Artomatic announced its reopening on Friday, March 15, following a temporary closure. Despite encountering unforeseen challenges mere days after opening on March 8, the beloved local art festival announced via Instagram that it would resume operations by March 15 at 6 p.m. A spokesperson from Artomatic told Washingtonian that the Foggy Bottom venue where this year’s festival takes place came with unexpected permitting issues.
In 2009, the last time Artomatic was held in D.C. proper, the team had fewer bureaucratic hoops to jump through. Although the team initially obtained a Certificate of Occupancy for this year’s event, they later learned from D.C.’s Department of Buildings that a building permit is also needed for the planned seven-week extravaganza.
With tonight’s reopening, Artomatic’s steering committee member Tim Tate confirms to City Paper that permits have been secured and the festival will return to its regularly scheduled program. At this year’s Artomatic, nearly 1,000 local artists have come together to breathe life into that abandoned Foggy Bottom office building at the intersection of 21st and M streets NW, transforming the space into a sprawling multifloor gallery.
Every genre and medium imaginable is featured at Artomatic—from jewelry, glass work, and graffiti to sculpture, photography, painting, and more. Aside from offering a space to exhibit visual arts over the course of seven weeks, Artomatic will also host countless DJ nights, lectures, themed dance parties, and workshops. Visitors can grab wine or beer from the donation-based bar, contribute to the community painting wall, or snap content for the ’gram at one of the numerous selfie spots.
How do artists get their work displayed at Artomatic? It’s simple—a $150 fee and a commitment to do three five-hour volunteer shifts during the event’s seven-week run. Tate, who’s also the director of the Washington Glass School and my personal Artomatic tour guide, tells City Paper that these volunteer shifts are how he built his vast network of local artists over the years. From its humble beginnings in 1999, when the event was promoted via word-of-mouth and featured 350 artists, Artomatic has grown dramatically. This year, it features more than 900 artists, but that number comes closer to 1,500 when the performers—including local bands, poets, and authors—are included. During the tour, Tate answers a FaceTime call from his husband, who tells me about his dream-pop band, Blood Family Reunion, who will celebrate their album drop with performances at Artomatic on March 23. Of course, Tate’s work graces their album cover.
One of the defining features of Artomatic is the low barrier to entry for artists, which removes gatekeepers dictating what is acceptable in traditional art spaces. As we stroll through the main floor displays, Tate notes Artomatic welcomes all forms of art without judgment. “No one does that here,” he says. “You wanna put Barbies on the floor in a star pattern? You go, girl, do whatever you like.” Consequently, the art on display at Artomatic is as expansive, diverse, and outspoken as the community of D.C. artists it represents. Tate takes every opportunity on the tour to point out art by queer artists, seldom-seen representations of trans and nonbinary bodies, and the political statements made by the artists, including himself.
During my solo tour of the galleries, we bump into various artists setting up their spaces before the March 8 opening, which captures the true community-building vibe of the Artomatic experience. “It’s a little intense,” says glass artist Anthony D’amico before walking us through his fifth-floor display, which features a noose with “POLITICS” painted onto the structure and a piece called “Government Lies” with an ear set against a backdrop of red, white, and blue with tally marks tracking lies. Tate warns him about the potential controversy surrounding the noose, to which D’amico responds confidently, “I invest more faith in people and their intelligence. This is the only place it can go; this isn’t going to go in a gallery.”
Artists aren’t the only ones who benefit from the omission of curators, juries, fees, and restrictions. Founder Goerge Koch points out that whenever you go to a gallery or museum, someone has selected the art for you to see. Instead, visitors at Artomatic develop their own curatorial skills, resulting in a true marketplace of artistic ideas, where the visitor is invited to expand their understanding of what art can be and who it represents. Artomatic provides a platform for artists from all walks of life to express themselves authentically and without inhibition, fostering a vibrant and inclusive cultural space for creators and audiences.
Artomatic is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to midnight, and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. artomatic.org. Free.