common room

Exhibition: February 4 at common room 2: Exploring SPURA

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:21:00 GMT

<img src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/invite_spura2.jpg" width="373" height="527" /> Exploring SPURA an exhibition by students of the City Studio at Eugene Lang College, the New School & Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, in collaboration with SPURA Matters. February 4 - April 3, 2010 Opening Reception: Thursday February 4, 6-8pm --- The Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA) is the largest undeveloped city-owned parcel of land south of 96th Street, and it has been a contested site since it was cleared for "renewal" more than 40 years ago. Please join us at a new exhibition by the New School's City Studio, Exploring SPURA, which delves into the experience of living at SPURA now - the resources and restrictions - as well as the stories of today and the experience of the SPURA diaspora, displaced many years ago. The exhibition springs from the City Studio's research in the community and hopes to continue encouraging productive conversation about the site�s future. The question of SPURA is a timely one, as plans for its development are in discussion once more at the Community Board. Come join the conversation! The City Studio course of the Urban Studies department, Eugene Lang/New School explores the life of a small urban space, through archival, ethnographic, visual and participatory research. The 2010 City Studio creators of Exploring SPURA are: Sarah Charles, Jamie Florence, Leijia Hanrahan, Anke Hendriks, Lila Knisely, John Lake, Claudie Mabry, Katie Priebe, Adam Schleimer, Kaushal Shrestha, Emily Winkler-Morey and Hannah Zingre. Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani is the course professor and exhibition curator. SPURA Matters is a visioning project for the SPURA site to get people talking about SPURA's future. It is a collaboration between Good Old Lower East Side, Pratt Center for Community Development, and City Lore. Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) (<a href="http://www.goles.org/">www.goles.org</a>) was founded in 1977 and is a neighborhood housing and preservation organization, dedicated to tenants' rights, homelessness prevention and community revitalization through organizing and advocacy. The Pratt Center for Community Development (<a href="http://www.prattcenter.net">www.prattcenter.net</a>) empowers low- and moderate-income communities in New York to plan for and realize their futures. As part of Pratt Institute, it uses urban planning, architecture, and public policy to support community-based organizations in their efforts to improve quality of life, create economic opportunity, and advance sustainable development. Place Matters (<a href="http://www.placematters.net">www.placematters.net</a>) was founded in 1998 by City Lore (<a href="http://www.citylore.org">www.citylore.org</a>) and the Municipal Art Society (<a href="http://www.mas.org">www.mas.org</a>) to foster the conservation of New York City's historically and culturally significant places. It conducts a citywide survey called the "Census of Places that Matter" to discover places that evoke associations with history, memory, and tradition. --- common room 2 465 Grand Street - rear lobby New York, NY 10002 tel.: 212.358.8605 <a href="http:www.common-room.net">www.common-room.net</a> open hours: mon-fri 9am - 6pm or by appointment Directions: Take F train to East Broadway stop. Exit at rear of platform if coming downtown or front of platform if coming from Brooklyn. Walk East on East Broadway just past Pitt Street. Use Rear Entrance on East Broadway. Map link: <a href="http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002">http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002</a> -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

The Public School (for Architecture): Student Lounge at 10 Days for Oppositional Architecture

