Storefront for Art and Architecture
Encyclopedia
Storefront for Art and Architecture is a contemporary art and architecture institution founded in 1982 in New York City
.
committed to the advancement of innovative positions in architecture, art and design. Storefront's program includes exhibitions, events [performances, artists talks, film screenings, conferences], competitions and publications with the stated intention of "generating dialogue and collaboration across geographic, ideological and disciplinary boundaries."
In 1993 Storefront commissioned a collaboration between artist Vito Acconci
and architect Steven Holl
to redesign the facade of the Kenmare Street gallery space. The resulting project transformed the structure by placing rotating panels of various orientation along the length of the gallery's facade. When the panels are open the design blurs the border between the gallery and the street, creating a dialogue between the experimental projects being exhibited inside and the city outside. Though the original design was only intended to last for two years, the building has become an architectural landmark in New York City since its completion in 1993. The facade underwent restoration in the summer of 2008.
, Jean Nouvel
, Terence Gower
, Yves Klein
, Torolab
, Manfred Pernice, Sze Tsung Leong
, Geoff Bunn, Center for Land Use Interpretation
, Diller + Scofidio, Center for Urban Pedagogy
, Lebbeus Woods
, Dan Graham
, and Shirin Neshat
among many others. Information about these exhibitions, as well as all the others, is available in the archive.
, Bernard Tschumi
, Peter Cook
, Anthony Vidler, Mark Wigley
, Chris Leong & Dominic Leong, Felicity Scott, David Benjamin, Lindsay Bremner, Raumlabor, Prem Krishnamurthy, Juergen Mayer
, Jimenez Lai, Spyros Papapetros, Mitchell Joachim
or Saskia Sassen
. Information about these events, as well as all the others, is available in the archive.
In 2008, a Pop-Up exhibition, "CCCP: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed," was held in an unused portion of a print éworks on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles from April 11 to May 17 of that year and featured Frédéric Chaubin's photographs of late Soviet architecture.
In 2009, the Spacebuster, a mobile inflatable structure - a portable, expandable pavilion - designed by Raumlabor to transform public spaces of all kinds into points for community gathering, traveled throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn for 10 consecutive evenings hosting various community events.
Postopolis! an on-going series of talks held in New York (2007), Los Angeles (2009) and Mexico City (2010) reflect about the current state of cities and design practices through a series of public sessions of near-continuous conversations curated by some of the world’s most prominent thinkers from the fields of architecture, art, urbanism, landscape, music and design.
, Toyo Ito
, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA, Pedro Reyes
, Beatriz Colomina
, Vito Acconci
, :fr:Eyal Weizman, Frederic Tuten
, Hans Ulrich Obrist
, Steven Holl
, Matthew Stadler
, and Dan Graham
. The bookstore also offers the artist book collection published by Centre for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu (Japan) as well as a number of books and catalogues that have been featured in exhibitions or events at Storefront.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Background
Founded in 1982 by Kyong Park, Storefront for Art and Architecture is a nonprofit organization in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
committed to the advancement of innovative positions in architecture, art and design. Storefront's program includes exhibitions, events [performances, artists talks, film screenings, conferences], competitions and publications with the stated intention of "generating dialogue and collaboration across geographic, ideological and disciplinary boundaries."
Gallery
Storefront is located in a unique triangular ground-level space on Kenmare Street in the Chinatown/Little Italy/Soho area of New York City. Situated on a major downtown thoroughfare between three radically different cultural sectors. Nearly 100 feet long, the gallery tapers from 20 feet to 3 feet at its west end.In 1993 Storefront commissioned a collaboration between artist Vito Acconci
Vito Acconci
Vito Hannibal Acconci is a Bronx, New York-born, Brooklyn-based designer, landscape architect, performance and installation artist.-Education:...
and architect Steven Holl
Steven Holl
Steven Holl is an American architect and watercolorist, perhaps best known for the 1998 Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland, the 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the celebrated 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,...
to redesign the facade of the Kenmare Street gallery space. The resulting project transformed the structure by placing rotating panels of various orientation along the length of the gallery's facade. When the panels are open the design blurs the border between the gallery and the street, creating a dialogue between the experimental projects being exhibited inside and the city outside. Though the original design was only intended to last for two years, the building has become an architectural landmark in New York City since its completion in 1993. The facade underwent restoration in the summer of 2008.
