New York’s artistic landscape just grew in one place.
Powerful Artsa nonprofit that provides production facilities for local artists, opened Friday in a 170,000 square foot industrial structure that overlooks Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal.
The six-story red-brick building, erected in 1904, was once the power plant for the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. The station was decommissioned in the 1950s, and in the early 1970s the site was completely abandoned. Its roof eventually gave way and plants grew inside. In recent decades, the building has become host to squatters, graffiti artists and underground ravers, a period that has earned the site its now infamous nickname: the Batcave.
Philanthropist Joshua Rechnitz bought the property in 2012 and has since donated some $180 million through his foundations to renovate it. Rechnitz formed the Powerhouse Environmental Arts Foundation (which has since been renamed Powerhouse Arts) and brought in two notable architectural firms to design the center: PBDW Architects and Herzog & de Meuron. (The latter, Pritzker Prize-winning firm, previously transformed London’s Bankside power station into the Tate Modern.)
Inside the Turbine Room at the new Powerhouse Arts facility in Brooklyn, NY. Photo: Albert Vecerka, WEST. Courtesy of Powerhouse Arts.
Now complete, Powerhouse Arts has manufacturing facilities for ceramics, print and public art, among other mediums, as well as space for education and events. The center’s offerings were developed in conversation with local creatives who described the challenges of being practicing artists in the city, Eric Shiner, Powerhouse’s new president, told Artnet News last year.
“I was blown away by the organization’s staggering potential to make artists’ dreams come true,” Shiner said. “Powerhouse serves to amplify these voices in so many exciting ways. I liken this potential to that of Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory, a place where creative energy, innovation and joy came together to create an artistic ecosystem dynamic.
Last week’s opening marked the culmination of years of work. But the challenge has only just begun for Shiner and his team, who were tasked with securing funding after Rechnitz, the project’s main benefactor to date, pulled out of the project last year.
Powerhouse will charge membership fees for artists using the facilities and rent out the centre’s spacious turbine hall for events, but additional revenue – from government grants, for example, or private philanthropy – will also be needed.
The new Powerhouse Arts facility in Brooklyn. Photo: Albert Vecerka, WEST. Courtesy of Powerhouse Arts.
But artists, not donors or foundations, will be the driving force behind Powerhouse Arts, Shiner said. He recently expanded the organization’s board of directors by seven members, including artists Dread Scott and LaToya Ruby Frazier, according to the New York Times.
“Once artists see what we can do here, how we train and mentor the next generation of artists and creators, and how we invite our neighbors to be part of the evolution of the organization,” said shine. “I hope the answer to this question ‘why the arts need Powerhouse Arts’ will become even more obvious.”
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