The German Embassy in Port-of-Spain, together with Abovegroup Ogilvy, is introducing a great street art project to T&T. Urban Heartbeat-An artistic Encounter in Public Spaces has been initiated by the Goethe Institute in Mexico City and is touring Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean in February and March. The tour dates for Port-of-Spain are March 26-29. The east wall of the Grand Stand at the Queen's Park Savannah is the venue for Urban Heartbeat, which according to the embassy, "...is the perfect location for this project, thanks to the National Carnival Commission for allowing us to use this space.
"And, of course, we will celebrate our finished mural with a big party-Show and Tell Urban Heartbea-on March 29." The winners of the street art contest, where urban artists, designers, muralists, illustrators and cartoonists from T&T submitted their designs on the project's Facebook wall, have finally been selected, and include Jennifer Perez Rojas, Richard Williams, Brianna McCarthy, Dean Arlen, Kriston Banfield, Danielle Boodoo-Fortune, Maria Elena Joseph, Luis Vasquez La Roche, Alicia Milne and Raquel Vasquez.
The winning designs from each country Urban Heartbeat visits, will be used to inspire the imagination of local artists to blend their work with the others, giving rise to something new, a unique fusion of styles. German artist, Jim Avignon, together with the local winners, will create a mural using these different styles.
The whole project will be documented by Holger Beier, who will also take on the role as DJ for the party. Before coming to Port-of-Spain, Urban Heartbeat will visit Jamaica, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua. After touring the region, the project will end up in Mexico City and subsequently in the German capital Berlin, where a catalogue of all the artwork and designs of all the artists will be presented in Galerie Neurotitan, a unique space for urban and alternative art.
• For more information read the blog on www.urban-heartbeat.com or go directly on Facebook: www.facebook.com/demibarrioatubarrio (De mi barrio a tu barrio is the Spanish name of Urban Heartbeat.)