Best Alternative Art Space

JUNGLE ATLANTA is the spot for touring DJs and fabulous drag shows on a stage that’s fitted with a massive sound system and a light show that puts the Starship Enterprise to shame. This is more of a performance space, but definitely comfortable for solid night out of sensory overload. Between the club’s main room and the cabaret room, Jungle Atlanta makes 2016 look like the future. less...

What art-related business could you possibly have in rural northwest Georgia, you ask? We'll tell ya: Howard Finster's Paradise Gardens. Located about an hour and a half northwest of Atlanta, Paradise Gardens is the stuff-filled 2.5-acre legacy of late folk artist, banjo picker, and bicycle handyman Howard Finster. Finster bought the swampy lot in 1961, drained it himself, and, by decree of The Lord, filled the grounds over the next 40 years with thousands of works in his manic and pious style, including a maze-like mosaic garden, and the property's crowning glory, the World's Folk Art Chapel. After Finster's death in 2001, ownership changed hands multiple times and the property fell into disrepair as valuable artworks were lost, sold, or destroyed by the elements. But last December, Chattooga County bought the property for $125,000, founded the Paradise Garden Foundation, and initiated a revitalization effort. In April, Paradise Gardens was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Two months later it was awarded a $445,000 grant from ArtPlace. The outdoor museum reopened in May after an intense cleanup and beautification effort that has transformed the property, an effort that foundation executive director Jordan Poole hopes will also translate into a boost for the local economy. less...

Dashboard Co-Op seems blissfully unaware of the word "boundaries." And "rules." And "limits." And "functional indoor plumbing." Launched in early 2010, the local arts organization and online gallery has made some bold moves to help bridge the creative corners of the city. Founders Courtney Hammond and Beth Malone excel in reimagining and repurposing raw, vacant spaces as multipurpose art/music/food wonderlands. Dash's collaboration with pop-up restaurant Dinner Party in an unoccupied Westside storefront married two normally independent communities and challenged the ideas of what a gallery or a restaurant is. The sound and video installation Ants and Grasshoppers illuminated an empty Castleberry Hill warehouse and created an interesting juxtaposition between the bare-bones space and the tech-heavy artwork. The artist co-op and its founders instill in us a sense of civic pride, a feeling that just about anything is possible if we simply get off our tushes and make it happen. dashboardco-op.org. less...

Ever dream of soaring through the air on a trapeze or impressing the ladies with your juggling prowess? OK, that's kinda dorky, but somehow cool, too. And it's totally doable at THE CIRCUS ARTS INSTITUTE, where you'll build muscle tone by hoisting yourself onto lengths of fabric and work your core by balancing on trapeze bars. Plus, you'll be better equipped to run away and join the circus. 206 Rogers St., Suite 214. 404-549-3000. www.circusartsinstitute.com. less...

Tucked away in the nether regions of the Sampson Street Lofts, MINT GALLERY makes itself known with an unassuming orange door. The artist-run nonprofit gallery is practically ground zero for projects from Atlanta's emerging creatives. Owners/operators Erica Jamison and Mike Germon maintain a frenetic pace conceiving of inspired artist collabos (Joe Tsambiras, Sam Parker and the Paper Twins' Here We Hide); killer group shows (Solid Gold); and hosting hot-shit guest curators (Ben Goldman and Jason Travis), while co-founder Andrew Bellury acts as liaison for MINT exhibitions at other venues around town. 684-B John Wesley Dobbs Ave. mintgallery.blogspot.com. less...

EYEDRUM ART & MUSIC GALLERY is an experimental music institution. It’s Atlanta’s answer to such nationally heralded avant-garde venues as Tonic and the Kitchen in New York, bestowed with a weirdo Southern flair. Each month, Eyedrum’s first Thursday open improv nights are both a party and a breeding ground for the city’s most adventurous music. Between bands, when both audiences and performers head outside for a smoke, you will hear both absurd and profound conversations on the sociopolitical implications of everything from John Cage to Paris Hilton to the White Stripes. It’s a place of integrity and extreme exploration that proves that even in the fringe areas of culture, people still like to get crunk. less...

A welcoming, nicely laid-out East Decatur Station gallery with a Juxtapoz style, FOUNDATION ONE GALLERY is run by graphic designer and Moscow native Ivan Annikov. The gallery expresses Annikov’s taste for urban, graffiti and comic-inspired artists in Atlanta and farther afield, from Brooklyn to Finland. If you can’t make one of the sceney openings, the photo-packed website is the next best thing for checking out the art and the crowd. less...

627-B E. College Ave. 404-806-0925 http://www.foundationonegallery.com A welcoming, nicely laid-out East Decatur Station gallery with a Juxtapoz style, FOUNDATION ONE GALLERY is run by graphic designer and Moscow native Ivan Annikov. The gallery expresses Annikov's taste for urban, graffiti and comic-inspired artists in Atlanta and farther afield, from Brooklyn to Finland. If you can't make one of the sceney openings, the photo-packed website is the next best thing for checking out the art and the crowd. less...

Artists have always loved EYEDRUM ART & MUSIC GALLERY. The scrappy nonprofit features a democratically programmed repertoire of everything from cutting-edge sonic experiments to conceptual visual arts. Now, the rest of the world has given the progressive space a vote of confidence with the award this year of a $30,000 Warhol Foundation Grant. less...

Consensus at last! Readers and critics are in agreement that EYEDRUM ART AND MUSIC GALLERY, with its odd and inspired mix of performance, music, film, art and the unclassifiable continues to set the bar high for what alternative arts spaces can accomplish. There are risks and rewards to catering to such a diversity of genres and artists, but Eyedrum reaps some of the benefits, expanding the Atlanta artist gene pool with visiting curator shows like "Mechanized Idea" and the recent spin on craft, "Digital Origins". What else to say about a gallery that has given over gallery space to artists musing on topics as diverse as the politics of breast-feeding and venereal disease? Eyedrum has emerged as an experiment in grass roots democracy when we need it most. "290 MLK Jr. Drive, Suite 8, 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org" less...

Though the shows at Inman Park's ARTSPOT are at times spotty, you never know quite what you'll find. The venue has a lively openness and has been steadily improving, often featuring local artists not in the current heavy rotation in galleries around town. The 2,500-square-foot airy bi-level space shares quarters with the video production office, Tube, and is the brainchild of Georgia State MFA candidate Ann-Marie Manker, who embraces a variety of curatorial approaches. Memorable group shows this year included "Detour" curated by Jill Larson and the intriguing solo work of Bo Zhang. "704 McGruder St., Studio N, 404-659-0088. www.tubeartspot.com" less...