ABOUT
What is voice? Is it spoken or heard? Visible or subliminal? Is it seen in the way we dress, move, or create? Is it silent yet present in the choices we make, the communities we form, and the ways we engage with the world? How do we find our voice in times of division? What happens when we amplify it? What happens when we don’t?
ENGAGEMENT | AGENCY | PRESENCE | RESONANCE
What is voice? Is it spoken or heard? Visible or subliminal? Is it seen in the way we dress, move, or create? Is it silent yet present in the choices we make, the communities we form, and the ways we engage with the world? How do we find our voice in times of division? What happens when we amplify it? What happens when we don’t?
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Art in Odd Places Festival and the 40th anniversary of the City of West Hollywood, we honor the voices that have shaped these milestones—voices of creativity, resilience, and advocacy. West Hollywood, a city born from collective action, reminds us that when people make their voices heard, extraordinary change is possible. This year’s festival, VOICE, asks artists to consider and explore the many ways voices resonate in public spaces. Inspired by West Hollywood’s legacy as a hub for activism and culture, the festival asks: How can art express the complexity of our times? Can art help us find resonance and connection amidst disconnection?
AiOP 2025: VOICE / WEHO is dedicated to Jacki Apple (1941-2022) – an artist, writer, composer, producer, and educator based in New York and Los Angeles. A champion of performance and conceptual art, she was dedicated to increasing the cultural power of fellow artists.
Let us celebrate Voice together, an expression of identity, agency, and the shared humanity that connects us all
Deborah Oliver – Curator
Mission
Art in Odd Places aims to stretch the boundaries of communication in the public realm by presenting artworks in all disciplines outside the confines of traditional public space regulations. AiOP reminds us that public spaces function as the epicenter for diverse social interactions and the unfettered exchange of ideas.
History
Art in Odd Places began as an action by a group of artists led by Ed Woodham to encourage local participation in the Cultural Olympiad of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In 2005, after moving back to New York City, he re-imagined it as a response to the dwindling of public space and personal civil liberties – first in the Lower East Side and East Village, and since 2008, on 14th Street in Manhattan. AiOP has always been a grassroots project fueled by the goodwill and inventiveness of its participants.
People
Katya Usvitsky
Associate Producer/Noysky Projects
Support
Thanks
Andrew Campbell, Bonnie Stein, Marcus Mitchell, Rebecca Ehemann, Le Parc at Melrose, Nancy Meyer, The City of West Hollywood, City of West Hollywood Art Division’s Art on the Outside Board, The City of West Hollywood Mayor: Chelsea Lee Byers, THE City of West Hollywood Parks and Facilities, West Hollywood Park Aquatic and Recreation Center, Plummer Park, Jackie Apple Foundation, Chris Shane, Soho House – Holloway, Edwin Santiago, Sofia Sisniega, Stacy Perskie, All of the Participants in the AiOP public art workshops, City of West Hollywood Arts and Cultural Affairs Commissioners: Dawn Moreno-Freedman, Sigourney Gunther, Cat Lee, Heather Allyn, Dan Faltz, Mito Aviles, & Martin Gantman, West Hollywood Teen Center. Video Documentation Team: Bean Parsons & Hayden Atzberger, Wendy Young, Yubo Dong, Elodie Hekimian-Brogan, Artist Assistants: Daniel Gonzalez, Arisa Moghaddam, Kiera Lloyd, Lucila Jacobo, Isabel Bowman Nickolopoulos, Ahlina Kay-Lynn Smart, Veronica Dimitrov, and Tucker Parsons.