NYC No Longer Empty (Official Site)
Kaarina Kaikkonen
Something Out of Nothing
Organization: No Longer Empty
Location:Invisible Dog Art Center
51 Bergen Street, Brooklyn
October 3 - Nov 14, 2009
Beware: “The Invisible Dog“ is unleashed this Saturday, October 3rd! The latest group exhibition produced by No Longer Empty, “The Dog” is a show “out of nothing” in a warmly decrepit out-of-use belt factory on Bergen Street in Brooklyn.
Following the tails of the Improv Everywhere stunt last week, the show presents a multitude of site-specific works reflecting both the history of the space and the profound beauty of the Invisible Dog. A rift on the 70’s gag, it’s a void object waiting for creative minds and hands to bring it to life.
Here in the factory, artists grabbed the many trimmings, reels of fabric, leather and other materials and transformed them into something new. The artist duo Steven and William created a “chandelier” of abandoned belt buckles. Guerra del la Paz amassed tons of discarded clothing, one color at a time. Here, la Paz’s “trashy” tribute becomes an imposing, yurt-shaped spectral prism. In the neighborhood spirit, Tom Sanford brings Jonathan Lethem’s novel “Motherless Brooklyn”-- which takes place on this block, to life via a fantastic, larger than life mural. Even the freight elevator is transformed: here, Giuseppe Stampone takes us on a trip from Hell to Heaven al Dante.
The Invisible Dog Art Center | Click Here
The Invisible Dog, a new three-story art center in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, is an exuberant example of the integration of forward thinking and care for the past. The art center, admittedly, had a leg up: its home came equipped with an irresistable history. Built in the late nineteenth century, the 20,000 square-foot factory went through a number of industrial incarnations before its owners struck gold in the 1970s with the invisible dog trick: a stiff lease and collar surrounding the empty space where a dog would be. A mixture of party-hearty silliness and tongue-in-cheek trompe l’oeil, the trick became an icon of its era. But eventually public taste moved on; meanwhile, over the years, the Brooklyn neighborhood was changing. The factory closed its doors in the late 1990s; the boarded-up building was a blight on its quiet Brooklyn block.
What happened then is a kind of urban fairytale. In December 2008, Muriel Guépin leased the storefront and turned it into Shop Art Gallery, a small gallery with decidedly democratic spirit. Soon after, Lucien Zayan, a recent New York immigrant, stumbled upon Shop Art and inquired after the building behind it. Zayan knew he had hit on something when he heard the building’s history: he’d spent his life working in the French theater, including the Aix-en-Provence festival and Paris’s renowned Théàtre de Odeon and Théàtre de la Madeleine, and he recognized the perfect mise-en-scène. With the support of the building’s current owners, he decided to turn the space into a large-scale art center.
Less than a year later, the Invisible Dog is up and running. The building has been restored for safety and cleaned, but otherwise preserved intact. The rawness of the unfinished space is integral to the Invisible Dog’s identity: Zayan wanted a place that artists could really use, not a pristine renovation without personality. The ceiling on the third floor was restored using floor boards found in other parts of the building, and the enormous elevator shaft (the elevator removed) will be left open, as a unique exhibition space. Everywhere, the commitment to collaboration and community is clear. The ground floor, with its 14-foot ceilings, will be used for public events, performances, educational programs, and exhibitions, organized by guest curators from around the world. The second floor, divided into studios, is already occupied by nine specially-selected artists on one-year leases. They meet regularly with Zayan to discuss their work and the project. The third floor, light-filled and spacious designed by Anne Attal, will be available for flexible rental by the general public.
