LentSpace
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) announces the September 18, 2009 opening of LentSpace, which transforms an entire city block into a platform for contemporary art exhibitions complemented by public programs. A model for citywide land use, this temporary project—made possible by the use of a Trinity Real Estate development site to LMCC—creates an “in the meantime” activity for a vacant site awaiting future development. Located in a downtown New York City block between Canal, Varick, Grand and Sullivan Streets, LentSpace features newly designed landscape by award-winning architects Interboro Partners. As conceived by Interboro, LentSpace’s landscape design features a tree nursery that provides shade while incubating street trees to be planted throughout the downtown neighborhood at a later date. In addition, a custom operable fence opens the space to encourage a variety of social encounters, incorporating benches for seating and a display surface for a commissioned graphic design series. LentSpace is a free outdoor cultural space open to the public from 7am to dusk, made possible by LMCC.
PROGRAMMING:
LentSpace’s inauguration will feature three distinct but inter-connected programs, each curated by LMCC’s curator Adam Kleinman.
Visual Art Exhibition
The inaugural exhibition at LentSpace, entitled Points & Lines, on view through the end of 2009, features work by eight international artists with seven art works: Olivier Babin, Olga Chernysheva, Eli Hansen & Oscar Tuazon, Graham Hudson, Tobias Putrih, Ryan Taber, and Corban Walker. Sitting in the center of a temporarily donated development site, which in turn is open to the public during set visiting hours, Points & Lines finds itself in the precarious position of being not only a guest, but also a host. In an attempt to playfully tease out some possible implications of this dual-identity, Points & Lines presents seven art installations that each refer to different issues of boundary and demarcation.
The exhibition will close in January and will reopen with new programming and exhibitions in spring 2010.
end-to-end, A Graphic Design Commission Series
Engaging New York’s graphic design community, LMCC has provided the opportunity for designers to repurpose the façade of LentSpace‘s operable 215-foot long fence along Sullivan Street, as a showcase for designers unbound by the typical constraints of commercial work. The opening commission in the end-to-end series is by the Brooklyn firm THUMB.
Print-Based Series
Late Editions is a print-based series by artists and architects reviewing Points & Lines and LentSpace through commissioned artists editions to be distributed for free. These prints will be nested into LentSpace‘s own program guide as inserts and distributed on-site in newspaper distribution boxes for free, while supplies last. Editions are released serially one per month from September 2009 through December 2009. Featured artists are Julieta Aranda, Common Room (Todd Rouhe, Maria Ibanez, and Lars Fischer), Nikolas Gambaroff, and DAS INSTITUT (Kerstin Brätsch and Adele Röder).
ABOUT LOWER MANHATTAN CULTURAL COUNCIL:
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has been a leading voice for arts and culture downtown and throughout Manhattan for over 35 years, producing cultural events and promoting the arts through grants, services, advocacy, and cultural development programs. www.LMCC.net
ABOUT TRINITY WALL STREET:
Located at the head of Wall Street, Trinity Church has been part of New York City’s and our nation’s history since its charter in 1697. Today, the organization has grown to include many important areas of focus and is collectively known as Trinity Wall Street. Trinity Real Estate manages the parish’s six million square feet of commercial real estate in lower Manhattan.
LENTSPACE OPENING SEPTEMBER 18
OPEN HOURS: 7:00AM TO DUSK, FREE
SUBWAY: 1 AND A/C/E CANAL STREET
LENTSPACE SITE DONOR:
TRINITY WALL STREET
LENTSPACE PARTNERS:
ANONYMOUS
F.J. SCIAME CONSTRUCTION CO., INC.
GILSANZ.MURRAY.STEFICEK.LLP
NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS
NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION
PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY
STAVROS NIARCHOS FOUNDATION
LENTSPACE EXHIBITION SUPPORT:
MACCARONE GALLERY
MONITOR GALLERY
PACEWILDENSTEIN
MEDIA CONTACT:
Justin Conner
FITZ & CO
Tel 917-609-8499
Justin [at] fitzandco.com
