BOOM's mission extends beyond the arts; it is also about being a good neighbor, a hub for fun, and a force for change. The Garfield-based arts incubator celebrates its 10th anniversary with a major fundraising campaign and community-wide event.
The Office for Public Art rebrands as Shiftworks and stays focused on its mission of "catalyzing change through community-engaged artist projects in public space."
At BOOM Concepts, the Black-led community arts hub he runs with J. Thomas Agnew in Garfield, Pittsburgh artist DS Kinsel provides support to countless local.
Dafna Rehavia working on
Binds & Bonds For someone with such a soft, gentle demeanor, Pittsburgh-based artist Dafna Rehavia has a penchant for sharp edges. This becomes apparent while exploring
Binds & Bonds, her in-progress, site-specific installation on view as part of a two-month residency at BOOM Concepts in Garfield. Among the piles of broken chairs wound in twine, yarn, and ribbons are exposed rusty nails and bits of metal wire. There are also tin can lids, broken glass, and jaguars, the sleek predator appearing throughout as cutouts hanging on a wall or stalking a painting. Integrating threatening elements into symbols of comfort and healing (like chairs and a row of suspended IVs made partially from modeling clay) adds to a multi-faceted, ever-growing exploration of trauma. An artist statement describes how Rehavia “engages and deconstructs forms of symbolic violence through sculptural construction,” and the repetitive, ongoing process