Permanent Collection is a series of exhibits about things found, how they were found, and how what was found is shared. The first was held on September 19, 2012 in Brooklyn, New York at PACS Gallery and featured artworks artists had purchased, acquired in trade, or found in the trash. Ten years later, the project continues at an independent bookstore in Providence, Rhode Island.
Read moreProvidence Commemoration Lab
Funded by the Mellon Foundation and the American Rescue Plan, The Providence Commemoration Lab is a program co-administered by The Department of Art, Culture and Tourism (ACT) and the Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS). The Lab sites and stages new, temporary projects on public property that invite unexpected ways of understanding commemoration as a communal process of historical redress and spatial reclamation.
Read morePLURAL
PLURAL
Recent paintings and digital images by Willa Van Nostrand and Ben Sisto
The Gallery at City Hall
25 Dorrance Street, Providence, Rhode Island
May 18 – August 15, 2023
Reception May 18, 2023 from 4–6 PM
PACS Gallery
PACS Gallery, a DIY project space named for having existed between Public Assembly and Cubana Social, existed for a short time in a loft space at 70 North 6th St. in Williamsburg. The room typically held rather wild parties on Saturday evenings and on Sunday AM I’d go in, literally shovel-out beer cans, give the room a quick repaint and by about 3pm, was installing that-evening’s one-night-only exhibition. PACS hosted about 25 events in all; the PACS logo was created by Cody Hoyt.
PACS at Paloma South
95 South 4th Street, Brooklyn NY
May 12, 2013
Sunday afternoon. Mothers Day. Paintings. Collections. Drawings. Ceramics. Artists handle their own sales. Paloma South is an apartment. Stop by on your way to Journal. Come after you visit Southfirst. Take a boat. Take a train. Ride a bike. Works on display by Scott Calhoun, Ariel Dill, Ryan Garvey, C.F., Maya Hayuk, Cody Hoyt, E.E. Ikeler, Denise Kupferschmidt, Helmut Smits, Ben Sisto, and Kim Westfall.
Shadow Pests
116 Bushwick Ave, Floor 2, Brooklyn NY
March 20, 2013
With the pairing of Suzy Coady and Yusuke Okada, viewers will meet a cast of playful, sometimes awkward and occasionally crass characters who, like those found in the early adult-themed drawings of Shel Silverstein, deal with sex, love, and life with a childlike humor and playfulness.
Apacsment Show
116 Bushwick Ave, Floor 2, Brooklyn
December 12, 2012
Works on display by Leah Beeferman and Pierre Le Hors, Phillip Birch, Reade Bryan, Elizabeth Ebright, Amanda B. Friedman, Garrol Gayden, Kenya Hanley, Cody Hoyt, E.E. Ikeler, Denise Kupferschmidt, Michael Pellew, Ben Sisto, Joshua Smith, Jeffrey Tranchell, and Joshua Caleb Weibley.
Sightings, Zs, Drainolith, Regression
September 29, 2012
LQQK & Bunce Present:
+ Regression (12:00)
+ Zs (11:00)
+ Sightings (10:00)
+ Drainolith (9:00)
8:30 PM, 21+ w ID
No BYOB, $10
Presentation Party Night
September 16, 2012
Presentations From:
+ Shannon Coffey - Mystery
+ Ryder Ripps - How to Design an e-Commerce Website
+ Erik Bergstrom - The French
+ Melissa J Frost - Architecture Out of Order
Presentation Party Night is a monthly lecture series combining a love of community and education with a taste for beer. Based in Bushwick, Brooklyn, they meet on the 3rd Sunday of each month to share and discuss various topics spanning history, pop culture, current events, and the utterly indescribable. Aesthetically, PPN is a bit closer to a DIY loft party than it is say, Ignite or TED talks. Presenters range from local pro’s to first-timers and there’s a healthy mix of laughing, factoids, and open-ended Q&A. Limited complimentary beers from our good friends at Asahi.
Sean Micka's Christine
September 17, 2012
Christine is a character based in New York City. She sets up situations that invite viewers to contemplate, interrogate and/or negotiate various ways in which art and finance function within a political economy. For better or for worse, her work focuses its attention on auctions, examining artworks, antiques and precious jewels i.e., as objects of financial speculation. She also is frequently concerned with the phenomena of “the contemporary” as an ambiguously defined idea in modern art, i.e., periodization of the present. Christine is frequent collaborator with artist Sean Micka.
