Hallway Hijack
(New York, May 20, 2016) Hallways tend to be mundane, transitory spaces, seldom considered beyond their function as passageways from apartments to the outside world. But what if the sites were transformed, prompting residents and visitors to reconsider the otherwise perfunctory passages as places of interest?
This is the mission embraced by Phong Bui, founder and artistic director of Rail Curatorial Projects, an extension of the Brooklyn Rail, who engaged Taylor Dafoe of the Rail to curate Hallway Hijack. Partnering with the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University, Dafoe invited 19 artists to create permanent site-specific installations in 18 hallways of the luxury residential building of 66 Rockwell. It is the latest addition to the cultural programing of the building that has also involved Brooklyn neighbors BAM, Mark Morris Dance Center, and BRIC Arts, to present extraordinary film screenings as well as dance and art classes for residents.
The artworks in Hallway Hijack range in style and media—exploring pop culture, art history and conceptual art through illustration, painting, printing, photography, sculpture, graffiti, and even an interactive installation with crayons on hand. Subjects are as varied as real and otherworldly imagined landscapes, every frame from the film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” a fox hunt, all the taxis of the world, and more. Thematically, however, they are united by their respective engagement with the nature of “space”—be it in an environmental or domestic sense, in the abstract sense, or in the sense of the hallways themselves. “The curatorial direction was inspired by Hakim Bey’s classic volume T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone (1991), which proposed forming temporary spaces that would elude formal structures of control, while facilitating potential artistic interventions,” said DaFoe. “Spontaneity, invention, and playful responses to space are integral to the process of making.”
The hallway can be thought of as a metaphor for connection—a transitory place bridging the public and private. By hijacking the hallways with artists of diverse backgrounds and styles, the site-specific installations create the potential for dialogue, not only between artists and tenants, but also between 66 Rockwell’s neighbors and beyond. Participating artists include 17 current and former Neiman Fellows (Natalie Birinyi, Nathan Catlin, Aurélien Couput, Ines Esnal, Megan Foster, Eric Ramos Guerrero, Cary Hulbert, Duy Hoàng, Chris Jehly, Yujin Lee, Nicole Maloof, Cy Morgan, Abby Walworth, Xu Wang, Bryan Wilson, Jesse Weiss, and Sara Zielinski), as well as Phong Bui, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Brooklyn Rail, and Tomas Vu, the Director of the Neiman Center.
Andrew Levison (Principal and Director of Acquisitions and Asset Management at The Dermot Company) stated: “Rather than using funds to purchase a single piece by a blue chip artist to be placed in the lobby, we wanted to create an opportunity for our residents to experience the creation of unique artwork and to be able to live surrounded by art. By giving young artists this exciting opportunity to create permanent works on site, and interacting and exposing residents to the creative process, we hope to establish an immersive and community-building experience. Our curatorial partners at The Brooklyn Rail and The LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University created an experience beyond our wildest imagination.”
Media Contact: Maureen Sullivan, Red Art Projects, maureeen@redartprojects.com
Tour Contact: hq@brooklynrail.org
