Aaron Asis

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Aaron Asis (born 1980) is an artist dedicated to connecting people with their city. His work focuses on exploring new ways to share knowledge, engage the public, and highlight aspects of our city that most are unaware existed – through the creation of large-scale installations, documentary films, public events,and photographic collections.

Asis’ work is entirely collaborative, meant for and made by the public, including community members, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies in its development. By operating outside the realm of conventional art institutions and through public and private community partnerships, he uses his work to democratize both open spaces and the experience of art itself.

Life and Career

Asis grew up in Queens|Queens, New York, exploring the city, its people, and its public spaces. A child of 90's skate culture, Asis often found himself exploring hidden parts of the city, informing how he’d come to view built environments less as static structures and more as interactive playgrounds and portals. He credits this early exploration of the city, including the explorations of subway tunnels and the then-abandoned High Line as his inspiration into the arts – which began with photography as a way it to share the experience of these under-appreciated and forgotten space with others.

In 1998, Asis applied his passion for the city into an education. He studied architecture at the City College of New York and graduated from Queens College, City University of New York|CUNY Queens College in 2003, with a BFA in Fine Arts. In 2008/2009, Asis earned a dual Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Architecture from the University of Washington in Seattle. His first academic thesis produced Under-Exposed[1], a series of photographs that revealed the underground world of abandoned subway stations.

In 2015, Asis’ first large-scale installation, Ci Lines[2], opened the abandoned doors of St. Andrews Chapel in Philadelphia to the public for the first time in 20 years. Designed to “draw attention to the chapel’s architecture and engage the local community with the forgotten landmark.” This piece spurred additional installations that drew the public into unique spaces including In/Out Station[3] in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station and unSeen Green[4] inside Brooklyn’s historic Greenwood Cemetery Chapel|Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel.

In 2017, Asis began partnering with neighborhood groups to create new pathways between communities and decision makers (through public art) starting with Walk the Battery[5] in Seattle, a project that would become the catalyst for community efforts for the next several years. Working closely with city and state officials, Asis spearheaded and secured temporary public access to the Battery Street Tunnel in Belltown before its permanent closure. In 2017, Walk the Battery became the impetus for Recharge the Battery[6], Asis’ community-driven advocacy campaign to establish alternative public uses for the Battery Street Tunnel. This community work remains ongoing, including a multi-site image-and-word mural project entitled: By Belltown[7], that connected the community to the history of Belltown, Seattle|Belltown in Downtown Seattle, including a mural at the Battery Street Tunnel he had fought to keep open to public use back in 2017 which has since become a renewed area of interest to the community.

Opposite these governmental supported artistic efforts, Asis has also continuously created Guerrilla art|guerilla art in the public realm without formal permissions. These easily erected and disassembled pieces include Have a Ball[8], created in 2018, which consisted of 1,500 gold balls organized in a trail inside an abandoned structure in Fort Tilden National Park in Queens. Asis pushed forward without permits to create a counter-statement against Rockaway! 2018 and “to highlight the unconventional character of abandoned structures—rather than reducing abandonment to something of an artistic backdrop."[9]

The barriers Asis has faced trying to explore alternative solutions for under-utilized public spaces inspired him to use begin working with video to explore the complexities of bureaucratically collaborative work.[10] Asis’ first video project, Unforgotten Films[11], interviews members of the public, community organizations, and government agencies to highlight ways artists and bureaucrats can work together to better understand and improve problems in urban environments. This ongoing video project was launched in 2019 and features collaborative narratives about under-appreciated sites throughout New York City.

In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Asis continued to create public-focused art, including Fort Words[12], in Port Townsend, Washington, created a space for exploring the existing structure of Fort Worden in Fort Worden State Park while maintaining a COVID-safe distance. By stenciling large-format quotes drawn from local oral histories, Asis invited the public to wander and reconnect with the space’s history.

Select Works

Ci-Lines (Philadelphia, PA)

'Ci-Lines [13] featured 2,000 meters of cords, woven between existing architectural details inside the 20 years shuttered St. Andrew's Cathedral, Philadelphia|St. Andrews Chapel, in West Philadelphia — in collaboration with University City Arts League, the Penn-Alexander School, Art in the Open and partnering support from Lori Waselchuck. [14] (2015)

Unforgotten Films (New York City, NY)

Unforgotten Films is a documentary mini-series designed to highlight inaccessible landscapes in New York City with a focus on documenting the relationship between governmental, community, and creative agencies.[15] This project is made possible with support from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Foundation on the Arts, and in collaboration with NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, New York City Department of Correction|NYC Department of Correction, the National Park Service|National Parks Service, and dozens of additional organizations.[16] (2019-Ongoing)

By Belltown (Seattle, WA)

Belltown, Seattle|Belltown is home to Recharge the Battery[17], a community driven initiative advocating for vital improvements along the Battery Street. By Belltown is an ongoing series of large-scale paper murals to celebrate the past, present, and future of the neighborhood — created in collaboration with Belltown United, Belltown Property Owners, and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods – with support for the Downtown Seattle Association.[18] (2017-Ongoing)

Fort Words (Port Townsend, WA)

Fort Words was a temporary installation to celebrate the unique character and historic significance of the decommissioned military battery sites throughout Fort Worden State Park, in Port Townsend WA — developed in collaboration with Centrum, Fort Worden Public Development Authority, and permitting partnership from Washington State Parks Service, and the Historic Preservation Office. [19](2020)

References

  1. ↑ "Under-Exposed". Aaron Asis. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  2. ↑ "Blue cord criss-crosses abandoned church in Philadelphia". Dezeen. 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  3. ↑ *** (2015-10-08). "aaron asis develops site-specific installation in philadelphia's train station". designboom | architecture & design magazine. Retrieved 2022-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "unSeen Green – Green-Wood". www.green-wood.com. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  5. ↑ Wasson, By Lindsey (2017-03-06). "Hundreds walk through the Battery Street Tunnel". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  6. ↑ Enlow, Clair. "Mushroom farm? Park? Oh, the possibilities for this Seattle tunnel | Crosscut". crosscut.com. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  7. ↑ "By Belltown - CODAworx". www.codaworx.com. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  8. ↑ Saraniero, Nicole (2018-10-11). "1500 Gold Balls Turn Up in Guerrilla Art Installation at Abandoned Fort Tilden in Queens". Untapped New York. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  9. ↑ Saraniero, Nicole (2018-10-11). "1500 Gold Balls Turn Up in Guerrilla Art Installation at Abandoned Fort Tilden in Queens". Untapped New York. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  10. ↑ *** (2022-08-21). "'unforgotten films' explores new york's most complex and inaccessible landmarks". designboom | architecture & design magazine. Retrieved 2022-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ "About". Unforgotten Films. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  12. ↑ "Fort Words: An Installation by Centrum Artist-in-Residence, Aaron Asis". centrum.org. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  13. ↑ "Blue cord criss-crosses abandoned church in Philadelphia". Dezeen. 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  14. ↑ Barnes, Sara (2015-06-30). "Artist Uses 2,000 Meters of Paracord to Breathe New Life into Vacant Church". My Modern Met. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  15. ↑ "Episodes". Unforgotten Films. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  16. ↑ "Unforgotten Films". www.nyfa.org. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  17. ↑ Fesler, Stephen (2018-04-11). "Recharge The Battery Advocates Back with New Promenade Vision". The Urbanist. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  18. ↑ "Recharge the Battery". Recharge the Battery. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  19. ↑ "Fort Words". Fort Words. Retrieved 2022-12-05.

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