E.E. Ikeler: KISS/KIZZ
September 18, 2012
Drawing on the history of abstraction within Western Modernism, Brooklyn-based artist E.E. Ikeler’s work, as exemplified with KISS/KIZZ, inserts feminist and queer content through nontraditional materials while maintaining a level abstraction. It’s a task that the artist feels has often been assumed to lack legibility in mainstream art criticism. In response, various experimental strategies assert that form and content are not discrete characteristics of art works, but rather, like our minds and bodies, are one in the same.
Permanent Collection
September 19, 2012
Artists come to own work by other artists in a myriad of ways. Sometimes it’s bought, often it’s in trade, as payment for general labor, and here and there it’s rescued from a trash can. Sometimes it’s a piece that’s been long-desired, other times a bit of a white elephant. Since we’re all struggling for space to store all this stuff, not all works “make the cut” as they say, when artists move between studios and dwellings. But for this one-night exhibition, 10 artists reach into our personal collections and display works that have made the cut. Curated by Ben Sisto (PACS) and Denise Kupferschmidt (Apartment Show).
Artypes Salon 3: “Portrait”
September 20, 2012
Artypes is a series of Art Salons. For each Salon, a variety of contemporary artists are asked to make work prompted by a type of art. Salon No. 3 will include “Portraits” by well over 60 artists, which will be Artypes’ largest Art Salon to date. Art Salons are free to the public. Art can be purchased from the Artists, and Drinks from the Bar.
The Next 50 presents: Long Distance Poison
June 11, 2012
Long Distance Poison, with the help of Matthew Caron and ESP TV, produced a new work in Brooklyn at PACS Gallery that was simultaneously transmitted via HAM radio into outer space, projected before a live audience at the PLAYHOUSE/INTIMAN Theater in the Seattle Center, and broadcast live on the internet. The work is called A Third Signal to A Habitable Zone.
Phillip Birch: Worldless on a Wire Part 1
May 21, 2012
What is authentic? How do we experience a thing? What is thingness versus thinghood?Can a thing be in itself? What makes one a radical? How do you define yourself as a radical? Can we place ourselves in the role of the other? Is there an other? What is necessary and what is enough? Is there enough? Is there a difference between transcendent and pedestrian? Is there a crisis? Are there infinite Earths? Who is your service provider? Is this relatable?
Phillip Birch lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He has exhibited at Cleopatra’s, Clifton Benevento, Artists Space, Envoy and Apartment Show. He is currently attempting to learn to juggle. He has been attempting this for years now.
Sto Len and Man Forever: Video
June 2012
Our buddy Sto of Cinders Gallery was here recently, painting away. PACS hosted a music video shoot for Man Forever, who recently signed to Thrill Jockey. MF is the brainchild of John Kid Millions Collpits, who’s best known as the drummer for Brooklyn’s own Oneida. The live lineup is always in a state of flux, but members of Vampire Weekend, Blues, Yo La Tango, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more have stopped in on previous engagements. Here’s some photos from the shoot, and you can see the video / read more via Impose TV.
Cody Hoyt, Greeting Disorder
March 27, 2012
Greeting Disorder is a one night exhibition of recent works by Cody Hoyt. A limited edition publication will accompany the show.
Get Rich or Die Mayan 3 aka The Maze Benefit
March 18, 2012
Amanda B. Friedman: Thought-forms
March 26, 2012
Amanda B. Friedman explores cognition, perception, and the distance between self, others, and the world. Her paintings, paper constructions, and drawings are informed by research on mental space - both inside and outside of the head.
Friedman has participated in residencies at Vermont Studio Center, VT; Millay Colony for the Arts, NY, and at Virginia Commonwealth University, VA. Selected group exhibitions include Backyard Projects, NYC; Clifton Benevento, NYC; St. Cecilia’s Convent, Brooklyn; and with Apartment Show, Brooklyn. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Also, this show marks the 1-year anniversary of PACS. Thanks so much to everyone who’s come out and supported!
