The Goethe-Institut New York, a branch of the Federal Republic of Germany’s global cultural institution, is pleased to announce the opening of Ludlow 38, a new downtown satellite space for innovative contemporary art. Sponsored by MINI, Ludlow 38 will be exclusively and autonomously programmed by Kunstverein München for its first year. Ludlow 38 is located a short walk from the New Museum and at the center of the emerging gallery scene on the Lower East Side and in Chinatown.

publish and be damned is a public library consisting of over 300 international publications, assembled since 2004 by the British curators Emily Pethick (Director Showroom, London), Kit Hammonds (Curator, South London Gallery), and Sarah McCrory (curator). This archive of contemporary DIY fanzines is probably the largest of its kind in the world, containing fanzines such as: Ziggy, Zowie, Blondiak, Dark Star, Useless; magazines such as Control, pablo internacional, Inventory; critical journals like Dot Dot Dot, Copenhagen Free University/Infopool, Metronome, Anarchitektur, Fucking Good Art; plus glossy periodicals such as CRASH!, Re-Magazine and video and cassette editions including Audio Theory and Audio Arts; radio plays and Independent Record Labels such as Another Album and Junior Aspirin. These fanzines, all of which operate more or less outside the commercial and institutional mainstream, have been brought together in this archive to document their individual and experimental approach in production and distribution. The library comprises self-published works by authors, musicians and theorists as well as artists such as Jeremy Deller, Scott King, Pablo Bronstein, Raymond Pettibon, Spartacus Chetwynd, Nils Norman, Stephan Dillemuth, Stephan Willats, Cathy Lomax, Eleanor Brown, Aline Bouvy, Sonia Dermience, Meeuw Muzak and many others. publish and be damned is also the title of this year’s 4th international fair of self-publishers happening in London this summer.

“Ludlow 38 is designed to appeal to a young contemporary audience. Our partner in this project, the Kunstverein München, is internationally recognised as one of the most innovative contemporary art institutions in Germany,” notes Dr. Stephan Wackwitz, program director of the Goethe-Institut New York. Adds Stefan Kalmár, the director of “Kunstverein München, “As Kunstverein and therefore as a locally rooted, but internationally operating contemporary art institute, this co-operation will give us the opportunity to further internationalize our work and extend our reach. Ludlow 38 has been designed in close collaboration between the artists Liam Gillick and Ethan Breckenridge, as a quasi backspace bar for a small group of left-behind partisans to linger behind the dark corporate curtains of today, thinking about what might be played on stage today and tomorrow.”

The Goethe-Institut New York is a branch of the Federal Republic of Germany’s global cultural institute, established to promote the study of German and German culture abroad, encourage international cultural exchange, and provide information on Germany’s culture, society, and politics. At its uptown Fifth Avenue location, several buzzworthy lecture series will debut this month, including “What is Green Architecture?” with Berlin-based architect Jürgen Mayer H. on February 7. For more, visit: www.goethe.de/newyork.