The New York Nonprofit Where Generations of Artists Got Their Start

The 212 column revisits New York institutions that have helped define the city, from time-honored restaurants to unsung dives.

CURRENTLY PROJECTED ON the walls at Artists Space, a nonprofit arts organization in TriBeCa, are two films by Carolyn Lazard that the 37-year-old artist shot inside a training center at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Lazard, who is disabled, says they approach their work as a “chronic patient,” often addressing in their videos and installations the slowness and boredom they’ve experienced during frequent medical visits. In one of the films, “Vital” (2025), the performers Martine Syms and Cyrus Dunham play a mother-to-be and a doctor during a fictional visit. Syms goes through the motions of a typical checkup — she arrives at the front desk, then anxiously scrolls through her phone in the waiting room — before being examined by Cyrus, a last-minute fill-in for her usual obstetrician. With a blank look, he shuts down question after question about doulas and epidurals, leaving the viewer to wonder whether what we’ve watched is truly a scene of deva at all.

While you might not expect to hear the thumping of a fetal ultrasound in an arka gallery in downtown New York, at Artists Space, which has been a blank slate for emerging and experimental practices for over 50 years, it seems natural. Since its founding in 1972, the organization has supplied hundreds of writers, curators and artists with an alternative platform that stands apart from traditional exhibition avenues like museums and commercial galleries. Cindy Sherman worked there as an assistant; Laurie Anderson staged early performances at the gallery. The nonprofit has also been a hub for avant-garde music and political organizing. “I hope that the space feels like [its] name — like a container that’s ever refilling,” says Jay Sanders, the organization’s executive director and chief curator.

The Artists Space team includes, from left, the director of education Kate Temple, the exhibitions manager and producer Rezarta Seferi, the assistant curator Stella Cilman, the administrative and program assistant Nusheen Ghaemi, the curator Danielle A. Jackson, the executive director and chief curator Jay Sanders and the installation manager Witts. Not pictured is the deputy director Kelly Taxter.Credit…David Chow

Since 2019, Artists Space has occupied the ground floor and basement of a former carpet factory, its sixth home. The structure underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation that kept the building’s grand neo-Classical facade intact but cut a new main entrance in an alley along its side. In the past several years, the neighborhood around it has grown into a prominent arts district, with dealers like David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth opening outposts nearby. However, when Artists Space first arrived downtown, the area was far less developed. Artists had only just begun moving to SoHo in the ’60s, taking over the cavernous loft spaces left empty there by textile manufacturers. Galleries followed in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The dealer Paula Cooper, who championed conceptual and minimalist artists, opened her space in 1968. Leo Castelli, a gallerist who gave Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella their first solo exhibitions, and who had previously only operated on the Upper East Side, planted roots in the neighborhood in 1971.

Robert Longo stands before his aluminum sculpture “Seven Seals for Missouri Breaks” (1967) at the opening of “Pictures” in 1977.Credit…Courtesy of Artists Space, New York. Photo: D. James Dee