Joshua Smith: Here is a Hand and Here is Another
February 27, 2012
Joshua Smith is an internationally exhibited painter. He was cofounder, with Denise Kupferschmidt, of the itinerant group-show Apartment Show. He was born in Texas, raised in Michigan, and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Get Rich or Die Mayan 2:
Sunday, February 19th 2012
Sam from Z’s and Duncan from Bunce put this together as part of a series of parties benefiting the You Are Here Festival, aka THE MAZE, which took in July 2012 at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn, as well as in October 2012 in Berlin, DE.
Live sets from:
+ Hubble
+ Diamond Terrifier
+ White Suns
+ GDFX
+ DJ Marty McSorely
+ Projections by TROUBLE
$10 | 9pm | 21+
Jeffery Tranchell
January 30, 2012
Born in Owosso Michigan, Jeffrey Tranchell lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He earned his BFA in 2005 at College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. An art-handler by day, Tranchell is exposed to a lot of waste - from bubble wrap & foam being tossed into dumpsters to hydrochloric acid poured down drains. A fan of Maciunas’ use of “waste”, all that pure-tossing doesn’t sit well with him.
In his solo show at PACS, Tranchell displays about a dozen paintings which repurposes materials such as torn coat linings, plastics, and broken canvas stretchers to suggest that all objects have potential, some purpose that consumes objects apart from their intended use or despite their “broken” state. Most artistic activity unavoidably generates a little trash, and Tranchell’s intent is not to condemn artists who fail to use every part of the buffalo….he’s just trying to find a place for all this stuff.
Denise Kupferschmidt: various murals
January 16, 2012
At the invitation of PACS Gallery, Denise Kupferschmidt has installed a permanent mural in the front room of Public Assembly. Occupying approximately 5 x 17 feet of estate above the venue’s front interior window, Kill Your Crude Idols references Kupferschmidt’s own Crude Idols drawing series, while serving as a nod to the NYC rock & no-wave documentary Kill Your Idols. The mural’s footer text was generated by the artist’s friend Ben Sisto, who did so by processing a cappella versions of popular songs with an Apple iPhone S4’s voice-to-text translator.
Based on the success of this project, Denise came back to do a mural on the building's exterior as well. Photos avail on request.
Reade Bryan, Oomph
December 20, 2011
Houstonian turned Brooklynite Reade Bryan received a BFA in FIne Arts from the New School for Design in 2006. Over the past four years he’s toured the local woodshop & construction circuit, helping bring the city gems like Brooklyn Fireproof. In terms of form & fabrication his works draw upon those methods and materials associated with said day-jobs. Tile, brick, plywood, foam an in this show’s case, fiberglass insulation.
The works on display were created on site from about 12pm-6pm, just prior to opening. Bryan’s spontaneity evokes a Guston-like humor, presenting the viewer with two clear options: take the works seriously, or laugh along.
Skeleton$, Black Crown Ceremony, Loud Objects
December 19, 2011
9pm, 21+, $7.00
Live Sets:
Skeleton$
Black Crown Ceremony
Loud Objects
DJ Sets:
The Oracle
Marty McSorely (WFMU)
Dutch E. Germ
Joshua Caleb Weibley: Solid Surface
November 28, 2011
From Joshua:
I profess a kind of connectedness with every material I use, at least in as far as I am implicitly saying “this is something which I may use” by using it. Use is a way to establish ownership, though my saying so alone doesn’t make it true. I don’t own everything and some things I would be wrong to claim ownership of. Others I can fairly call my own and do as I please with according to my relationship with them...
Images above courtesy of the artist; from a series of hand-drawn ASCII-style pieces.