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:46:00 GMT

<img width="400" height="300" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/student_lounge(1).jpg" /> Student Lounge The Public School (for Architecture) New York Tuesday November 17, 7-11pm at 10 Days for Oppositional Architecture Gair Building No 6 81 Front Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Please join us at the Public School (for Architecture) New York Student Lounge. A space that during the free period is a place for students to relax and socialize, the Student Lounge also represents a place for dissident elements to engage in oppositional discussion. -- The Public School (for Architecture) New York is a self-organizing educational program for which the curriculum and schedule are proposed by the general public. Administered by common room and the Telic Arts Exchange in collaboration with Performa, courses are taught throughout New York City as itinerant installations during Fall 2009. The curriculum is developed through public access to its website. Enrollment is open to non-architects and architects alike. The project locates areas where new ideas are possible, suggests ways that architecture can be engaged even while financial support is diminishing, and seeks to identify and activate a community of users beyond affiliations to a single organization. In doing so, the school aims to create a public for architecture while opening up architecture for the public. Visit <a href="http://nyc.thepublicschool.org">http://nyc.thepublicschool.org</a> to propose classes, comment on or register in a class, offer to teach a class, and find out when and where classes will take place. -- Ten Days for Oppositional Architecture Towards Post-Capitalist Space <img width="255" height="152" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/10dfoa_header.jpg" /> New York, November 12 -- 21, 2009 Gair Building No 6, 81 Front Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (York Stop on the F Train) The transformation of the urban landscape within the last decades has increasingly been dominated by the demands of capitalist utilization. Due to the current crisis, however, which goes far beyond a mere crisis of the real estate and financial market, these neoliberal politics and attendant forms of production of space have been subject to a loss of legitimation. For this reason, not only do the dominance and promises of the privatization model, the free market and private property have to be questioned, but also the conventions of the space-producing professions that follow and materialize these policies. In this context the event “Ten Days for Oppositional Architecture” takes up the task of exploring possibilities and conditions of a socially committed architectural practice. Therefore the narrow boundaries of the profession have to be left behind. We hence invite activists, geographers, architects, planners, and economists representing different critical approaches to discuss and develop concepts and practices that not only try to oppose and challenge the capitalist mode of production of space, but also try to go beyond it strategies of de-commodification, re-appropriation and alternative production of space. We will look at already existing spatial actions of resistance as well as search for possibilities to further theorize them: How can these strategies and alternative practices be turned into social and political forces towards post-capitalist spaces? All events are public. All those interested are welcome. Free dinner will be served during discussion evenings. An exhibition and a reading corner will support and document the discussions. Program Wednesday, November 11, 6 pm Opening Reception Thursday, November 12, 7 pm The Decommodification of Housing Discussion with James deFilippis, geographer, Rutgers University, New Brunswick · Esther Wang and Helena Wong of CAAAV, Organizing Asian Communities, New York Friday, November 13, 7 pm Bar + programming by Lize Mogel and Alexis Baghat, An Atlas of Radical Cartography* Saturday, November 14, 7 pm The Real Estate Crisis, Private Property and the Prospects of Planning Discussion with David Kotz, economist, University of Massachusetts Amherst · Teddy Cruz, architect, San Diego Sunday, November 15, 7 pm Bar + programming by tba* Monday, November 16, 7 pm On the Commons: Taking versus Granting Rights Discussion with Peter Linebaugh, historian, University of Toledo · Brett Bloom of Midwest Radical Culture Corridor, Urbana · Rob Robinson of Picture the Homeless, New York Tuesday, November 17, 7 pm Bar + programming by common room* Wednesday, November 18, 7 pm Territory as a Means of Struggle Discussion with United Workers, Baltimore · Neil Smith, geographer, City University New York Thursday, November 19, 7 pm Bar + programming by Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi of SLO architecture* Friday, November 20, 7 pm Reclaiming Capitalist Spaces Discussion with Janelle Cornwell and Julie Graham, geographers, University of Massachusetts Amherst · Max Rameau of Take Back the Land, Miami Saturday, November 21, 12 pm Towards Post-Capitalist Spaces Lecture by David Harvey, geographer, City University New York, 12 pm Workshops with special guests*, 2 -- 6 pm Final presentation and discussion, 7 pm Party, 10 pm * For more details and updates please visit: <a href="www.oppositionalarchitecture.com">www.oppositionalarchitecture.com</a> --- A project by: An Architektur Produktion und Gebrauch gebauter Umwelt Alexanderstrasse 7, D-10178 Berlin organized by Oliver Clemens, Sabine Horlitz, Anita Kaspar, Kim Förster <a href="www.anarchitektur.com">www.anarchitektur.com</a> / contact: <a href="redaktion@anarchitektur.com">redaktion@anarchitektur.com</a> On occasion of: <img alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/Logo%20Performa.jpg" /> Commissioned by Performa. Presented by Performa and Storefront for Art and Architecture. Supported by the Graham Foundation, IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) and Two Trees Management, Inc. Performa 09 (November 1-22, 2009) is the third biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, a non-profit multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century. <a href="www.performa-arts.org">www.performa-arts.org</a> -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

