Rooms to Let: Cleveland returned to the Slavic Village neighborhood in Cleveland last Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17, 2015. Over 40 artists created a temporary art exhibition using vacant homes as their medium. The free event also included a neighborhood block party with live music, hands-on art activities and local food purveyors. Belt photographer Bob Perkoski attended and captured the essence of the event in photographs.

Led by Slavic Village Development, Rooms to Let: Cleveland seeks to continue the conversation around vacancy and the plight of Cleveland’s historic neighborhoods in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. This year’s event expanded this dialogue to a new group of visual and performance artists to further interpret the evolution of community and recovery.

Artists interested in transforming spaces in three vacant homes in Broadway Slavic Village were selected by curators, Sai Sinbondit (Designer at Bialosky+Partner Architects and faculty at Cleveland Institute of Art) Amy Krusinski Sinbondit (ceramics/sculpture artist and Technical Specialist/Adjunct Faculty at Cleveland Institute of Art), Dana DePew (artist), Rian Brown (filmmaker, video artist and Associate Professor of Cinema Studies and New Media at Oberlin College) and Scott Pickering (artist).

Exhibit artists included: Mona Gazala, Megan Louise Pitcher, Tina Ripley, Meg Matko, Kelsey Moulton, Megan Elk, Mallorie Freeman, Progressive Arts Alliance Artist-Educators and Mound STEM School Students, Lauren Sammon, Loren Naji, Acerbic, SPEC, Amanda Wilcox+Michael Lombardy , Bialosky+Partner Architect, Rachel Yurkovich, Nathan Manthey, Jordan Fine, Spencer Cowan, Jeffry Chiplis, Paul Sydorenko, Jose Carlos Texiera , Claudio Orso, Rick Ferris, Sarah FitzSimons, Ron Gundel, Edward Raffel, Doug Meyer, Cynthia Penter, Christine Mauersberger, Matthew Bartel, Ron Copeland, Grace Summanen, Nancy Baker Cahill, Rian Brown Orso, Broadway MyCom P-16, Scott Pickering, Claire Campbell, Liz Maugans, Robin Latkovich, Charles Kiss, Sally Hudak, Dana DePew, Eli Gfall, Nancy Prudic and Keith Graham.

Rooms To Let: Cleveland is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

http://slavicvillage.org/roomstolet

Photos Bob Perkoski

Belt is a reader-supported publication. Become a member now — we offer great perks! https://beltmag.com/product/belt-membership/