Baseera Khan experimented with “acoustic sound blankets” during a summer 2015 residency at the Arts Center on Governors Island, New York, inspired by the ferry there.
“I found that the sound of the large groups queuing to get on a ferry and then being on the water was really loud… And so I decided it would be a good time to create a kennel system for myself,” Khan said. Hyperallergic.
The residency, called “Process Space,” was sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). Khan, a performance, sculpture and installation artist, conceived the idea of connecting sound and objects to the program. What began as a box resembling a recording booth became a gold-embroidered and insulated black blanket, which has since been acquired by the Guggenheim Museum.
“It really helped me establish performance into sculpture,” Khan said of her time at LMCC. “I don’t think I would have developed blankets if it hadn’t been for that experience.”
This year, the organization celebrates five decades of serving the Manhattan community through the arts. In addition to organizing residencies, LMCC helps artists and arts organizations obtain grants, provides its own funding, and produces free public programming.
Founded in 1973 by Flory Barnett with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and David Rockefeller Sr., a billionaire known for his art collection and controversial relationships with autocratic foreign leaders, LMCC aimed to revitalize and address Lower Manhattan. target the needs of the artists who live there. In the 1980s, it became a designated neighborhood arts council.
“It’s a priority for us to continue to support cultural programming, both to support artists and to bring art to the public in the most barrier-free way possible,” said Craig Peterson, LMCC President and CEO. Hyperallergic.
But LMCC’s story has not been without its challenges. In the late 1990s, the organization moved its offices to the World Trade Center, which was later destroyed on September 11, 2001. According to its website, LMCC lost a performance hall, studio and exhibition space for nearly 30 years. the value of archives. Most painfully, the organization lost artist-in-residence Michael Richards.
After the tragedy, LMCC worked to strengthen the area through arts programming. In 2002, he helped found the annual River to River Festival, a free summer art fair that presents live art and installations in public spaces in Lower Manhattan.
LMCC’s resilience was tested again when it was hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. While the organization’s history has been littered with moments of crisis, it is committed to bridging the gap between available exhibition spaces and artists, said Ana Fiore, Vice President of Artist Programs. Hyperallergic.
In 2019, LMCC reopened the renovated Arts Center and began collaborating with other organizations to curate programming, such as Yoko Ono’s participatory project. Add color (refugee boat) Introducing Onyedika Chuke in collaboration with Pioneer Works in River to River that year and 2021 Archives of the Permanent Museum_about 6000 AD. LMCC recently partnered with Allies in Arts, a non-profit organization supporting women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists, to mount an exhibition celebrating the progress of artists fighting for the advancement of marginalized groups.
“We’re exploring new kinds of institutional partnerships that mirror what we’ve always worked with artists to provide studio space for them,” Peterson said.
The organization is finalizing a long-term lease on that space, the island’s first permanent home for art, Peterson said. Perhaps like Khan, audiences and artists alike will find inspiration in the waves for years to come.
