The Portable On Demand Arts (P.O.D.A.) Project was a temporary public art exhibition that provided a non-traditional platform for artists to explore the cultural, ecological, political, scientific, and socio-economic forces shaping Houston’s aspirations for the future. The Houston Arts Alliance teamed up with Portable-on-Demand Storage (PODS) to supply eight shippable storage containers to local artists and arts groups to use in making their own public statements. Aerosol Warfare’s container celebrated Houston’s diversity through an explosion of colors and urban art techniques using spray paint, while BOX 13 ArtSpace artists worked collaboratively and independently to create a time capsule of culturally significant artifacts, transforming their unit into a Box of Curiosities. Metalab Principals Joe Meppelink and Andrew Vrana worked with the University of Houston College of Architecture students to create a container around the notion of PLAY, capitalizing on the context of the park setting and open space, offering an energetic creative outlet for both creators and the participants. Each artist or artist group addressed the containers in unique and unexpected ways, adding their own flavors and philosophies to the traveling exhibition. The works were on public display first at Discovery Green, then made their way to various locations around the city.
Artists: Aerosol Warfare, Box13 ArtSpace, Jillian Conrad, The Joanna (Cody Ledvina + Brian Rod), Lynne McCabe, Gabriel Martinez, Metalab, Anthony Thompson Shumate
Location: Discovery Green + multiple locations throughout Houston
Date: 2011
Type: Temporary Traveling Art Exhibition
Role: Project Manager at Houston Arts Alliance