Pirmin Hagen: First
Nobuko: wa
ORFI nyc: live gig 2010
Peter Feigenbaum “Trainset Ghetto: Streetsmart”
Images NYC
make Soap Box Racers for the Soap Box Derby
ONE BIG WINDMILL
Open Source Residency w/Austrian Artists
Patricia Watwood: Portraits 20/10
Cornucopias: Paintings by Rachel Youens
Ondrej Brody & Kristofer Paetau: Wang Bin Torture in Commercial Quality, High Quality and Museum Quality
Akiyuki Ina: Emitting Evanescent Beauty
John Coburn: Fairlane Marauder
Soup Kitchen 12.1 – 12.24
Sara Ching-Yu Sun: Nov 7th- Nov 30
Victoria Stanton and Christian Richer: Sat Oct 10th
Patrick May: October 3 – november 2
Christian Brown: September 5 – October 1
Urban Plant Research: August 15 – August 30
Make Soap Box Racers! July 13th-August 8th
Hubert Dobler: June 6th – July 1st
Gary Baldwin: May 2nd – June 4th
Second Saturday Event: June 13, 7-10pm
Scott Groeniger: March 27 – April 26
Sara Bouchard: April 4th, 8pm
MonsterBASH | July 4th – August 15th | Party July 4th 4-7pm