Anguilla Quilt, 2021, Rachel Wallis in collaboration with Mariame Kaba, during a 2020-2021 Project Nia Artist Residency. Courtesy the artists

Tuesday August 3, 2024, 2–4 pm

97 Kenmare Street

New York, NY

Join us for an afternoon of zines, art books, and art with organizer, educator, and archivist Mariame Kaba, and writer, healer, and book artist, tash nikol, who will revisit the 1947 Anguilla Prison Camp Massacre, a racist murder committed as response to a group of prisoners’ refusal to work in snake-infested waters. The program will include a talk followed by an art activity to remember and honor victims of the massacre. Mariame Kaba and tash nikol’s recently co-authored art book, Anguilla Prison Massacre (Small Editions, 2024), will be available for sale, with all proceeds benefiting Survived & Punished NY Mutual Aid fund.

This program is in honor of Black August—a time to commemorate prison-led organizing and continue to work towards abolition. It is stewarded by Maya Whites, former Gallery and Community Engagement Fellow at Storefront. All materials for the workshop will be provided, and participants do not need any prior art experience.

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About the participants
Tash Nikol is a writer, herbalist, and book artist from the South. Her writing explores reflections on Black and Indigenous ancestral narratives and histories, speculative fiction, and poetry. Tash is an independent publisher and founder of the small press Grace Issues. She’s participated in residencies at the Center for Book Arts, Momus Emerging Critics, and at Hambidge Center. Tash’s work has appeared in Epoch Review, No Dear, the Poetry Project, PIN-UP magazine, High Tech, 032c, and elsewhere. She’s currently based in Brooklyn, NY  with her poodle, Leo.

Mariame Kaba is an organizer, educator, librarian/archivist, and prison industrial complex (PIC) abolitionist who is active in movements for racial, gender, and transformative justice. Kaba co-leads Interrupting Criminalization, an organization she co-founded with Andrea Ritchie in 2018. She has co-founded multiple organizations and projects over the years including Project NIA, We Charge Genocide, the Chicago Freedom School, the Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women, Chicago Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander (now Love & Protect), Just Practice Collaborative, Survived & Punished, Sojourners for Justice Press and For the People Lefitist Library Project. Kaba is the author of the New York Times Bestseller We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice (Haymarket Books, 2021) & most recently Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care with Kelly Hayes (Haymarket, 2023) among several other books that offer support and tools for repair, transformation, and moving toward a future without incarceration and policing.

Maya Whites is an undergraduate senior in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, passionate about healing and transformative justice.

Image: Still from IT IS A GOOD PROJECT AND SHOULD BE BUILT, 2024 by Fred Schmidt-Arenales

Tuesday May 21, 2024, 6:30pm

97 Kenmare Street

New York, NY

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On the occasion of the exhibition IT IS A GOOD PROJECT AND SHOULD BE BUILT by Fred Schmidt-Arenales, the artist is joined by public secret society New Red Order for a conversation with Associate Curator Jessica Kwok. The discussion will unpack how the artists both approach structures of bureaucracy, “theories of change” and decision-making processes within their practices, and what these strategies reveal about the inherent assumptions and philosophies carried by governments. 

About the Participants

New Red Order (NRO) is a public secret society facilitated by core contributors Jackson Polys, Adam Khalil, and Zack Khalil. Polys is a multi-disciplinary artist who examines negotiations toward the limits and viability of desires for Indigenous growth. He holds an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University and was the recipient of a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Mentor Artist Fellowship. Adam Khalil is a filmmaker and artist whose practice attempts to subvert traditional forms of image making through humor, relation, and transgression. He received his B.A. from Bard College and is co-founder of COUSINS Collective. Zack Khalil is a filmmaker and artist whose work explores an Indigenous worldview and undermines traditional forms of historical authority through the excavation of alternative histories and the use of innovative documentary forms. He received his B.A. at Bard College in the Film and Electronic Arts Department, and is a UnionDocs Collaborative Fellow and Gates Millennium Scholar. Their work has appeared at Artists Space, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Lincoln Center, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, New York Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Biennial 2019, Walker Arts Center, and Whitney Biennial 2019, among other institutions.