Exhibitions
The format of shows have ranged from single artist site-specific installations, to thematic group shows that have addressed issues from new technology to the social and political forces that shape the built environment. Over one thousand artists, architects and designers have shown at Storefront including projects by Daniel Arsham, Ramak Fazel, Bjarke Ingels GroupBjarke Ingels
Bjarke Ingels is a Danish architect. He heads the architectural practice Bjarke Ingels Group which he founded in 2006. In 2009 he co-founded the design consultancy KiBiSi...
, Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l'Architecture...
, Terence Gower
Terence Gower
Terence Gower is a Canadian artist based in New York City. He has exhibited his work and curated exhibitions at galleries and museums in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Argentina and Cuba...
, Yves Klein
Yves Klein
Yves Klein was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany...
, Torolab
Torolab
Torolab is an artist collective, founded in Tijuana in 1995 by Raúl Cardenas Osuna . The themes they have developed range from research on the identity of the border region, to housing and security to community building and survival...
, Manfred Pernice, Sze Tsung Leong
Sze Tsung Leong
Sze Tsung Leong is an American and British photographer and artist interested in urban studies. Born in Mexico City, he grew up there and in Los Angeles. He then studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and earned architecture degrees from the University of California,...
, Geoff Bunn, Center for Land Use Interpretation
Center for Land Use Interpretation
The Center for Land Use Interpretation is a non-profit "research organization involved in exploring, examining, and understanding land and landscape issues...
, Diller + Scofidio, Center for Urban Pedagogy
Center for Urban Pedagogy
The Center for Urban Pedagogy is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to improve the quality of public participation in urban planning and community design...
, Lebbeus Woods
Lebbeus Woods
Lebbeus Woods is an American architect and artist.-Career:Woods studied architecture at the University of Illinois and engineering at Purdue University and first worked in the offices of Eero Saarinen, but in 1976 turned exclusively to theory and experimental projects. He has designed buildings in...
, Dan Graham
Dan Graham
Dan Graham , is a conceptual artist now working out of New York City. He is an influential figure in the field of contemporary art, both a practitioner of conceptual art and an art critic and theorist. His art career began in 1964 when he moved to New York and opened the John Daniels Gallery....
, and Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat شیرین نشاط is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York. She is known primarily for her work in film, video and photography.-Background:Neshat's parents were upper middle-class...
among many others. Information about these exhibitions, as well as all the others, is available in the archive.
Events
Through a constant programming of events, Storefront provides a dynamic forum for discussion of contemporary issues through book discussions, film screenings or performances. As a platform to expose innovative ideas in relation to established discourses, Storefront operates as a space of encounter between institutionalized realms of practice and emerging voices through new formats of exchange and debate. Thousands of artists and architects have participated in Storefront events, including Enrique Walker, Kersten Geers & David Van Severen [Office], Sho Shigematsu OMAOMA
-Communication:* .oma, extension for files encrypted by OpenMG Audio for Sony's ATRAC3 format* OMA, Open Mobile Alliance, a standards body for the mobile phone industry* OMA, Outlook Mobile Access, a mobile phone email program using Microsoft Exchange Server...
, Bernard Tschumi
Bernard Tschumi
Bernard Tschumi is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Born of French and Swiss parentage, he works and lives in New York and Paris. He studied in Paris and at ETH in Zurich, where he received his degree in architecture in 1969...
, Peter Cook
Peter Cook (architect)
Professor Sir Peter Cook, founder of Archigram , former Director the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, has been a pivotal figure within the global architectural world for over half a century. His ongoing contribution to...
, Anthony Vidler, Mark Wigley
Mark Wigley
Mark Antony Wigley is a New Zealand-born architect, author, and Dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, New York, United States.-Life:...
, Chris Leong & Dominic Leong, Felicity Scott, David Benjamin, Lindsay Bremner, Raumlabor, Prem Krishnamurthy, Juergen Mayer
Juergen Mayer
Juergen Mayer is an Austrian bobsledder who has competed since 2007. His best World Cup finish was third in a four-man event at Lake Placid, New York on 22 November 2009....
, Jimenez Lai, Spyros Papapetros, Mitchell Joachim
Mitchell Joachim
Mitchell Joachim is acknowledged as an innovator in ecological design, architecture, and urban design. He is also a researcher, and architectural educator...
or Saskia Sassen
Saskia Sassen
Saskia Sassen is a Dutch sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is currently Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and Centennial visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Sassen coined the term global city...
. Information about these events, as well as all the others, is available in the archive.
Storefront Projects
Beyond the space of the gallery, Storefront develops projects through temporary actions that bring Storefront's programming to places and cities around the world.In 2008, a Pop-Up exhibition, "CCCP: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed," was held in an unused portion of a print éworks on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles from April 11 to May 17 of that year and featured Frédéric Chaubin's photographs of late Soviet architecture.
