Rooms To Let: How To Make Art In Unlikely Places
The DIY art installation's sixth annual event is May 18 and 19 this year.
Stick to a Theme While Rooms to Let doesn’t require a theme, The Visit Arts Collective chose “origins” for the house it curated to help their diverse ideas inside an uncommon setting. Washington’s piece included an origin story inspired by the house that she wrote and translated into 50 languages. This year, the collective chose the theme “be still.” Washington wants to make it even more immersive. “We want to make it a cohesive experience, so the house is one idea,” she says.
Build In Time For Cleaning Accessing the building a month before 2018’s event, the collective had to ensure the house was safe before they started construction. They bug-bombed it, removed debris and bleached the walls to kill mold. There was no electricity, so they ran electrical lines from a neighboring home. No running water meant drinking water had to be supplied. “We literally lived at the house that summer,“ she says.
Respect the Space’s History Meeting the family that had lived in the house for 70 years was the most impactful moment. They wrote memories on the walls, which then became part of the installation. “After the festival, they came back and wrote in their specific spaces to say goodbye to the house,” says Washington.
