[art + architecture] is a collection of work by a diverse group of emerging artists and designers, opening on Thursday, July 8th. Because our contemporary society often questions the authenticity or REALNESS of architecture and art, the collection engages themes of depth, movement and interaction with an underlying emphasis on the body and its varying significance with the sculpted, aesthetic world.

The scale of the Gowanus Ballroom echoes its presence and immediately accentuates the modest stature of the human body. Towering above its reflection on the Gowanus Canal, the Ballroom serves as a relic of the industrial cargo transportation era. According to Michael Benidikt’s For an Architecture of Reality, “a building must possess one or more of the four categories: presence, significance, materiality and emptiness”. The Ballroom embodies these concepts, and exhibits the emptiness or interval in the midst of a dense urban environment.

With this event, we seek to contort the space with real art by real people and with real objectives. Visitors will have the unique opportunity to experience interactive installations, paintings, sculpture, and live performance art in the industrial studio environment of the Gowanus Ballroom.

55 9th street, brooklyn, ny 11215 [in-between smith street & 2nd Ave]

smith + 9th stop on the f + g

opening thurs July 8th, 6pm – 11pm

fri July 9th, 6pm – 1am

sat July 10th, noon- 1am

sun July 11th, noon- 11pm