In 2009, the Spacebuster, a mobile inflatable structure - a portable, expandable pavilion - designed by Raumlabor to transform public spaces of all kinds into points for community gathering, traveled throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn for 10 consecutive evenings hosting various community events.
Postopolis! an on-going series of talks held in New York (2007), Los Angeles (2009) and Mexico City (2010) reflect about the current state of cities and design practices through a series of public sessions of near-continuous conversations curated by some of the world’s most prominent thinkers from the fields of architecture, art, urbanism, landscape, music and design.
Storefront Competitions
With the aim to address relevant issues within contemporary culture, Storefront has held a series of competitions throughout its history. In 1985 within the exhibition "Homeless at Home" a call for designs asked for the projection of alternative housing models for homeless in New York. In 1985, "Before the Whitney" asked for alternative designs for the Whitney Museum. In 2008 "White House Redux" asked for alternative designs of the White House. In 2010, Total Housing asked for new typologies of inhabitation that addressed outmoded ideas of domestic space and contemporary urban lifestyles. In 2011, on the occasion of the Festival of Ideas for the New City, "StreetFest" asked for alternative models of temporary outdoor spaces for public occupation and gathering.The Archive Project
Storefront maintains an archive as an open public resource for anyone interested in experimental art and architecture available by appointment. A brief version of the archive can be found on-line within Storefront's webpage.Storefront Books
Storefront books is a micro-bookstore housed in the far end of the gallery space. The bookstore's centerpiece is a series of individually curated collections from various artists and architects who have exhibited at Storefront: Keller EasterlingKeller Easterling
Keller Easterling is an American architect, urbanist, writer, and teacher. She earned both her B.A. and M.Arch from Princeton University and has taught architectural design and history at Parsons The New School for Design, Pratt Institute, and Columbia University. She is currently Associate...
, Toyo Ito
Toyo Ito
is a Japanese architect known for creating conceptual architecture, in which he seeks to simultaneously express the physical and virtual worlds. He is a leading exponent of architecture that addresses the contemporary notion of a "simulated" city, and has been called "one of the world's most...
, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA, Pedro Reyes
Pedro Reyes
See also, Pedro Reyes Pedro Antonio Reyes González is a former Chilean football defender....
, Beatriz Colomina
Beatriz Colomina
Beatriz Colomina is an architecture historian. She came to Columbia University from Spain in 1982. She then moved on to Princeton University's School of Architecture in 1988, later to become its director of graduate studies...
, Vito Acconci
Vito Acconci
Vito Hannibal Acconci is a Bronx, New York-born, Brooklyn-based designer, landscape architect, performance and installation artist.-Education:...
, :fr:Eyal Weizman, Frederic Tuten
Frederic Tuten
Frederic Tuten is an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He has written five novels – The Adventures of Mao on the Long March , Tallien: A Brief Romance , Tintin in the New World: A Romance , Van Gogh's Bad Café and The Green Hour – as well as one book of inter-related short...
, Hans Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist is a contemporary art curator, critic and historian of art. He is currently Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London...
, Steven Holl
Steven Holl
Steven Holl is an American architect and watercolorist, perhaps best known for the 1998 Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland, the 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the celebrated 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,...
, Matthew Stadler
Matthew Stadler
Matthew Stadler is a writer and editor who lives in Portland, Oregon. He has written four novels and received several awards and fellowships in recognition of his work. More recently, he has compiled four anthologies about literature, city life and public life...
, and Dan Graham
Dan Graham
Dan Graham , is a conceptual artist now working out of New York City. He is an influential figure in the field of contemporary art, both a practitioner of conceptual art and an art critic and theorist. His art career began in 1964 when he moved to New York and opened the John Daniels Gallery....
. The bookstore also offers the artist book collection published by Centre for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu (Japan) as well as a number of books and catalogues that have been featured in exhibitions or events at Storefront.
See also
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMa)Museum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
- P.S. 1 Contemporary Art CenterP.S. 1 Contemporary Art CenterMoMA PS1 is one of the largest and oldest institutions in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art. It is located in the Long Island City neighborhood of New York City...
- Museum of Modern Art (MARCO)Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de MonterreyMuseo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey is one of the leading museums of contemporary art in Mexico. MARCO organizes major exhibitions with regional and international contemporary artists. It is located in the heart of Monterrey next to the Macroplaza and Barrio Antiguo...