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 ART IN GENERAL 

Art in General is a non-profit contemporary art exhibition space in New York City. Founded in 1981 by artists Martin Weinstein and Teresa Liszka, it was in the General Hardware building—hence "Art in General." Located at 79 Walker Street, it was in the midst of several intersecting neighborhoods--Chinatown, the Lower East Side, SoHo, and TriBeCa. A small group of artists initially approached General Tools Manufacturing Company, the owner of the building, seeking to used one of the vacant floors for an art exhibition. The company agreed and subsequently committed to a continuing program that has grown incrementally.

The space grew out of concerns about a commercial gallery system that was inaccessible to and disconnected from young and emerging artists. The first six years of Art in General were defined by group shows organized around the founders' creative community. The space's first solo show featured the work of Polish artist Ewa Kuryluk in 1984, signaling Art in General's ongoing interest in showing international artists. Holly Block was appointed Art in General's first executive director in 1988 and her eighteen-year tenure was defined by her commitment to Latin American, and especially Cuban, artists throughout shows such as "Domestic Partnerships" (1996) and "1990s Art from Cuba" (1998). Art in General presented the work of Tania Bruguera, Tomie Arai, Juana Valdes, Christopher Ho, Maria Elena Gonzalez, Yong Soon Min, Paul Pfeiffer, Pascale Marthine Tayou, among many others, early in their careers.

Anne Barlow was the Executive Director since 2006. As of January 2016, Art in General’s gallery relocated to Dumbo at 145 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn with the main offices in the same building at 20 Jay Street, Suite 210A, Brooklyn. Since February 2017, Laurel Ptak currently serves as the organization's Executive Director.

Art in General’s mission is to assist artists with the production and presentation of new work, changing in response to artists’ needs and informing and engaging the public about their work. Since its first exhibition in 1981, Art in General has provided a space for artists to display unconventional work and exchange ideas with their peers for almost 40 years, making it one of the longest-standing non-profit artist organizations in New York City. Art in General organizes and presents exhibitions, commissions new art projects, hosts national and international artist residency programs, and facilitates regular free public programs with renowned critics and curators. Art in General remains artist-centered and primarily presents group exhibitions rather than promoting individual artists. It seeks to represent a balance among artists of differing cultural and racial backgrounds and supports contemporary artists at varying points in their careers. Beginning in 1990, Art in General showed artists' projects in its sidewalk window display and presented sound pieces in its elevator. The exhibition selection process begins with open submissions. Then, rather than replying on a single in-house curatorial view, a changing board of artists, curators, and critics chooses artists for exhibitions and special project. This method allows Art in General to remain flexible and representative of diverse viewpoints. Currently, more than 3,000 artists have exhibited their work at Art in General in a wide range of disciplines—painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, installation art, audio, video art, performance art and new media art.

Programs
The New Commissions Program, currently Art in General’s central focus, was launch in 2005. The program was created in response to artists’ need for support to create major new projects that would advance their practice. Art in General commissions new works from six to eight artists each year, either through an open call, or through direct invitation. Art in General provides commissioned artists with both space and a budget for developing their project, as well as an honorarium. Art in General gives selected artists the opportunity to create and present new work by providing them with a high level of organizational and conceptual support including artist fees, production fees, exhibition space, a solo exhibition, promotion, and opportunities to engage with audiences through free online and public programs. Initially designed for New York based artists, in 2012 this program expanded to include projects by international artists. Notable artists who have been involved in the New Commissions Program include: Sharon Hayes, Melissa Martin, Lee Walton, Alejandro Cesarco, Xaviera Simmons, Jihyun Park, Adam Simon...... Commissioned projects have included Sharon Hayes's After Before (2005), Adam Simon's Fine Art Adoption Network (2006), Fawn Krieger's COMPANY (2008), and Shana Moulton's The Undiscovered Antique (2009). Currently responding to the current state of artistic and curatorial practice, Art in General’s Open Call has shifted from its once-a-year online deadline to a more fluid model of receiving and reviewing artists’ work. Artists are encouraged to submit project proposals at any point throughout the year–Art in General’s curatorial staff will review submissions quarterly.

Art in General established the Eastern European Residency Exchange (EERE) in 2001, with the goal of supporting critical dialogue, the presentation of new work, and a greater understanding of diverse cultures. This program took the form of a two-way artist residency until 2013, when it expanded to encompass residencies, institutional co-commissioning and other forms of exchange. Art in General’s partner institutions have included: The Contemporary Art Centre in Riga, Latvia;  The Gardens in Vilnius, Lithuania; Pavilion Unicredit in Bucharest, Romania; Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU) in Zagreb, Croatia; The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, Croati a; The Foundation Center for Contemporary Arts in Prague, Czech Republic; The Trafó House of Contemporary Arts in Budapest, Hungary; Bunkier Sztuki Gallery in Kraków, Poland; and The Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Poland.

What Now?, a two day annual symposium that investigates critical and timely issues in contemporary art and curatorial practice, was launched in 2014. Presented in collaboration with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, New York, its first iterations were on the topics of Collaboration and Collectivity in 2014, with a keynote presentation by Charles Esche, and The Politics of Listening in 2015, with a keynote presentation by Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Later on, there were What Now? 2016: On Future Identities and ''[http://www.artingeneral.org/exhibitions/651 What Now? 2017: The Politics of Land.]''

Art in General regularly organizes other programs and exhibitions. The Audio in the Elevator program began in 1990 in response to the slow-moving elevator that takes 38 seconds to reach the 6th floor gallery from street level. Art in General saw this unfavorable circumstance as an opportunity to create a new exhibition space in the elevator, where one to five audio or video art projects were displayed each year. Since moving to an adjacent space, this program became known as the Museé Minuscule, a name adopted with permission from the former New Langton Arts, San Francisco.