Image: Still from IT IS A GOOD PROJECT AND SHOULD BE BUILT by Fred Schmidt-Arenales, 2024. Courtesy of the artist

Friday May 10, 2024

6:30pm

97 Kenmare Street

New York, NY

Drawing upon artist Fred Schmidt-Arenales’ methods of collapsing unstaged and scripted performance, IF THE WATER GETS IN is an evening of acts by a constellation of participants in dialogue with the themes explored within IT IS A GOOD PROJECT AND SHOULD BE BUILT, currently on view at Storefront. It will encompass a re-staging of “Basin Girl” by Canal Street Research Association as a way to engage with New York’s history as a marshland, a discussion between Kate Boicourt from the Environmental Defense Fund and Jacqueline Klopp from the Center of Sustainable Urban Development at Columbia University on the ecological issues echoed in the exhibition, and a live performance of the original score and “Opera” scene by the film’s composer, Jacob Brunner and musicians. 

About the Performers

Canal Street Research Association was founded in 2020 in an empty storefront on Canal Street, New York’s counterfeit epicenter. Delving into the cultural and material ecologies of the street and its long history as a site that probes the limits of ownership and authorship, the association repurposes underused real estate as spaces for gathering ephemeral histories, mapping local lore, and tracing the flows and fissures of capital. They have occupied storefronts, empty office buildings, and storage units—and are currently located in a basement under Canal Street.

The fictional office entity is operated by Shanzhai Lyric (Ming Lin and Alex Tatarsky), a poetic research and roving archival unit that take inspiration from 山寨 (shanzhai or counterfeit) goods to examine how bootlegs use mimicry, hybridity, and permutation to both revel in and reveal the artifice of global hierarchies.

Karl Blau continues to blaze trails in country-infused grunge with jazz underpinnings and overtones. Since 1996 he has released over 40 of his own records and toured/recorded with numerous other artists, including the Microphones/Mount Eerie, Laura Veirs, Little Wings, D+, and Earth. He has a new genre-bent album—made in a studio he calls Andy’s Room (based in hometown Germantown, Philadelphia)—forthcoming on Philly/LA label Otherly Love Records. 

Kate Boicourt a director for the Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds team at the Environmental Defense Fund. She works within EDF’s Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds team to foster partnerships to collectively advocate for comprehensive, evidence-based and equitable policies and investments that build resilience for all in New York, New Jersey and beyond.

Previously, she was the Director of Resilience for Waterfront Alliance. In this role, she spearheaded Rise to Resilience, a multi-year campaign and coalition for resilience in the NY-NJ region, as well as the development of WEDG (Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines) into a national rating system and education program for excellence in waterfront design. Prior to that, she served as the restoration program manager for the NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program (HEP), where she focused on coastal issues related to restoration, public access, and climate change.

Jacob Brunner is a composer, songwriter, and producer from Philadelphia. He studied anthropology with Michael Taussig and music theory with Fabien Lévy and Charlie Looker (Extra Life, Zs). His work draws from contemporary classical music, ethnomusicology, structured randomness, and various forms of transformative mimesis (sampling, folk music, cut-up techniques). Since 2006 he has released music under the name Strawberry Hands; collaborated with songwriters such as Weyes Blood, Little Wings, and Thanksgiving; and scored for film, theater, and art installations.

Chris Covatta is a multi-disciplinary artist living and creating between Philadelphia and Brooklyn. His recent projects include co-producing the new Karl Blau record (Otherly Love Records), collaborating with Strawberry Hands, and producing a variety of visual works.