The Public School (for Architecture): Scheduled Classes - Session Two

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:38:00 GMT

<input type="image" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/psfany_web.jpg" width="400" height="208" / The Public School (for Architecture) New York a Van Alen Institute New York Prize Fellowship project by common room and Telic Arts Exchange Scheduled Classes - Session Two in collaboration with Performa, as part of Performa09, the third visual art performance biennial at Van Alen Institute 30 West 22nd Street, 6th Floor New York, NY 10010 <table width="661" border="0" cellpadding="2"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="200">Tuesday November 3, 10am</td> <td width="447">Mapping the Drawing Center</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday November 7, 11am</td> <td>Actions Propaganda - What You Can Do With the City - Performa09 *</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday November 7, 3pm</td> <td>Perceptual devices - History / Effect / Design 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tuesday November 10, 6:30pm</td> <td>Best Square Wins!</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Thursday November 12, 6:30pm</td> <td>Political History of Visual Display - 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday November 14, 10am</td> <td>Sewing Circle</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Monday November 16, 6:30pm</td> <td>Species of Spaces: Writing About the Built Environment (The Realistic) tbc</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tuesday November 17, 11am</td> <td>Sirens Taken from Wonders (Siren Workshop) - Performa09 *</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wednesday November 18, 6:30pm</td> <td>Stupid Rhino Tricks</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Friday November 20, 6:30pm</td> <td>Representing the Social Center Movement - 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Friday November 20, 10pm</td> <td>Sirens Taken from Wonders (Siren-Watch) - Performa09 *</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday November 21, 4pm</td> <td>Sirens Taken from Wonders (Panel Discussion) - Performa09</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sunday November 22, 11am</td> <td>Not For Sale: Ideal Performance Space - Performa09 *</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> * Actions Propaganda, Sirens Taken from Wonders (Siren Workshop), Sirens Taken from Wonders (Siren-Watch) and Not For Sale: Ideal Performance Space will be held at: Performa HUB 41 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003 To find out more about these classes, to register for these classes, propose new classes, and view and comment on other class proposals visit <a href="http://nyc.thepublicschool.org">http://nyc.thepublicschool.org</a> -- The Public School (for Architecture) New York intends to reactivate dismantled professional networks of the New York architectural community into a productive force that can collectively begin to make sense of current cultural, economic and technological conditions through open-ended discourse and alternative approaches to education. The Public School (for Architecture) does not have a permanent location. A Teacher’s Lounge at the Van Alen Institute (30 W. 22nd Street. 6th Floor) will function as the administrative headquarters for The Public School (for Architecture) for the duration of the New York Prize fellowship residency (September 2009 - December 2009). Courses will be held in a series of three itinerant classroom installations, located in transitional public spaces- lobbies, thresholds, large corridors - within established architectural institutions in the city. The second session (November 1-22) will be located at the New York Center For Architecture at LaGuardia Place. The Public School (for Architecture) New York is a Van Alen Institute New York Prize Fellowship project and is supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Annenberg Foundation. -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

The Public School (for Architecture): Scheduled Classes - Session One

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:37:00 GMT

<img width="400" height="208" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/psfany_web.jpg" /> The Public School (for Architecture) New York a Van Alen Institute New York Prize Fellowship project by common room and Telic Arts Exchange Scheduled Classes - Session One: at Center for Architecture 536 LaGuardia Place New York, NY 10012 <table width="542" border="0" cellpadding="2"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="175">Tuesday October 13, 4pm </td> <td width="353">Finding Architecture</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Friday October 16, 4pm</td> <td>Bigness, or the Problem of Scale</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday October 17, 1pm</td> <td>Ecology and Design NOW</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday October 17, 3:30pm</td> <td>The Public School (for Architecture)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tuesday October 20, 4pm</td> <td>Representing the Social Center Movement</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Thursday October 22, 3pm</td> <td>Political History of Visual Display</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday October 24, 3pm</td> <td>Perceptual Devices - History / Effect / Design *</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sunday October 25, 3pm</td> <td>Species of Spaces: Writing About the Built Environment *</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> * Perceptual Devices - History / Effect / Design and Species of Spaces: Writing About the Built Environment will be held at: common room 2 465 Grand Street - rear lobby (entrance on East Broadway) New York, NY 10002 To find out more about these classes, to register for these classes, propose new classes, and view and comment on other class proposals visit <a href="http://nyc.thepublicschool.org">http://nyc.thepublicschool.org</a> -- The Public School (for Architecture) New York intends to reactivate dismantled professional networks of the New York architectural community into a productive force that can collectively begin to make sense of current cultural, economic and technological conditions through open-ended discourse and alternative approaches to education. The Public School (for Architecture) does not have a permanent location. A Teacher’s Lounge at the Van Alen Institute (30 W. 22nd Street. 6th Floor) will function as the administrative headquarters for The Public School (for Architecture) for the duration of the New York Prize fellowship residency (September 2009 - December 2009). Courses will be held in a series of three itinerant classroom installations, located in transitional public spaces- lobbies, thresholds, large corridors - within established architectural institutions in the city. The first session (October 13-25) will be located at the New York Center For Architecture at LaGuardia Place. The Public School (for Architecture) New York is a Van Alen Institute New York Prize Fellowship project and is supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Annenberg Foundation. -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