Artists:
Thomas Bell
Ryan Brennan
Amanda Browder
Rosane Chamecki, Andrea Lerner & Phil Harder
Gina Czarnecki
Jeanette Doyle
Steve DeFrank
Richard Garet
Guerra de la Paz
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Kaarina Kaikkonen
Giles Lyon
Miguel Palma
José Parlá
Rey Parlá
Tom Sanford
Keith Schweitzer
Francesco Simeti
Alfred Steiner
Giuseppe Stampone
Kaarina Kaikkonen
Something Out of Nothing
Organization: No Longer Empty
Location:Invisible Dog Art Center
51 Bergen Street, Brooklyn
October 3 - Nov 14, 2009
Beware: “The Invisible Dog“ is unleashed this Saturday, October 3rd! The latest group exhibition produced by No Longer Empty, “The Dog” is a show “out of nothing” in a warmly decrepit out-of-use belt factory on Bergen Street in Brooklyn.
Following the tails of the Improv Everywhere stunt last week, the show presents a multitude of site-specific works reflecting both the history of the space and the profound beauty of the Invisible Dog. A rift on the 70’s gag, it’s a void object waiting for creative minds and hands to bring it to life.
Here in the factory, artists grabbed the many trimmings, reels of fabric, leather and other materials and transformed them into something new. The artist duo Steven and William created a “chandelier” of abandoned belt buckles. Guerra del la Paz amassed tons of discarded clothing, one color at a time. Here, la Paz’s “trashy” tribute becomes an imposing, yurt-shaped spectral prism. In the neighborhood spirit, Tom Sanford brings Jonathan Lethem’s novel “Motherless Brooklyn”-- which takes place on this block, to life via a fantastic, larger than life mural. Even the freight elevator is transformed: here, Giuseppe Stampone takes us on a trip from Hell to Heaven al Dante.
The Invisible Dog Art Center | Click Here
The Invisible Dog, a new three-story art center in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, is an exuberant example of the integration of forward thinking and care for the past. The art center, admittedly, had a leg up: its home came equipped with an irresistable history. Built in the late nineteenth century, the 20,000 square-foot factory went through a number of industrial incarnations before its owners struck gold in the 1970s with the invisible dog trick: a stiff lease and collar surrounding the empty space where a dog would be. A mixture of party-hearty silliness and tongue-in-cheek trompe l’oeil, the trick became an icon of its era. But eventually public taste moved on; meanwhile, over the years, the Brooklyn neighborhood was changing. The factory closed its doors in the late 1990s; the boarded-up building was a blight on its quiet Brooklyn block.
What happened then is a kind of urban fairytale. In December 2008, Muriel Guépin leased the storefront and turned it into Shop Art Gallery, a small gallery with decidedly democratic spirit. Soon after, Lucien Zayan, a recent New York immigrant, stumbled upon Shop Art and inquired after the building behind it. Zayan knew he had hit on something when he heard the building’s history: he’d spent his life working in the French theater, including the Aix-en-Provence festival and Paris’s renowned Théàtre de Odeon and Théàtre de la Madeleine, and he recognized the perfect mise-en-scène. With the support of the building’s current owners, he decided to turn the space into a large-scale art center.
Less than a year later, the Invisible Dog is up and running. The building has been restored for safety and cleaned, but otherwise preserved intact. The rawness of the unfinished space is integral to the Invisible Dog’s identity: Zayan wanted a place that artists could really use, not a pristine renovation without personality. The ceiling on the third floor was restored using floor boards found in other parts of the building, and the enormous elevator shaft (the elevator removed) will be left open, as a unique exhibition space. Everywhere, the commitment to collaboration and community is clear. The ground floor, with its 14-foot ceilings, will be used for public events, performances, educational programs, and exhibitions, organized by guest curators from around the world. The second floor, divided into studios, is already occupied by nine specially-selected artists on one-year leases. They meet regularly with Zayan to discuss their work and the project. The third floor, light-filled and spacious designed by Anne Attal, will be available for flexible rental by the general public.
Artists:
Thomas Bell
Ryan Brennan
Amanda Browder
Rosane Chamecki, Andrea Lerner & Phil Harder
Gina Czarnecki
Jeanette Doyle
Steve DeFrank
Richard Garet
Guerra de la Paz
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Kaarina Kaikkonen
Giles Lyon
Miguel Palma
José Parlá
Rey Parlá
Tom Sanford
Keith Schweitzer
Francesco Simeti
Alfred Steiner
Giuseppe Stampone