Jacqueline Klopp is the Director of Center for Sustainable Urban Development at Columbia University. She is a Research Scholar who explores the intersection of sustainable transport, land use, accountability, data and technology. Klopp is the author of numerous academic and popular articles on land and the politics of infrastructure with a focus on Africa and is increasingly exploring the potential of new technologies to impact transportation and land-use in the 21st Century. Prior to joining CSUD Jacqueline Klopp was an Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and Director of the Economic and Political Development Concentration where she taught the politics of international development and oversaw student workshops across the globe. She currently teaches in the Sustainable Development undergraduate program at Columbia University.

Alexandra Venzke is a musician and native Houstonian currently working in New York. She is a classically trained vocalist, early childhood music specialist, and accomplished session singer. Alexandra has considerable experience performing both as a soloist and in ensembles across many genres and musical styles. She is passionate about cultivating community and collaboration. Recent collaborators include a visual artist inspired to paint to recordings of her singing, a film maker that has included her singing original music with custom costuming, and songwriters who have her perform and record their original music. She teaches private and group music lessons, produces musical, performance arts, and fashion events and sings with Pride Chorus Houston.

Saturday, February 17th, 2023

2pm – 6pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY, 10012

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Welcome the Year of the Dragon on the final day of Red Canary Song’s exhibition Flower Spa: Solidarity Outside In! On February 17 from 2-6pm, Storefront will host Red Canary Sings: A Karaoke Fundraiser to support RCS.

The event will be MC’d by very special guest Drag King Wang Newton and includes opening performances by KQT Pungmul, a crew of Korean Queer and Trans pungmul dummers based in NYC, an art auction with handcrafted works by Studio Jin Kwak, and Korean fare by RCS’s very own Charlotte, Mixtress of Kimchi!

This is a free community event to raise funds and celebrate the very important work that RCS does. RSVP and masks are strongly encouraged!

On the Ground

Flower Spa by Red Canary Song is the result of an open call for proposals connected to On the Ground, a yearlong research project and exhibition series about New York City’s ground floor. Through a close look at the urban typology of the storefront, this expansive endeavor presents newly commissioned artistic explorations and dialogues about the heterogeneous threshold between public and private space throughout 2023 and early 2024. The project unfolds through three exhibitions, a radio show, an open call, a public program, and a thematic reader.

Storefront would like to thank frieze Magazine for their partnership in this project, as well as the jury that selected the winning proposal composed of Naomi Beckwith, Tom Finkelpearl, Danielle A. Jackson, Sohrab Mohebbi, Manuela Moscoso, and Felicity D. Scott. 

Support  

This exhibition has been made possible through the support of the Graham Foundation, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; with invaluable support from Storefront’s Board of Directors, the Storefront Circle, Storefront members, and individual donors. Storefront is a proud member of CANNY (Collaborative Arts Network New York), currently supported by the Mellon Foundation, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Arison Arts Foundation, Imperfect Family Foundation, and Jay DeFeo Foundation. 

Tuesday, November 28th, 2023

6pm – 8pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY, 10012

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About the Participants

Image: Vito Acconci and Steven Holl, Rendering of Storefront Facade, 1993

Thursday, October 26th, 2023

6pm – 8pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY, 10012

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An evening of readings of the work of artist Vito Acconci —author of Storefront’s iconic facade with architect Steven Holl— by Justin Beal, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Elliot Reed. The event is organized by David Lindsay on the occasion of anonymous gallery’s exhibition Vito Acconci – Here, There, on view through October 28. 

From his beginnings in poetry to one of his most charged and transitional films, the exhibition Here, There, explores the core of Acconci’s long and varied practice – a commitment to pushing the boundaries of what language can achieve, both as carriers of meaning and as sonic elements that can evoke emotional response.

Acconci’s lesser known work as a poet is characterized by an exploratory nature, often using words as the means for the dissolution of traditional distinctions between author and audience. Through his interactive and participatory use of wordplay, he invites the public to become an active collaborator in the construction of meaning. This engagement transforms the act of reading into a dynamic and interactive experience, blurring the lines between the solitary act of reading and the communal act of performance. Read more about the exhibition here. 

