Past programs

 

7 Exercises in Practical Utopia

Culture Push Series, 2017–2018

7 Exercises in Practical Utopia was a yearlong initiative exploring everyday interactions and social norms through field-tested experiences, gatherings, and prompts embedded in daily life.

Practical UtopiaS

In October 2017, Culture Push collaborated with Helsinki-based arts collective YKON to link the fantastical and the pragmatic in the practice of “Utopia.” Participants engaged with “Practical Utopias” woven into their routines, offering new ways to understand people, the city, and civic life. 

Exercises included:
• Walking the Red Line - Walis Johnson (Spring 2017 Fellow)
• Tea and Tools - Yvonne Shortt (Fall 2017 Fellow)
• Everyday Spy Training - Chloë Bass (CP Board member, Fall 2013 Fellow)
• Metamorphic - aricoco (Spring 2015 Fellow)
• PISO Pari en El Bronx - Noemi Segarra (Spring 2016 Fellow)
• Tactical Cinema - James Andrews  (Fall 2015 Fellow)
• POPS Tour - Culture Push Staff

 

The Summit of Practical Utopians

The project finished in The Summit of Practical Utopians (July 7–14, 2018), a weeklong network of actions across New York City designed to be part of everyday life. A supporting app enabled participants to choose new pathways through their routines, shifting their thinking and practice in community with others. The summit focused on individual decision-making and examined how we navigate social norms within an urban context.

 

ArtCraftTech (ACT)

Culture Push Interdisciplinary Conference, 2009–2010

ArtCraftTech was a short-term, interdisciplinary conference that brought together artists, craftspeople, scientists, and technologists to collaboratively solve problems outside their areas of expertise. Emphasizing open inquiry and public participation, ACT encouraged creative experimentation in a low-pressure, imaginative environment.

Each cycle began with months of remote collaboration and culminated in a public presentation. Solutions ranging from models and performances to videos and live actions were treated as works of art, intended to provoke thought and inspire everyday engagement with problem-solving at both local and global levels.

ArtCraftTech 2010 (ACT10): Tracing Trash
ArtCraftTech 2009 (ACT09): Health and Wealth

 

DOING

Culture Push Symposium Series, 2008 – 2010

DOING was a participatory symposium series held from 2008 to 2010, designed to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue through embodied, hands-on learning. Each year, Culture Push invited 5–10 professionals from diverse fields ranging from mathematics and engineering to choreography and culinary arts to share a short, interactive activity rooted in their practice. All attendees were active participants, no spectators encouraged to “think through doing.”

Participants explored questions such as, what makes a practice meaningful? How can embodied knowledge be shared? How do we experience philosophy through physical experimentation?

DOING 2010

Held at 319 Scholes in Brooklyn, the third installment brought together 10 professionals who led six distinct activities, including

  • A Wound Drawn Together by Saul Melman (Artist/ER doctor)

  • Racing Mousetrap-Powered Cars by Dustyn Roberts (Mechanical Engineer)

  • Ephemeral Edible Art by Deborah Gorman (Chef)

  • Rainforest Crunch by Matthew Bauder (Composer)

  • Mathematically Correct Breakfast by George W. Hart (Mathematician)

  • Release and Score Technique by Yvonne Meier (Choreographer)

Extended Bios

The same group later reprised their activities for 100 visitors at the Whitney Museum of American Art as part of “Storm Your Brain,” extending the experience to a wider public.

Images from Storm Your Brain workshop

Previous Iterations

 

DOING 2009, hosted by Abrons Arts Center, included activities like telescope-making, authentic movement, and suturing.

DOING 2008, held at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, featured geometric drawing, sound walks, shape singing, and more.

Each iteration of DOING emphasized peer-to-peer exchange and the value of embodied knowledge across disciplines. The series was made possible through support from 319 Scholes, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Abrons Arts Center, and the Rema Hort Mann Foundation.

 

Genesis Project

Culture Push Residency, 2011

Hosted by Culture Push in collaboration with 319 Scholes

Genesis Project was a month-long residency for body-based artists working across disciplines. Focused on process over production, the program supported individual experimentation and skill-sharing through daily solo practice and collaborative exchange.

Originally launched in Dublin in 2004, Genesis Project has since been adapted in cities across the U.S. The 2011 New York edition, directed by Culture Push co-founder Arturo Vidich, provided five artists with studio space, a small stipend, and a local transit subsidy. Residents also fundraised within their communities to support their participation, fostering broader engagement and advocacy for their work.

The residency offered artists the time, space, and structure to reflect on and deepen their practices while building interdisciplinary connections.

 

Fashion Re/Action

Culture Push Workshop Festival, 2010–2011

Fashion Re/Action was a six-week series of hands-on studio workshops, collaborative events, and artist-led demonstrations focused on reimagining fashion through sustainability and individual action. As Culture Push’s first-ever workshop festival, the series grew out of the Studio Marathon initiative and took place across two years: 2010 and 2011.

Open to beginners and professionals alike, Fashion Re/Action provided a platform to explore creative reuse and conscious design using discarded materials. Weekly Saturday workshops offered free access to tools, materials, and instruction in techniques including pattern making, natural dyeing, wearable sculpture, knitting, darning, needlepoint, clothing remake/recycle, and more. Sessions were led by artists and makers such as Shirley Rempe, Stacy Scibelli, Sara Parelhoff, Alex Parkin, Rachel Schragis, Jeremy Wilson, and Michael DiPietro.

The series also featured public symposiums on sustainable fashion systems, with contributions from Pascale Gatzen, Glenn Marla, Rachel Schragis, and Otto von Busch (aka Wronsov), founder of >Self_Passage<, an open-source initiative exploring fashion as a tool for empowerment and activism.

Held at JEM Fabric Warehouse thanks to the generous support of Michelle and David Zahabian, Fashion Re/Action was made possible by the contributions of numerous donors, visiting artists, and dedicated interns. Through skill-sharing and community building, the project invited all participants to become active agents in shaping a more sustainable fashion future.

 

IdeaNEWS

Culture Push Editions, 2009–2010

IdeaNEWS was a two-part project turning Culture Push’s commitment to active participation into physical, public-facing works.

2010: Treasure Hunt T-Shirts
In 2010, a poetic scavenger hunt kicked off in Lower Manhattan, featuring secondhand T-shirts, each adorned with a denim tag and a clue hand-screened by Culture Push. These shirts guided participants through a poetic journey across the city. Designed by Fluxus artist Geoffrey Hendricks with imagery by Serra Bothwell Fels, the project turned the city into a site of playful discovery. The hunt ran from April to May, with all materials and clues collaboratively produced and freely accessible.

2009: Right now, I feel 2009
The 2009 edition collected handwritten reflections from global contributors on their current professional and emotional states. Each submission was manually transcribed by Culture Push directors into archival books, emphasizing the fading labor of handwriting. Limited editions were sold based on New York’s minimum wage, satirizing how we assign value to personal narratives.