Ben Sisto: Two Dogs in the Same Space at the Same Time
October 24, 2011
Six works in progress, reflective of Sisto's suspicious attitude towards the copyright, a feeling that’s somewhat based on an aesthetic affection for multiverse theory. The show title is a mishearing a line from K.M.D.’s song “Mr. Hood” which reminds us that two atoms can’t occupy the same space at the same time. A mix of wall-paintings, framed photocopies, and Ebay’d records on display including: 144 Darwins (Final Dozen) Amateur Portal (Version), Who Let ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ Out? (Evidence), Sometimes (Die Trying), Of Bits, plus Guest DJ Pappa Wheelie (live all vinyl Miami Bass set, 60 min)
Leah Beeferman & Pierre Le Hors
September 19, 2011
1. ITEMS AND DISPLAY
2. SURFACES AND SUPPORTS
3. STILL LIVES OF DISPLAY
4. EVENTS / AS IN PARTICLE PHYSICS
5. EVENTS / AS IN ANY ACTION
6. MINIATURE MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE / GRAPHS
7. SURFACES:
a) permeable surfaces (description)
b) semipermeable surfaces (two-way mirror)
c) impermeable surfaces (obfuscation)
8. ILLUSORY SURFACES
Photos courtesy of Pierre Le Hors
Gina Beavers: Tapestry Embrace
August 22, 2011
Gina Beavers is an artist in New York City. She studied at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and has been in group shows with Apartment Show, the Journal Gallery, Printed Matter, Envoy Gallery, Kidd Yellin, Sara Meltzer Projects and Clifton Benevento in New York, among others. She has also shown at Cave in Detroit and Pepin Moore in Los Angeles. Most recently, she showed paintings, created a shop installation with Denise Kupfershmidt, and presented a zine-making performance at the ‘Art Book Club Presents:’ show at St. Cecilia’s in Brooklyn.
Denise Kupferschmidt: Spektr
July 7, 2011
PACS Gallery is pleased to present Spektr, a show of new drawings by Denise Kupferschmidt. Spektr combines selections from several open series within Kupferschmidt’s work, and highlights formal currents running through her studies on various subjects and topics.
The drawing of Denise Kupferschmidt employ an unmistakable vocabulary of form and texture; they speak to dualities inherent in nature and humanity: light and dark, empty and full, bad and good. Between these opposites is the exact moment of death; and in Kupferschmidt’s work that spirituality is materially represented through bold, primitive yet elegant forms that evoke notions of universally understood symbol sets and iconic figures.
Grady Gerbracht's Repercussions
2011
re:percussions is a series of events featuring drummers and drummer led projects that expand the parameters of the percussive medium curated by Grady Gerbracht and sponsored by the Nomadic Museum of Sonic Arts.
Performers included Christine Bard, Jim Pugliese, Grady Gerbracht, John Loggia, Margaret Schedel, Valerie Opielski, and Ravish Momin.
MICROFORTNIGHT
March 30, 2011
Featuring works by Leah Beeferman, Kevin Driscoll, Kerry Gaertner, Joshua Weibley, Daniel Lopatin, Benjamin Sisto, James Corrigan, Twos and Fours, Jeanette Mundt, S.E. Schoemann, A.K.A. SR PALM, Pierre Le Hors, Bennett4senate, & Bryce Hackford. More on this project here.
Public Assembly
Public Assembly was a 3-room performance and arts venue located at 70 North 6th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Some remember this address as the site of the original Galapagos Art Space, too. I ran the place for about two years starting in 2011 overseeing all booking, promotions, staffing and a lot of the upkeep and repair. There were many great folks in the mix – Eric Sheppard, Duncan Rich, Pop, Tammy Hart … who all kept it running on duct tape and sweat. The main murals inside and out were painted by Denise Kupferschmidt.
Some photos my dad took around the venue, and during a Northern Spy Records showcase:
Banner ads from the venue’s website:
Some of the many, many event flyers PA’s partners and artists made:
Audio:
Here are some full sets from a show in October 2012 headlined by Silver Apples. Some other audio recordings can be found under the is Upstairs and Et cetera project pages.
