BETA Spaces entertained and confounded the neighborhood this past weekend. — Photo by Aaron Short

"What is the difference between an art exhibit that works and one that doesn’t?"  Or, in another way of approaching this query, "Is this art or should I be calling 911?"

If you found yourself asking either of those questions this weekend, you were probably at BETA Spaces, Arts in Bushwick’s third annual curator-driven festival.

The festival is different from Bushwick Open Studios because of two restrictions placed on participating artists.  Each venue must exist within precise geographic parameters (a near-trapezoid formed by the L train from Montrose to DeKalb down to Myrtle and Flushing on the J train) and each space must be curated — that is, there must be a unifying vision or theme that brings the art together in a cohesive way.  Whether a curator executes that vision properly is another matter.

Still, the festival allows anyone who wants to be a curator the opportunity to put on a show, as "curate" appears to be the buzz word of the fall season.  There were several shows that were worth a peak.  Arcade Park at 119 Ingraham Street brought forward an interesting concept of the Brooklyn revival of an East Village gallery famous for closing because so many of its artists died.  Centotto, at 250 Moore Street, focused on the artistic process as a work of art itself, and several photographs of artists such as Brent Owens and Andrew Hurst making their work were insightful and even moving.  Hipster Sex was canceled, but you barely noticed its absence.  Instead, "Sometimes I Doubt Your Commitment to Sparkle Motion" filled this year’s void for awkwardly creepy yet luminescent performance art.

Yet many of the exhibits, including the model of Open Studios festivals, remain too inwardly focused.  The rhetoric of community-building espoused by arts and nonprofit organizations only becomes a reality when arts groups seek out community members for collaborations such as Norte Maar’s involvement with Bushwick IMPACT, CAPITAL B‘s outreach and events, and Arts in Bushwick’s work with RBSCC on Summer Streets.  Pocket Utopia‘s Austin Thomas, artists such as Graham Coreil-Allen and Andrew Hurst, and dancers affiliated with Chez Bushwick have brought performances to Bushwick’s streets, but for all the art created in Bushwick studios and all the artists living in Bushwick there is little in Bushwick to show for it.

One organization called the North Brooklyn Public Arts Coalition (NbPAC) is attempting to change that.  At a Public Art talk on Sunday (which I helped organize), public art leaders such as Ciara McKeown, Director of NbPAC, and Katherine Denny at the Department of Cultural Affairs spoke about a recent mural project on India Street in Greenpoint and an upcoming sculpture project in McCarren Park. 

I asked them to address how public art finds its way to streets, walls, and parks in Bushwick, and they said that either agencies put out a "request for proposal" for a site-based work or an artist or non-profit puts together a proposal and approaches a city agency.  Perhaps the question I should have asked was why isn’t there more public art in Bushwick, and where could it go? 

One answer certainly is financing (NbPAC is holding a fundraiser on Wednesday, November 11 at Berry Park, 4 Berry Street). The other is initiative. 

McKeown mentioned a fences project NbPAC is exploring where artists would presumably create work attached or interwoven with barricades surrounding stalled construction sites in North Brooklyn.  We know there are a lot of them.

The recently rehabilitated stretch of Flushing Avenue from Broadway to Cypress Avenue invites a large exhibition, as does the Jefferson Street subway station and its ongoing construction.  In other areas, private developers and business owners may welcome murals and other artwork, possibly coordinated by nonprofits such as El Puente, Groundswell, or RBSCC.  It has been over two years since a major El Puente mural in Bushwick and the last one is still striking.

Public art can be curated, too, of course.  Can the festival and Arts in Bushwick itself act as a curator to improve the quality of life of the neighborhood’s residents and make the area more beautiful for everyone?  There may be an opportunity to forge a more lasting legacy of public art in Bushwick if local organizations can work together to form a vision and execute it.  Now that would be an art exhibit that works.