New York Needs A New Media Gallery

by Paddy Johnson on September 10, 2010 · 11 comments Opinion

Eddo Stern, Kinetic Shadow Puppets (after Narnia,Segeal, World of Warcraft and Iraq) Plastic, Paper, Electronics, 2008, Interaccess, Toronto

The New York gallery world isn’t as fun as it was a couple of years ago. The scene desperately needs new media galleries to replace now closed venues such as Vertexlist and artMovingProjects, and pop-up spaces aren’t going to cut it.  Spaces dedicated to creating focused long term exhibition programs are essential the growth of the field and there aren’t any. Here’s what we’ve got (that I know of):

Postmasters: The most legitimate New Media exhibition venue in New York though their programming isn’t exclusively such. They exhibit strong new media artists such as Eddo Stern, Kristin Lucas, and etoy.corporation but also eva and franco mattes.

Spencer Brownstone Gallery: Hosted Are You Sure You Are You? in April 2009, a group show of new media artists including Petra Cortright, Harm Van Dorpel, and Guthrie Lonergan, followed by a two person show by Tara Sinn and Rafeal Rozendaal in March 2010. They seem to be getting their feet wet, but it’s no Postmasters.

Eyebeam: The Atelier apparently has construction slated for October which means only their Window exhibition space is operational. They’ve hosted some good events in the past — I’m always a fan of the youtube competitions, (though I’m often a contestant) — but their exhibition program looks like its sponsored by a lot tech companies.

Rhizome: They run the best technology blog in the city, but have no permanent physical space. The organization could use one.

Bitforms: A gallery specializing in the exhibition of kinetic electronics that form faces.

Bryce Wolkowitz: Shows a lot of lightbulb art. Also, Julian Opie.

Over the Opening: Once a month artist collective MTAA convert their studio into a venue for time based events. It’s a solid event space, but not a gallery with regular hours.

Camel Art Space: A non-profit with new media shows slated for the future. I’ve not yet been.

319 Scholes: Word has it this space also has new media shows slated for the future, though the website gives me pause. I have not yet visited space.

Update: Twitterati member @Juliagulia adds her own Blue Box Gallery to the list as well as The Chelsea Art Gallery’s work with Google. I’ll pass on the google collaboration — it’s a sci-fi wonderland over there — but Blue Box’s migrating program is worth a look. As it happens it’s part of The Last Supper, a blog sponsor this month.

{ 11 comments }

michael sarff September 11, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Thanks for adding Over The Opening to the list. After 21 one night events in 2 years, we have put OTO into a long hibernation. In the meantime, you can see the archive here – http://www.tinjail.com/over_the_opening/over-the-opening-oto

michael sarff September 11, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Thanks for adding Over The Opening to the list. After 21 one night events in 2 years, we have put OTO into a long hibernation. In the meantime, you can see the archive here – http://www.tinjail.com/over_the_opening/over-the-opening-oto

michael sarff September 11, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Thanks for adding Over The Opening to the list. After 21 one night events in 2 years, we have put OTO into a long hibernation. In the meantime, you can see the archive here – http://www.tinjail.com/over_the_opening/over-the-opening-oto

michael sarff September 11, 2010 at 10:26 am

Thanks for adding Over The Opening to the list. After 21 one night events in 2 years, we have put OTO into a long hibernation. In the meantime, you can see the archive here – http://www.tinjail.com/over_the_opening/over-the-opening-oto

Meridith Pingree September 12, 2010 at 2:26 am

Famous Accountants a piece that was only visible in full with the aid of an ap for a smart phone (by Mark Skwarek & Joseph Hocking)
Pierogi & Pierogi Boiler show some kinetic & interesting video work. (Jonathan Schipper, etc)

Meridith Pingree September 11, 2010 at 10:26 pm

Famous Accountants a piece that was only visible in full with the aid of an ap for a smart phone (by Mark Skwarek & Joseph Hocking)
Pierogi & Pierogi Boiler show some kinetic & interesting video work. (Jonathan Schipper, etc)

Meridith Pingree September 12, 2010 at 2:31 am

Famous Accountants, in their recent exhibition, Tunneling, had piece that was only fully visible with the aid of an ap for a smart phone (by Mark Skwarek & Joseph Hocking)
Pierogi & Pierogi Boiler show some kinetic & interesting video work. (Jonathan Schipper, etc)

Meridith Pingree September 11, 2010 at 10:31 pm

Famous Accountants, in their recent exhibition, Tunneling, had piece that was only fully visible with the aid of an ap for a smart phone (by Mark Skwarek & Joseph Hocking)
Pierogi & Pierogi Boiler show some kinetic & interesting video work. (Jonathan Schipper, etc)

Tseven Reed September 12, 2010 at 5:54 am

This is all truth. I just came back from Gering/Lopez great show which did include excellent software work and illuminated electricity. I wonder if Baby Castles and Co might branch out from games eventually. I myself am going to try and flex muscle soon and open a multi-million-$ new media space inside of every single Ray’s Pizza. (((*wink*)))

Tseven Reed September 12, 2010 at 1:54 am

This is all truth. I just came back from Gering/Lopez great show which did include excellent software work and illuminated electricity. I wonder if Baby Castles and Co might branch out from games eventually. I myself am going to try and flex muscle soon and open a multi-million-$ new media space inside of every single Ray’s Pizza. (((*wink*)))

Restoreart25 November 15, 2010 at 2:57 pm

Turn the Old Whitney into a new media space…. the best and most obvious choice…

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post: