New Gov. Island
art center open
Photo by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
The Upper Gallery of the Arts Center features
the work of Yto Barrada and Bettina.
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
The Lower Manhattan
Cultural
Council’s
(LMCC) Arts Center at
Governors Island is now
open to the public.
The nonprofi t, along
with the Trust for Governors
Island, spent $12
million to renovate the
island’s 1870s munitions
warehouse to create
dedicated space for
exhibitions, public performances
along with
visual and performing
art spaces.
About $8 million
of those funds came
from city funding, according
to a statement
from LMCC.
“We invite the public
into LMCC’s Arts Center
at Governors Island
to refl ect on the world
we inhabit. How we can
better care for ourselves,
those around us and
the planet as a whole?”
said Lili Chopra, executive
director of artistic
programs at LMCC.
The 40,000 square
foot center features an
upper and lower gallery
along with open plan
studios which will showcase
work with focuses
on ecology, sustainability
and resilience related
to Governors Island and
the city.
The Center’s inaugural
exhibits are a piece about
individual and collective
reactions to disaster
called The Power of Two
Suns by Yto Barrada and
guest artist Bettina in
the Arts Center’s Upper
Gallery. In the Lower
Gallery, artist Michael
Wang exhibits Extinct in
New York, a collection
of greenhouses fi lled
with plants that no longer
grow in the city due
to urbanization.
The Arts Center also
has 17 artists in residents,
who began their
year-long stays the Arts
Center’s offi cial opening,
Sept. 19. The fi rst
cohort consists of Yto
Barrada, Colleen Billing,
Baris Gokturk, Maya
Jeffereis, Amy Koshbin,
Hilary Lorenz, Brendan
Kiely, Jillian MacDonald,
Ander Mikalson, Lize
Mogel, Aviva Rahmani,
Leah Raintree, Aida
Šehovi, Aaron Suggs,
Asiya Wadud, Michael
Wang and Hypocrit
Theater Company.
Throughout Governors
Island’s public
season, May 1 through
Oct. 1, the Arts Center
will also host
cultural programming.
The galleries are open
and free to the public
from Thursday through
Sunday from 12 to 5
p.m. until Oct. 31.
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