New York’s decade-long real estate boom has made studio space affordable and manufacturing services very hard to come by but, against all odds, a new art production facility has come online in one of the neighborhoods. the most gentrified in the city.
Powerful Arts transformed a former transit power plant on the banks of the Gowanus Canal, one of the most polluted waterways in the United States, abandoned for decades into a 170,000 square foot complex with engraving, ceramics and manufacturing of public art. Still to come are the textile and metallurgical workshops.
Inside Powerhouse Arts Albert Vecerka/ESTO
“In a city like New York, having so much space to create makes this resort a unicorn,” Laurie Cumbosaid the commissioner of the New York Department of Cultural Affairs at a May 19 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The project was funded by donations totaling $180 million from philanthropist Joshua Rechnitz, who would have paid $7 million for the building, affectionately known to locals as “the bat cave— in 2012. In the years that followed, architects from Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron and New York-based PBDW Architects designed a complete overhaul of the complex, while preserving its photogenic main lobby filled with graffiti like a space for events and performances.
The Great Hall and Third Floor Loft of Powerhouse Arts Albert Vecerka/ESTO
On the occasion of the grand opening ceremony of Powerhouse Arts on May 19, this main hall hosted Truth (2023), a new perennial performance by the artist Miles Greenberg. In addition to the graffiti preserved on the walls of the large space, a new commission, Go home (2023), by artist Ellery Neon, who once lived in the building when it was home to a thriving squatter community. One level below, a smaller space accommodates hive spiritan exhibition of works by staff members.
Ellery Neon, Go home2023 Courtesy of Powerhouse Arts
A community ceramics studio offers monthly subscriptions, while the public art making studio teams up with artists and organizations to help deliver large-scale projects, including Pamela Rosenkranz’s recent project. commission for the High Line Park And Charles Gainesof the large outdoor facility on Governors Island.
“I see this as a new version of Warhol’s factory,” says Eric Shiner, president of Powerhouse Arts, who was previously director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. “We want artists at all levels to use this space as a launching pad.”
