Fun Sized: A Tiny Public Art Festival will showcase tiny murals, sculptures, installations and unexpected artistic interventions tucked into overlooked corners and everyday spaces throughout downtown Northampton on Sept. 26 and 27.
Photo credit: Bright Matter Studio
NORTHAMPTON — In a world where life never slows down, two local artists are looking to capture people’s attention spans with a unique take on the typical art festival.
On Sept. 26 and 27, the city’s first tiny public art festival, Fun Sized, will offer the public a citywide scavenger hunt that transforms downtown into an interactive experience of miniature public art.
The festival invites visitors to “slow down, look closer and rediscover” downtown Northampton through 16 miniature, site-specific artworks hidden throughout the city.
Using a free printed or digital map, visitors will search for tiny murals, sculptures, installations and unexpected artistic interventions tucked into overlooked corners and everyday spaces. Along the way, participants collect clues that lead to the festival’s final hidden artwork: the Golden Moment.
Artists Kim Carlino and Michael Crigler, who also co-founded Bright Matter Studio, told Reminder Publishing that they brainstormed a new way to get artists to bring miniature works to downtown, scattering them throughout storefronts, sidewalks, alleyways and overlooked urban spaces.
“We just brainstormed it and figured, how can we make this work? We tied in with a lot of things that we’re interested in with our own work, just around how we see, sense of perception, slowing down, disrupting your daily movement, that little hamster wheel of life, by putting art in unexpected places,” explained Carlino.
Crigler added that the scavenger hunt aspect aims to attract groups of people downtown. Using the map guide, participants will use references to iconic landmarks in town to help them find an installation. A marker will then notify them if they are in an installation’s vicinity.
“We want to create a sense of wonder, and we really want people to slow down and enjoy being in the moment, because I think that is such a thing that we’re already in the process of losing. And by being with friends and just being able to slow down and say, ‘hey, this is what I’m doing, and I don’t need to look at a phone. I have this physical map, and I’m walking around and doing this thing,’ it creates a joyful experience, and that’s what we’re all about. We want to create this beautiful experience,” Crigler said.
Carlino explained that the miniature nature of these installations demands attention, as it can exploit the existing architecture downtown. It’s a stark contrast to the typical public exhibit, where she often sees “drive-by viewing” of the work.
“The attention span is so shortened, and people don’t even stop as they’re walking by a thing, and often, they’ve got their phone, and they’re walking by quickly and never really looking,” Carlino said. “So built into the whole thing is a process of you have to really think about each one, you got to try and find the thing, and then they’re small, so you have to get up close.”
Crigler said the two artists want to offer viewers of all ages a glimpse into grand creativity on a small scale.
“I think because it’s miniature, it tends to be skewed where people think it’s a thing for kids, but these works that are being displayed are very curated, and these are working artists that are professional artists, and they’re doing very high-level installation work,” Crigler said.
Aside from Carlino and Crigler, Fun Sized was also developed with committee members Alison Curphey, Natalee Dias, Mike Bray, Justin Brown and Clara Barhart. The festival is made possible through support from the Mass Cultural Council, Northampton Arts Council, the city of Northampton, and numerous local businesses and community partners.
They received over 60 proposals for the festival but had to narrow that number down to 16 with the help of the festival’s committee.
“Our committee loved them. They were such a huge help because we needed help with so much good stuff to go through and figure it out and to curate it,” Crigler added. “I think we left it intentionally open because we wanted to see what would come through … We want people to see something or not see it and walk past it a few times before you walk back around and are like, ‘woah I didn’t even notice the little thing up there.’”
Festival co-founder Kim Carlino scouts locations in different corners of downtown Northampton to host the miniature installations in the inaugural Fun Sized festival.
Photo credit: Bright Matter Studio
The inaugural festival will feature work by local and regional artists Adam O’Day, Chelsea Dupois, Cicely Carew, Dina Gjertsen, Erika Zekos, Eva Pushkova, Felipe Ortize, Fred and David Zinn, John Higby, M. Rudder, Maggie Nowinski, Mary Cleary, Michael Medeiros, Raishad Glover, Sally Curcio and Scout Cuomo.
The festival will also feature two tents: one at Thornes Marketplace and one in front of Urban Outfitters, where attendees can pick up their maps and magnifying glasses, and meet and join the festival’s artists.
Each installation site will also feature a QR code where people can read about the work and listen to an audio clip of each artist explaining their installation. Each location’s sign will also spotlight a letter that will correspond to a number on the map. Collecting all 15 letters will unveil the location of the final installation.
The festival’s first day will also coincide with the Northampton Jazz Festival, creating a vibrant weekend where art, music, local businesses and public spaces come together throughout downtown. By highlighting the role of small-scale art in contemporary practice, Carlino and Crigler hope attendees can experience these installations alongside an already loaded two-day stretch in the city.
“With contemporary art, I think people can feel like it can be exclusionary sometimes, and how do they find their own place in it? And I think that is the beauty of public art; It’s out in context. You can just be going about your daily business and see a thing and have an experience,” Carlino said. “My hope is that people can be like, ‘oh, this feels like this is for me. Oh, I get that. Oh, that’s cool that can be art.’ Demystifying it a little bit.”
Crigler added, “There’s a lot of this real guerrilla-style art that is happening in the world, and because it is meant for all people and it’s so inclusive in public space, there’s risks that are being taken that maybe aren’t being taken in the gallery context or in the museum context, and that’s always been really inspiring for me.”
According to Carlino and Crigler, the festival’s art will be on view throughout October.
Festival co-founder Michael Crigler scouts locations in different corners of downtown Northampton to host the miniature installations to in the inaugural Fun Sized festival.
Photo credit: Bright Matter Studio
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