We are thrilled to announce that SPACE has been selected as one of four U.S. arts organizations with the Works In Progress Association (WIPA), a new national collaboration of artists, designers, printers, and organizers creating and distributing printed matter around urgent civic and cultural issues. Our first print exchange, public art activation and free art distribution will take place in the last week of October and first week of November. The Association will grow and expand in 2027 with subsequent activations to follow.
The Works in Progress Association — echoing the name of the federal art and employment program of the New Deal-era — continues a long tradition of artists using bold, accessible public art to advance American social progress. We are excited to put artists to work on our era’s most pressing issues.
Working from Portland, Maine, SPACE Gallery is one of the four founding “hubs” of WIPA and is commissioning art in exchange with Public Media Institute in Chicago (the originator of WIPA), BULK space in Detroit, and Confluence Studio in Minneapolis.
Here’s how you can help.
SPACE is looking for citizens and small businesses in southern Maine to publicly display an original Risograph and large format prints in from one of WIPA’s initial 28 participating artists — including Maine artists Julia Arredondo and radical emprints, Erik Ruin’s from Justseeds collective was also commissioned by SPACE as part of the first artist cohort.
Post it in your window, mount it on the wall in your small business, or post it on a yard sign in front of your home. We kindly ask that you display the poster through election season into mid-November, in keeping with the spirit of the program. Additional prints will be available as free art to the public at the end of October and early November.
To participate, please fill out the form below.
Risograph prints of WIPA posters are 11 x 17 inches, with optional large-scale prints as large as 2′ x 3′ and 4′ x 6′. Prints will be made by Pickwick Independent Press, located in the SPACE Studios above our venue.
Additionally, all those who attend SPACE programs from October 26-31 will receive one of these 28 complimentary 11″ x 17″ Risograph posters from the WIPA program. Attendees can pick them up at the front desk during programs and in the 534 Congress Gallery during exhibition hours (Thursday-Friday from 12-6 pm and Saturday from 12-4 pm.)
SPACE will host a Works in Progress Association event on election eve, November 2nd. You can also stop by SPACE with your “I Voted” sticker on election day and get a free print (or two!).