Open House: Sept 30 - The Public School for Architecture at the Van Alen Institute

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:50:00 GMT

<img width="500" height="353" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/flowchart.jpg" /> The Public School process diagram The Public School (for Architecture) New York a Van Alen Institute New York Prize Fellowship project by common room and Telic Arts Exchange Open House: Wednesday September 30, 7-9pm Van Alen Institute 30 West 22nd Street, 6th Floor New York, NY 10010 PROPOSE CLASSES NOW at <a href="http://nyc.thepublicschool.org">http://nyc.thepublicschool.org</a> Please join us for the Public School (for Architecture) New York's inaugural Open House and launch of the Teachers Lounge at the Van Alen Institute. Through the duration of the fellowship term, the Teachers Lounge will serve as a resource for the Public School (for Architecture) faculty, and a meeting place for School participants to discuss classes, curricula, and related topics of interest. Following Wednesday's Open House, the lounge will be open to the public each Wednesday, 10am-5pm, through December 9, 2009. During the Open House, visitors will be able to meet the instructors, sign up for classes, propose classes and discuss current and potential class topics with Public School administrators. Fall Schedule: September 30: Open House October 13-25: Class Session I November 1-22: Class Session II (in collaboration with Performa, as part of Performa09, the third visual art performance biennal) December 1-11: Class Session III The Public School (for Architecture) New York is a self-organizing educational program for which the curriculum and schedule are proposed by the general public. Administered by common room and the Telic Arts Exchange in collaboration with Performa, courses will be taught throughout New York City as itinerant installations during Fall 2009. The curriculum will be developed through public access to its website. Enrollment is open to non-architects and architects alike. The project locates areas where new ideas are possible, suggests ways that architecture can be engaged even while financial support is diminishing, and seeks to identify and activate a community of users beyond affiliations to a single organization. In doing so, the school aims to create a public for architecture while opening up architecture for the public. Visit <a href="http://nyc.thepublicschool.org">http://nyc.thepublicschool.org</a> to propose classes, comment on or register in a class, offer to teach a class, and find out when and where classes will take place. <img width="200" height="104" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/psfany_web_sm.jpg" /> The Public School (for Architecture) New York is a Van Alen Institute New York Prize Fellowship project and is supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Annenberg Foundation. -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