At some point after leaving I made this list –it looks like maybe a list of “things I am most happy happened at Public Assembly” or, most in-line with my vision for the place. This is far from a complete list of all acts though:
Action Bronson, Alcest, Alias Pail, Allison Weiss, Arca, Arthur Baker, Assemble, Babycastles, Badussy, Ballistic Missile (showcase), Behavior, Big Freedia, Bklyn Boihood, Blanc Mass, Brooklyn Bodega, Brooklyn Brainery, Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, Brooklyn Ladies Arm Wrestling, Brooklyn Vegan, Brooklyn Zine Fest, Bunce Booking, Bunker, Car Park / Paw Tracks (showcase), Cat Face, Communion, Craig Murphy Memorial Benefit, Crappy Cinema Council, Dead Prez, Death & Taxes, Diamond Terrifer, Dutty Artz, Dyke March, Electric Punanny, Eric Andre Show, Et cetera Festival, Fixed, Fixed, Forma, Gang Gang Dance, Gatekeeper, Glenn Branca, Goldie, Hatchet Job Poetry, Hey Queen, Houston, Atlanta, Memphis (HAM), How to Dress Well, Industrial Strength Records, Is Upstairs, Kim Ann Foxman, Laurel Halo, Lexi Mountain, Major Stars, Martyrdoom, Masters of Social Gastronomy, Mayhem Lauren, MC Ice Rod, Mexican Summer (showcase), Midnight Magic, Miho Hatori, Mixpack Extended Play, MNDR, Mute Records, Neon Marshmallow Festival, Oneohtrix Point Never, Original Plumbing, Oval, PACS Gallery, Panache Booking, Parallels, Permanent Wave, Pop Fest NYC, POP Montreal (showcase), Pussy Faggot, QxBxRx, Raft, Rebel Bingo, Red Bull Music Academy, Reggay, Regression, Rhys Chatham, Rinsed, Robert Hood, Sal P, Sightings, Silver Apples, Society for the Advancement of Social Studies, Strictly Hits, Suckers, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, The Babies, The Magician, The Psyched, The Rumpus, Tim Hecker, Tim Sweeny, Todd Pendu, Trouble & Bass, Tumblr / Eat Sleep Draw, Turntables on the Hudson, Wax Poetics, WORD Presents, Wrecked, Xanadude, Xeno and Oaklander, Yacht, Yo! Majesty.
Punk Rock Flea Market
Punk Rock Flea Market started with about 20 vendors in the Mass Art gym in 2002. Over the next 6 years I’d organize ten of these, growing to about 80 vendors and with turnouts of about 800 at peak. We usually charged $1 to get in and have the money to a local cause or 501c3. Vendors rented tables more or less at-cost and everyone would pitch in to help set up, break down and it sort of just ran itself. People sold clothing, records, crafts, snacks and sometimes actual trash.
Above: The first PRFM’s took place in the Mass Art gym
Above: Truth Serum Productions sold gender-queered vintage.
Above: Punks and norms, together.
Above: Always a lot of patches.
Above: Vendor Seth Davis with VHS tapes, art supplies, amps and more.
Above: Boston Derby Dames selling merch
Above: Mark from Neptune on the DJ decks
Some of the vendors from the last two PRFMs:
Action Geek Comics, Alex Dakoulas Design, Anna Gurowsky, Apenest, Beautiful World Syndicate, Birdhead Design, Boomerangs, Boomerangs (Kris 2), brandwashed, Child of the 80s, corleone records, Country Records, Crusty Tim's World of Sketch, Distro.y Clothing, DIY BDSM, Eric Shaw Design, Evil Design, Galactic Fractures, Good Vintage, Hope Through Health, Jaffney Jaynes Take Away The Pain, Julie A Designs, Kendra Smith, Athena, Lindsay Crudel (Split), Kevin Driscoll, Kris P (personal table), KTT Shirts, Lady Cougars Art Gang, Laurel Kirtz, Lindsay (Adrian), Little Flower Designs, Lucy Parsons Center, Manimal, Poppycock Design, Rachel Small, Regeneration Records, Repeat Clothing, Replacement for James, Roslin Rags, S. Knitty Designs, Seth Davis, Shut Up Clothing, Sibling Rivalry, Sticks and Stones, Tater Print, Teenage Disco Bloodbath, The BLCC, Trash Art!, Truth Serum Productions, Vaya Bags, Velocicrafter, What Cheer?!
Above: Classic sidewalk scene. Nokia phone and all.
Above: We had good crowds.
Above: Jonah from Teenage Disco Bloodbath Records
When I decided to close up shop, Lindsay Metiver took the idea and ran with it organizing an offshoot called Mass Market, and I believe this turned into Black Market with Dan Shea’s Bodies of Water Arts and Crafts project. A lot of the vendors have gone on to be successful artists, tattoo artists, musicians, shop owners and small business operators too. Maybe one of my favorite events I’ve done.
Pressure Burns
Pressure Burns is a collection of papers used for books that were initially bleached for whiteness. As decades pass, lignin, the natural binder in the wood pulp, oxidizes changing the color of the page from white to yellow or brown. These selections bring attention to random pressure marks created by years of stacking or shelving the books.
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