New York, NY. Art Cart NYC™ is thrilled announce its participation in the “Festival of Ideas for the New City.” As part of the festival’s collaborative initiative to envision possibilities for the future of New York City, Art Cart NYC™ reimagines the infrastructure of a gallery by bringing an exhibition space to the streets. Challenging the participating artists to take into account the parameters of an alternative exhibition space, the truck serves as a point of inspiration for the creative process. On May 7 at the Festival’s StreetFest, Art Cart’s exhibition space will be transformed into a mobile installation that responds to the museum’s concept of a “reconfigured city.” Taking cues from the movement of art in alternative spaces, Art Cart’s method of exhibition has been influenced by everything from the ease of mobility of food trucks to the instant and constantly updating channels of communication and information dissemination provided by social networks. Envisioning the urban center as a malleable, ever-changing landscape, Art Cart NYC™ provides an exhibition space that is neither static nor immutable with the ability to change and move as fast as the city that it serves.

For the upcoming exhibition, artist Hayden Dunham will transform the truck into a vibrant, multifaceted installation, using materials such as synthetic hair, cotton undergarments, egg shells, feather comforters, and found clothing. Blurring the line between the organic and the synthetic renderings of nature, Dunham’s work Until it all go’s will alter the truck’s space to reflect the dual character of the body as both coarse and abrasive, yet nurturing and safe. Constructing a quilt of interwoven underwear and keratin hair that wraps the outside of the truck and a dimly lit, womb-like escape of undulating cream colored comforters that envelop the viewer inside, Dunham’s environment creates a nostalgic atmosphere that recalls collective memories of girlhood and questions concepts of origin. Surrounded by these mixed organic and synthetic materials that evoke not only the “natural” body, but also the artificial or manipulated body one is left to question: how human are we?

About Art Cart NYC™:

Art Cart NYC™ is a mobile exhibition space that motivates people to think imaginatively about exhibiting and experiencing art. Building on the movement of art in alternative spaces, Art Cart NYC™ works with young artists, performers, and curators to organize dynamic public events in which exhibitions and performances are staged around the parameters of a truck. Its events build strong connections between members of a burgeoning interdisciplinary artistic community, and its web presence perpetuates the conversation about an emerging generation of creators. Art Cart NYC™ constructs unique situations that demonstrate how art is approachable, engaging, and socially valuable. For more information, please contact hannah@artcartnyc.com

About The Festival of Ideas for the New City:

The Festival of Ideas for the New City, May 4-8, 2011, is a major new collaborative initiative in New York involving scores of Downtown organizations working together to harness the power of the creative community to imagine the future city and explore ideas that will shape it. The Festival will include a three-day slate of symposia; an innovative StreetFest along the Bowery; and over eighty independent projects and public events. For more information, visit festivalofideasnyc.com.