Installation: July 26 at common green: constantly variable

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:38:00 GMT

constantly variable Thomas Navin Sunday July 26, 5pm --- The natural landscape of the Lower East Side discouraged early settlement due to the wetlands and marshes along the East River, but also encouraged farming and industry, through natural water resources such as the now-covered Collect Pond. Increased industry led to increased settlement. Early roadways were built upon Indian trails or established with a direct relationship to the island’s edges, but land speculation and the superimposition of the 1811 street grid upon the terrain brought a neutralizing force to the island’s varied topography. An indelible mark has been left upon the land with every iteration. The Lower East Side of Manhattan is further defined by the shifts in its immigrant population. Each of these diverse groups has brought their own specific character to the cultural mix that is New York, and their presence has left its marks upon the land as well. From the density of tenement housing, where the open street offered the only relief from overcrowding, to the construction of co-operative towers which rise up and shift away from a conformance to the street edge and disconnect from the vitality of the street. The urban fabric of the Lower East Side encompasses these types in sharp juxtaposition. The linear relationship between street, to sidewalk, to building plinth, to building lobby suggests an opportunity to think of this layered landscape as a horizontal as well as vertical/sectional stratification. Ground plane and idealized plane, the past, the present and the future each become worthy of consideration. Each of these terms is understood differently when viewed in relationship to one another. The future comes into play, ever-uncertain but always anticipated. Our perception of THIS place, in THIS time, is something which is not a constant but, instead, constantly variable. The landscape installation at common room 2 attempts to reflect this notion of layering, confluence, and interplay. The building’s modernist architectural articulation suggests that the mass above the lobby has been lifted up on pilotis, so that the front lobby becomes an extension of the outside. Although conceived as a whole, the exterior installation elements, by their very nature, undergo change. Plants will grow and markings on the sidewalk will begin to erode as foot traffic and natural forces cause them to fade, and then disappear. Thomas Navin is an architect and garden designer with work in both the private and public sector, including collaboration in the design of Headwaters Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana (1996) and The Paterno Trivium, a small park overlooking the Hudson River in Washington Heights (2000). He teaches History and Theory of Landscape Design in the MS Landscape Design Program at Columbia, and is on the architecture faculty at the College of Architecture and Design and NJIT. Students in the Landscape Design Program at Columbia have assisted in this installation. (http://www.thomasnavinarchitect.com) Justin A. Capuco has been a collaborator in the formation of this installation. With a BS in Biology from the University of Virginia, he is soon to complete his M Arch at NJIT and he has been involved in other ventures with common room. --- common green 465 Grand Street - rear entrance New York, NY 10002 tel.: 212.358.8605 <a href="http:www.common-room.net">www.common-room.net</a> open hours: mon-fri 9am - 6pm or by appointment Directions: Take F train to East Broadway stop. Exit at rear of platform if coming downtown or front of platform if coming from Brooklyn. Walk East on East Broadway just past Pitt Street. Use Rear Entrance on East Broadway. Map link: <a href="http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002">http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002</a> -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

Common Room presents Dexter Sinister (Circular)

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:39:00 GMT

<img width="600" height="600" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/Circular.jpg" /> You are invited to assemble on Thursday June 25 at 7pm where Dexter Sinister presents Common Room (Circular) at Dexter Sinister 38 Ludlow Street (basement south) between Hester and Grand <a href="http://www.dextersinister.org">http://www.dextersinister.org</a> where Dexter Sinister will launch a crop of new publications including Library Book, Extended Caption (DDDG), True Mirror Microfiche Post-Post-Script and Common Circular and undertake a circular walk around the neighborhood where Common Room presents Dexter Sinister (Circular) at Common Room 465 Grand Street Rear entrance on East Broadway <a href="http://www.common-room.net">http://www.common-room.net </a> and begin again. For more, <a href="http://www.dextersinister.org/index.html?id=206">http://www.dextersinister.org/index.html?id=206 </a> --- common room 2 465 Grand Street - rear lobby New York, NY 10002 tel.: 212.358.8605 <a href="http:www.common-room.net">www.common-room.net</a> open hours: mon-fri 9am - 6pm or by appointment Directions: Take F train to East Broadway stop. Exit at rear of platform if coming downtown or front of platform if coming from Brooklyn. Walk East on East Broadway just past Pitt Street. Use Rear Entrance on East Broadway. Map link: <a href="http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002">http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002</a> -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

