Lecturer: Douglas Crimp
Wednesday 20th October- 7:30 pm.
Conference: Manhattan, mixed use.
Venue: Cepia
Nelson Sullivan, Drag Queens in Times Square, 1986
Recession and fiscal crisis in the 1970s produced paradoxically a period of intense artistic production and experimentation in New York. As the city economy experienced gradual growth, based on real estate speculation and financial services, the 21st century industries abandoned spaces at the Soho and Tribeca, which were transformed by artists into dwellings and workplaces as well as alternative exhibition spaces, such as 112 Greene Street (currently White Columns) and the Kitchen Center for Video and Music. The roots of the transformation of artistic movements in the 60s -Pop, Minimalism and Conceptual Art- also paved the way for new and hybrid media –the video-art, the performances and installations in specific sites.
Douglas Crimp, who experienced and organized the alternative spaces mentioned above, has started to write his memories regarding the urban transformation phenomenon in Manhattan in the 70s. He has recently acted as a co-curator at an Art Exhibition called Manhattan, mixed use, at the Reina Sofía Museum. At the conference he will explain the concept of this exhibition and will refer to his main works, which deal with communitarian use of the city.