Artists
As Art in General presented mostly group exhibitions in its first twenty years of operation. The full list of artists who have exhibited numbers in the thousands, among them: Polly Apfelbaum, Carlos Garaicoa, Gabriel Orozco, Byron Kim, Glenn Ligon, Josiah McElheny, Paul Pfeiffer, Dorothea Rockburne, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Cecilia Vicuña, Marina Abramović, Sharon Hayes, Sara Magenheimer, Andrea Geyer, Klara Lidén, Dineo Seshee Bopape, and many more.

Reference
See the first 8 references in the Reference List below.

History
The former elementary school was abandoned and in disrepair when a group of visual artists began to use the old classrooms for studios. Karasek and Eubel started by inviting other artists to rent studio space. By 1979 artists had twenty-one rooms and an auditorium, with studio participants Larry Silver, Andrew Glass (who became the organization's first director), Barbara Quinn, Susan Daitch, and others. In 1979 Room 406 was inaugurated as a gallery space. The P.S. 122 Gallery was administered separately from the performance space, and it remained a volunteer-run gallery for emerging artists. In 1979, choreographer Charles Moulton began holding rehearsals and workshops in the second floor cafeteria, and invited fellow performers Charles Dennis, John Bernd, Tim Miller and Peter Rose to collaborate launching P.S. 122 and in the administration and use of the space.

One of the earliest programmatic offerings created by the founders and choreographer Stephanie Skura was Open Movement, a non-performative, weekly improvisational dance event. Early participants in Open Movement included artists Ishmael Houston-Jones, Yvonne Meier, Jennifer Monson, Yoshiko Chuma, Jennifer Miller, and Christopher Knowles, among other acclaimed dance and performance artists still actively working today. P.S. 122 began its presentation history in 1980 with the first "Avant-Garde-Arama", a multidisciplinary showcase, and published its first complete calendar of performances, classes and workshops. The first full-length public play or performance presented in P.S. 122, in October 1980, was a play by Robin Epstein and Dorothy Cantwell's experimental women's theater company, More Fire! Productions.

Mark Russell was hired as artistic director in 1983 to curate and focus the overall programming, expanding it from a rental house into a year-round presenting facility. P.S. 122 doubled its programming in 1986 when it converted the old gym on the first floor into a performance space to be used for extended runs of small theatre groups and as a site for community meetings. Russell departed in 2004; Vallejo Gantner, succeeded him in the position with the 2005-2006 season through 2017, and notably created Performance Space 122's annual winter series, the COIL Festival.

In 2005, Performance Space 122 was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In 2011, Performance Space 122 embarked on an extensive $37 million renovation of its building, with major funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. During the six-year process, Performance Space 122 held programming at partner venues across New York City, including Danspace Project, The Chocolate Factory, Abrons Arts Center, The Invisible Dog Art Center, La MaMa ETC, and others, operating from administrative office spaces based in Brooklyn. Performance Space New York's revamped spaces reopened in January 2018 with the premiere of “visions of beauty” by choreographer Heather Kravas, held as part of the 2018 COIL Festival.

In 2017, former MoMA PS1 curator Jenny Schlenzka was named as Gantner’s successor as executive artistic director, the first female director in the organization’s history. Coinciding with the reopening of its building, the organization announced its updated name of Performance Space New York. Its updated name “is signaling an ambition to be relevant and accessible to all of New York,” in Schlenzka’s words, and actively collaborate with the local community in its programs. Schlenzka’s first full season of programming begins in February-June 2018, with a series of performances, discussions, film screenings, and other presentations specifically themed around the East Village. The series will pay homage to Performance Space New York’s history as well as involve emerging artists and collectives reflective of the neighborhood today.

Performance Space New York now boasts two theaters, and presents dance, performance art, exhibitions, music and film and video. It has a professional technical and administrative staff, and an active commission program. Both theater spaces feature state of the art technical inventory and are completely flexible. The large theater features a 22’-3” grid height and a playing space of 65’ wide by 65’ deep. The Neilma Sidney Theatre has a 12’ grid height and a playing space that is 18’ wide by 63’ deep.

Performance Space New York's new logo and identity was created by acclaimed artist Sarah Ortmeyer.

Artist Awards
Performance Space New York supports two ongoing artist awards, The Spalding Gray Award, and The Ethyl Eichelberger Award.

The Spalding Gray Award, named after the groundbreaking monologist Spalding Gray (1941–2004), is sponsored by a consortium that includes Kathleen Russo, Gray’s widow; Performance Space New York; the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh; and On the Boards in Seattle. The Award comes with a $20,000 commission to create a new work and provides for a full production of that work presented by each organization. Past recipients include Tim Etchells, Richard Maxwell, Rabih Mroué, Young Jean Lee, National Theater of the United States of America, Radiohole, and Heather Woodbury.

The Ethyl Eichelberger Award, named for the flamboyant, hilarious, trailblazing performer, Ethyl Eichelberger, (1945-1990) is awarded to an artists who "exemplifies Ethyl's larger-than-life style and generosity of spirit; who embodies Ethyl's multi-talented artistic virtuosity, bridging worlds and inspiring those around them." Recipients include Dane Terry, Mike Iveson, Taylor Mac, Julie Atlas Muz, Justin Vivian Bond, Jennifer Miller, Vaginal Davis, John Kelly, and Peggy Shaw.