Book Launch + Discussion: March 26 - Public Phenomena

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:58:00 GMT

<img width="400" height="400" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/public_phenomena.jpg" /> Public Phenomena - book Public Phenomena Temporary Services Book Launch + Discussion with Brett Bloom, Joseph Heathcott and Damon Rich Thursday March 26, 7pm at common room 2 465 Grand Street - rear lobby (entrance on East Broadway) Please join us for the launch of the first Half Letter Press publication. The book Public Phenomena is the result of over ten years of photographic documentation and research on the variety of modifications and inventions people make in public. From roadside memorials to makeshift barriers, people consistently alter shared common spaces to suit their needs, or let both man-made and natural aberrations run wild. The result is a new kind of public space – with creative and inspiring moments that push past the original planned design of cities. Images and text by: Temporary Services, Polonca Lovsin, Joseph Heathcott & Damon Rich, Bostjan Bugaric, Ana Celigoj, Masa Cvetko, Marko Horvat, Meta Kos, Darjan Mihajlovic, Danijel Modrej, Maja Modrijan, and Sonja Zlobko. Following a short introduction to the book by Brett Bloom, Damon Rich and Joseph Heathcott will discuss their research into how communities effectively organized against racist city planning and bank policies and the marks this left on the spaces and history of the city. Heathcott and Rich contributed an essay to the book Public Phenomena. Their research into banks' redlining practices in Chicago overlapped with some of the public phenomena Temporary Services had documented, namely the block clubs signs one finds predominantly in African American neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Chicago. --- Half Letter Press is a publishing imprint and an experimental online store initiated by Temporary Services. Temporary Services is a group of three people (Brett Bloom, Salem Collo-Julin and Marc Fischer). Temporary Services has published booklets as an element of their collaborative work since 1998. They created Half Letter Press to publish and distribute book and booklet length works by themselves and others. They are interested in using this endeavor to build long-term support and expanded audiences for people that work creatively in experimental ways. They are particularly interested in supporting people and projects that have had difficulty finding financial and promotional assistance through mainstream commercial channels. (<a href="http://www.halfletterpress.com">www.halfletterpress.com</a>) Joseph Heathcott is a writer, curator, and educator living in New York, and is an associate professor of urban studies at The New School. Damon Rich is an urban designer and founder of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP). He lives and works in Newark, New Jersey. --- common room 2 465 Grand Street - rear lobby New York, NY 10002 tel.: 212.358.8605 <a href="http://www.common-room.net">www.common-room.net</a> Directions: Take F train to East Broadway stop. Exit at rear of platform if coming downtown or front of platform if coming from Brooklyn. Walk East on East Broadway just past Pitt Street. Use Rear Entrance on East Broadway. Map link: <a href="http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002">http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002</a> -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

Event: March 8 - Reinventing Goethe, part 2

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:14:00 GMT

<img width="300" height="355" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/wyoming.jpg" /> Wyoming Building, 5 East Third Street Reinventing Goethe, part 2 Sunday March 8, 2009 noon - 5pm Goethe-Institut New York Wyoming Building 5 East Third Street New York, NY 10003 Please join us for an afternoon at the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building. As part of the Armory Arts Week the Goethe-Institut New York invites you to intervene in the process of reinventing the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building, its new downtown event space. The space will be open to the public and will serve as a forum for the discussion of Reinventing Goethe, the redesign of the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building, and the concurrent series of events. The concept of Reinventing Goethe will be explored through a publication (Goethe Circular), a small curated library, projections, and casual conversations. common room will be on-site during the event to discuss reinventing institutional space and the concept and design for the Wyoming Building project. The new series Reinventing Goethe will accompany the aesthetic renovation of the new event location by ifau + Jesko Fezer. The series will be collaboratively curated by Joseph Grima, the director of the Storefront for Art and Architecture, and ifau + Jesko Fezer. common room programmed the afternoon event as part of the series Reinventing Goethe and is working in cooperation with ifau + Jesko Fezer as the local liason for the redesign of the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building. -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

