The City Seen: July 8-11

Notes from the weekend

By Antoinette Ena Johnson

[
      {
        "name": "500x250 Ad",
        "insertPoint": "5",
        "component": "15667920",
        "parentWrapperClass": "",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
      }
    ]

After a short hiatus, the City Seen is once again hitting the streets. This weekend, we rolled through several First Friday venues, and caught the Independence Day celebration downtown.

Our first stop on Friday was Visual Studies Workshop where Ray Ray Mitrano tried to make sense of the presidential primary caucus process. Mitrano had drawings that brought us across several US states, voting paraphernalia was on display, and the display worked in a few of Mitrano's own voting ideas. The exhibit prompted the viewer to think about how our votes count.

Rochester Contemporary's 6x6x2016 is still on display, with thousands of art pieces. The sheer volume and variety of the art that is sent in each year is amazing to witness. The exhibit runs through July 17, so there is still time to basque in the creativity.

The Rochester 4th of July celebration on the river was ... okay. The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra was set up on the Main Street bridge and played American classics as we waited for the sun to set. The fireworks started promptly at 10 p.m., with a slow build, only to be disrupted by bystanders shooting fireworks into the crowd right before the finale.

Check out photos and video from this weekends events in the slideshow below, and follow City's Instragram and Twitter @roccitynews for live coverage of Rochester events.