About the Participants

Justin Beal is an artist and writer. He was co-curator of the exhibition Public Space in a Private Time: Building Storefront for Art and Architecture, organized on the occasion of the 40th anniversary. He currently sits on Storefront’s board of directors. 

Kameelah Janan Rasheed an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Her practice is invested in the shifting ecosystems of Black epistemologies and the agile relationships between the varied modes of reading, writing, archiving, editing, translating, publishing, reflecting upon, and arranging narratives about lived Black experiences.

Elliot Reed is an artist, based in New York working across video, dance, performance, and sculpture. He received his MA in Choreography from Master EXERCE ICI-CCN in Montpellier France, and is a member of The Whitney Museum ISP 23-24 cohort.

David Lindsay is a poet, visual artist, curator and writer currently residing in New York. His work explores the edge of our built environment and its flowers. And where to go from there. He is a curator of poetry working at large, as well as with Artist Space, Segue Foundation, and anonymous Gallery. He is currently a candidate for a Masters in Fine Arts at Bard College. 

Image: Cover illustration of architect, verb by Reinier de Graaf

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

6:30pm – 8pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY 10012

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Join architect Reinier de Graaf, partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), for the presentation of his recent book titled architect, verb. This event is hosted by Verso Books. 

From Verso Books: Leading architect Reinier de Graaf punctures the myths behind the debates on what contemporary architecture is, with wit and devastating honesty. No longer does it suffice to judge a building solely by its appearance, it must be measured, and certified. When architects talk about ‘Excellence’, ‘Sustainability’, ‘Well-being’, ‘Liveability’, ‘Placemaking’, ‘Creativity’, ‘Beauty’ and ‘Innovation’ what do they actually mean? And what does this say about for the future of our homes, cities, planet?

architect, verb. also includes a biting, satirical dictionary of ‘profspeak’: the corporate language of consultants, developers and planners from ‘Active listening’ to ‘Zoom Readiness’.

Read more and purchase here. 

Reinier de Graaf (1964, Schiedam) is a Dutch architect and writer. He is a partner in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and the co-founder of its think-tank AMO. Reinier is the author of Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession, the novel The Masterplan, and the recently published architect, verb. He lives in Amsterdam.

Performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir for opening night of Direct Action. Photo by PJ Rountree

Direct Action

Francisca Benítez

Exhibition Events:
June 17th – September 9th

Gallery Hours:
Wednesdays – Saturdays, 12-6 pm

Accessible public space can only exist if it is collectively created, used, exercised, and cared for. Dissent and meaningful dialogue are forms of expression that uncover its political possibilities. Direct Action by Francisca Benítez explores the many ways in which the artist and activist grapples with the ethics of protest and her sustained commitment to solidarity through collective action.

Throughout the run of the exhibition, the gallery will operate as a meeting room, a rehearsal studio, a writing workshop, and an urban stage. By opening up the space of the institution to the many activist groups she is an integral part of, Benítez transforms Storefront into a site for social intervention. Direct Action invites the audience to consider the possibilities of protest, and encourage participation in local collective organizing efforts.

Read more about Direct Action here.

See the list of scheduled exhibition events below.

Scheduled Events:

June 17, 6pm: Performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir

June 29, 5pm – 7pm: Performance by Leila Adu with Savitri D.