Exhibition: January 29 at common room 2: Visualizing SPURA

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:17:00 GMT

<img width="373" height="527" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/invite_spura.jpg" /> Visualizing SPURA an exhibition by students of the City Studio at Eugene Lang/New School and Prof. Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani, in collaboration with the initiative SPURA Matters, a project of Place Matters, GOLES and the Pratt Center for Community Development. January 29 - March 21, 2009 Opening Reception: Thursday January 29, 6-8pm --- Forty years ago, New York City took ownership of an area on the Lower East Side bounded by Essex, Delancey, Grand, and Willett Streets--the Seward Park Urban Renewal Site (SPURA). Few renewal projects have been so contested, and as a result, it remains the largest undeveloped city-owned parcel of land south of 96th Street. The hopes, memories and meanings of this place are intertwined with the history of housing and politics on the Lower East Side and in New York City at large. Please join us at a new exhibition, Visualizing SPURA, to help envision this site's future. What are the stories of its present and its past? What are the politics that surround it? Visualizing SPURA uses photographs, oral histories, maps, listening stations and opportunities for you to make your voice heard about the future and everyday life of this complex site. The student-creators of the Visualizing SPURA exhibition are: Anastasia Ehrich, Savannah Foster, Kara Gionfriddo, Winhkong Hua, Evan Iacoboni, Samantha Lewis, Rachael London, Hannah Lyons, Gabriel Tennen, and Samantha Washburn-Baronie. Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani is the course professor and exhibition curator. The City Studio course of the Urban Studies department, Eugene Lang/New School explores the life of a small urban space, through archival, ethnographic, visual and participatory research. Partnerships with local organizations are an important part of the course, which stresses an engagement with the vibrant communities of New York City. This course is sponsored by the Office of Civic Engagement at Eugene Lang College. SPURA Matters is a visioning project for the SPURA site to get people talking about SPURA's future. It is a collaboration between Good Old Lower East Side, Pratt Center for Community Development, and City Lore. The series funded in part by a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities to support public programs about SPURA, and by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and Altman Foundation. Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) (<a href="http://www.goles.org/">www.goles.org</a>) was founded in 1977 and is a neighborhood housing and preservation organization, dedicated to tenants' rights, homelessness prevention and community revitalization through organizing and advocacy. The Pratt Center for Community Development (<a href="http://www.prattcenter.net">www.prattcenter.net</a>) empowers low- and moderate-income communities in New York to plan for and realize their futures. As part of Pratt Institute, it uses urban planning, architecture, and public policy to support community-based organizations in their efforts to improve quality of life, create economic opportunity, and advance sustainable development. Place Matters (<a href="http://www.placematters.net">www.placematters.net</a>) was founded in 1998 by City Lore (<a href="http://www.citylore.org">www.citylore.org</a>) and the Municipal Art Society (<a href="http://www.mas.org">www.mas.org</a>) to foster the conservation of New York City's historically and culturally significant places. It conducts a citywide survey called the "Census of Places that Matter" to discover places that evoke associations with history, memory, and tradition. Special thanks to Joseph Heathcott (Department of Urban Studies, Eugene Lang College), The New School Office of Civic Engagement (Eugene Lang College, The New School), Damaris Reyes and Kara Becker (Good Old Lower East Side), Marci Reaven (Place Matters) and Paula Crespo (Pratt Center for Community Development). --- common room 2 465 Grand Street - rear lobby New York, NY 10002 tel.: 212.358.8605 <a href="http:www.common-room.net">www.common-room.net</a> open hours: mon-fri 9am - 6pm or by appointment Directions: Take F train to East Broadway stop. Exit at rear of platform if coming downtown or front of platform if coming from Brooklyn. Walk East on East Broadway just past Pitt Street. Use Rear Entrance on East Broadway. Map link: <a href="http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002">http://www.onnyturf.com/subway/?address=465+Grand+St,+New+York,+NY+10002</a> -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net

Exhibition + Lecture: 5 Obstructions (for Architecture)

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:01:00 GMT

<img width="400" height="400" alt="" src="http://www.common-room.net/userfiles/image/5_obstructions(1).jpg" /> Statue of Chester Alan Arthur in Madison Square Park 5 Obstructions (for Architecture) Exhibition: January 9, 2009 - January 30, 2009 Lecture: Thursday January 22, 6:30pm Häfele America Co. 25 East 26th Street (at Madison Avenue) New York, NY 10010 The common room lecture and installation 5 Obstructions (for Architecture) address the crisis of innovation and creativity within the current cultural landscape. The exhibition and lecture explore the interruption of everyday spaces through strategies of re-appropriation and mis-use creating the potential for open-ended forms of dialog and emancipation. This presentation and exhibit is taking place at the Häfele NY Showroom as part of New Practices New York|2008. We would especially like to thank Justin Capuco, Luke Cohen, Rachel Himmelfarb, John Risch and Chris Starkey for their involvement in the work leading up to the exhibition. -- common room 465 grand street 4c new york, ny 10002 t: 212.358.8605 f: 212.358.8609 www.common-room.net