Artomatic, which sounds like a thin slice of madness – more on that in a bit – went away three years ago for some reason or other; odds are it was just marshaling its resources, because now it’s back, and whoa, strap in for this one. It’s a remarkably democratic undertaking, actually – everyone pays the same fee, the spaces are all the same size, and it’s first-come, first-serve all the way across the board – but of course, democracy is… messy, let’s just say. This thing, Artomatic, stretches over 10 floors of an old office building at 1851 S. Bell Street in Arlington and would appear to have just about everything, and lots of everything, from filmmakers to, dunno, brewmasters, maybe? (They’re planning on having beer and wine tastings periodically throughout the festival’s run, although I guess “beer tasting” could conceivably be a euphemism for “Boy, don’t that PBR taste good?”) Anyway, the show’s up through June 23, and it’s free, so if any of this is intriguing, at all, which it maybe should be, it’s probably worth crossing the river for. (FULL ARTICLE: Jonathan L. Fischer, Washington City Paper)