July 6, 5-7pm: Performance by Leila Adu with Kwami Coleman and Erich Barganier

July 7, 2:30-4pm: Art Against Displacement zine-making party

July 11, 6:30pm: Art Against Displacement monthly meeting

July 15, 5-7pm: Performance by Ali Dineen

July 29, 4-6pm: Performance by Raimundo

August 3, 1pm: Performance by Ray Santiago

August 8, 6:30pm: Art Against Displacement monthly meeting

August 12, 5-7pm: Performance by Cecilia Vicuña and Ricardo Gallo

August 19, 4-6pm: Performance by Eduardo Pavez Goye

August 26, 5-7pm: Performance by Ricardo Gallo and Amirtha Kidambi

September 1, 5pm: Performance by Sunder Ganglani

September 2, 2pm: Performance by Gregory Corbino

September 8, 7-8pm: Film Program

September 9, 6pm: Performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir

On the Ground
Direct Action is presented as part of On the Ground, a yearlong research project and exhibition series about New York City’s ground floor. Through a close look at the urban typology of the storefront, this expansive endeavor presents newly commissioned artistic explorations and dialogues about the heterogeneous threshold between public and private space throughout 2023. The project will unfold through three exhibitions, a radio show, an open call, a public program, and a thematic reader. 

Support
This exhibition has been made possible through the support of the Graham Foundation, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; with invaluable support from Storefront’s Board of Directors, the Storefront Circle, Storefront members, and individual donors. Storefront is a proud member of CANNY (Collaborative Arts Network New York), currently supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Arison Arts Foundation, Imperfect Family Foundation, and the Jay DeFeo Foundation.

Thursday May 11, 2023,

5pm-6pm

97 Kenmare St,

New York NY 10012

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Storefront members are invited to join curators for a guided tour of New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original, currently on view at Storefront. 

New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original looks at the spatial effects of the criminalization of informal markets and the contemporary repercussions this has on sidewalks and across the facades of Lower Manhattan. Over the course of the exhibition, Canal Street Research Association has “bootlegged” a historic Canal Street counterfeit bust by tracing its historical antecedents in order to understand current-day conditions. Presenting Ming Fay’s seminal Monumental Fruit public artwork honoring street vendors, the archival and speculative research for this re-staging takes various modes: resurfacing Fay’s proposals and artworks, creating a modular display system in collaboration with architectural collective common room, and pursuing an active intervention on Storefront’s facade.

Read more about New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original here.

If you would like to join and are not yet a Storefront member, please sign up here, or contact us at membership@storefrontnews.org.

Note to members: Please RSVP by Tuesday May 9.

Image courtesy of Ming Fay Studio

Sunday, May 7, 2023
3pm-5pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY,10012

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On Sunday, May 7, Canal Street Research Association presents FRUITS, a spring celebration and ode to triangles, street vendors, and the complexity of Canal Street. Beginning at their current exhibition, New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original at Storefront, visitors will embark on a meandering procession through the neighborhood streetscape before arriving at the tip of the so-called “Counterfeit Triangle” where Canal, Walker, and Baxter Streets meet — formerly home to a vibrant street market of produce sellers known as the Triangle Vendors. There, the small forest at the Triangle’s tip will play host to a set of performances and reflections from artist Emmy Catedral with poet Paolo Javier, channeling poet Frances Chung, and poet and critic John Yau, author of Crossing Canal Street. The group will convene under the trees to enjoy offerings and refreshments, including ephemeral hangings by artists Ryan Foerster and chef RJ Gitter, ad hoc seating by designer/builder Sebastijan Jemec, with materials donated by Citygroup and Bracket Creek Exhibitions.

Documentation courtesy of Loong Mah and Connor Sen Warnick.

Read more about New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original here.

On the Ground

New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original is presented as part of On the Ground, a yearlong research project and exhibition series about New York City’s ground floor. Through a close look at the urban typology of the storefront, this expansive endeavor presents newly commissioned artistic explorations and dialogues about the heterogeneous threshold between public and private space throughout 2023. The project will unfold through three exhibitions, a radio show, an open call, a public program, and a thematic reader. 

Support
Storefront’s On the Ground program is made possible through the support of the Graham Foundation, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the Storefront Circle and Storefront’s Board of Directors, members, and individual donors.