West Side art center The Shed plans a pre-opening exhibit this spring
Rendering by NLÉ Works
About one year before opening in the spring of 2019, The Shed, the art center rising near Hudson Yards, will present a free event on an undeveloped lot at 10th Avenue and 30th Street. The multi-arts exhibit will happen between May 1st to May 13th, just one block away from the center’s future home. “We are temporarily transforming an empty lot into a flexible public space for new work, collaboration, and dialogue,” Alex Poots, CEO of The Shed said in a press release. That means a cool temporary space, designed by the architect Kunlé Adeyemi of NLÉ Works and artist Tino Sehgal, to host a variety of music, dance and performance.
The structure, known as A Prelude to The Shed, will include new work by artists, dance performance, lectures and live concerts happening throughout each day over the course of two weeks. The work This variation, an immersive dance/sound piece by Tino Sehgal, will happen continuously throughout each afternoon, interwoven with a new work by the artist William Forsythe.
On top of that, Prelude to the Shed will host solo concerts by Atlanta-based R&B singer ABRA, Venezuelan electronic music producer and DJ Arca, and finally New York-based rapper Azealia Banks. Finally, expect panels, an experimental school hosted by artist Asad Raza, and “dance battle” performances.
Rendering by Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Architecture lovers will also have the opportunity to check out interactive models of the arts center, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group. “Prelude will encourage visitors to interact with reproductions of these artifacts in a way that is more dynamic than just looking—mobile exhibition carts will be moved around Adeyemi’s temporary space by students prepared to engage in conversation,” the press release says.
The Shed is expected to open in the spring of 2019. Last summer, steel construction (pictured above) was wrapping up. You can also watch the massive eight-million-pound structure slide along the High Line, as the structure features a movable shell on rails allowing for the building to change size depending on the type of event.
In total, The Shed will span 200,000 square feet with six levels. The design was first unveiled in 2011 and construction kicked off in 2015 with the prefabrication of the steel and the motion system in Italy. The building, located on 30th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues, will have its main entrance through an 8,000-square-foot lobby on 30th Street, right below the High Line.
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