Originally conceived by Alex Branch, the Winter Shack began as a 3-month long, temporary exhibition space built from discarded palletes in the artist’s back yard in Bed-Stuy. Alex Branch together with artist Nicole Antebi solicited new works from artists, writers and musicians that were one part lecture performance/ one part installation. They brought the selected artists and writers together for
an installation/reading/exhibition one night every other week to respond to one another’s work, the winter, the architecture of the shack, and to encourage outdoor engagement with audiences and the weather. From January to March 2014, it became a delicate and meditative space for people to produce ephemeral, collaborative work for the audience that came to experience it. Link to Nicole Antebi’s animated documentary “The Shack” https://vimeo.com/89159776
The Winter Shack was a response to a prohibitive real estate market, an urge towards adaptive reuse (both materially, and conceptually), and the desire to build community in the darkest hours of the year. We are now in the process of planning Season Two of the Winter Shack. As such, we are partnering with The Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust to install The Winter Shack at the Classon Ful-gate Community Garden, located on the edge of Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill. Originally established forty four years ago and maintained by many of its original members, the block association has generously invited the Winter Shack to activate the space during the winter months when the garden lies dormant. With Winter Shack‘s new temporary installation at Classon Ful-gate, we are proud to host our first resident, artist Lauren Canon, who will be converting the Shack into a CineSauna (cinematic sauna), screening short works by video artists during the month of February and converting the space into a reparative refuge for seasonal affective disorder. This season we are also working with the wonderful writer, Allison Devers, who will be curating a dynamic reading series. Overall, we are excited to hoist Winter Shack into some unchartered territory!
