“A radical and timely attempt to disrupt our day-to-day phone worship.” — Creative Loafing, “Best of the Bay” 2024 staff pick for Public Art
Tampa Bay Times Feature
“Absurd flyers are posted in St. Petersburg. To learn more, we sent a fax.” (Tampa Bay Times)
“Since January [2024], a trio of artists and poets — Tyler Gillespie, Keifer Calkins and Eleanor Eichenbaum — have taken to the south alley from 20th to 28th streets on St. Petersburg’s Central Avenue, posting upward of 60 flyers on telephone poles.
But instead of announcements for yard sales or lost cats, the 8.5-by-11-inch copy paper displays a mashup of public art and poetry installations that rotate monthly. The trio, known as FAX 727-289-3069, dubbed the project “Poetry Alley.” Flyers stay up as long as weather permits.”
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Hillsborough Community College's “Now On View: A Public Ephemeral Art Festival” (Feb. 22, 2025)
“everything is built on layers on top of other layers on top of other layers”
A large-scale poetry and art collage installation by FAX 727 289 3069 at Hotel Haya, 1412 E. Seventh Ave.
FAX 727 289 3069 constructed a fictional history of Tampa through layers of handmade fliers— these public postings reflected research in historical archives as well as contemporary imagery. FAX invited viewers to engage with various aspects of Ybor’s vibrant history through text and image; from pirates to punks to lounge singers to cigars.
Outside the Hotel Haya’s Café Quiquiriqui, FAX greeted visitors with poetry on pillars, hanging pennants, and free handmade buttons.
photo credits: Kristen Roles (event photographer)
Now On View: Poetry Prints
(collages made on a copy machine)
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Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg
“St. Pete’s ‘Poetry Alley’ wants you to bring a meaningful object to the Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday” (Creative Loafing, July 2024)
“Lizzi Bougatsos and Lonnie Holley’s “Never the Same Song” is one of the most powerful art exhibitions on display in Tampa Bay right now, and the MFA St. Pete is inviting locals to come interact with the installation.
From 11 a.m.-1 p.m. anyone is invited to bring “a meaningful handheld object” to the MFA steps where it’ll be duplicated in two dimensions using a copy machine run by the FAX 727-289-3069 collective, which is helmed by Bay area artists Keifer Calkins, Eleanor Eichenbaum, and Tyler Gillespie.”
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg
Poetry Alley: Group Installation and Walking Tour (Museum of Fine Arts, Aug. 2024)
FREE FOR EVERYONE!
Thursday, August 1, 2024
6:00pm–7:30pm
The Corner of Central Avenue and 28th Street
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Tombolo Books + City of Writers Festival 2024
Experimental Poetry & Collaboration
Partners: Camilo Loaiza Bonilla, Keifer Calkins, Kaitlin Crockett (Print St. Pete), Eleanor Eichenbaum, Tyler Gillespie, & Gloria Muñoz
