601Artspace partners with artists, curators and other not-for-profit organizations to produce unconventional exhibitions, talks, film screenings and special projects within a non-commercial context. Its permanent collection acts as a catalyst for artistic and curatorial encounters. Through these interdisciplinary practices 601Artspace engages and investigates issues in the making, organizing, and reception of contemporary art.


601 West 26th St., #1755
New York, NY 10001
212-243-2735
info@601artspace.org
Hours: Thurs-Sat, 1-6pm

Open::Closed

Curated by David Howe
May 17-September 29, 2012
Opening reception: May 17, 6-9pm


DAVID DIAO
YEVGENIY FIKS
RAINER GANAHL
ROBERT GOBER & SHERRIE LEVINE
DAN GRAHAM
ANDREAS GURSKY
KENNETH TIN-KIN HUNG
CRAIG KALPAKJIAN
EVA & FRANCO MATTES aka 0100101110101101.org
JENNIFER & KEVIN MCCOY
TSUYOSHI OZAWA
KRISTINE POTTER
WILLIAM POWHIDA
HIROSHI SUGIMOTO
KERRY TRIBE
MARTIN WEBER



Where are the rifts and fractures, the pivots and hinges, the tilts
and balances between open and closed systems?

People do need to know that Polaris, the North Star, is always in the North. But in today's world, daily life is increasingly digital, binary, polarized, on-off. At risk are the pleasures of ambiguity, possibility, change, and imagination.

Seeking the terrain that lies between open and closed, fixed and flexible, Open::Closed offers the viewer multiple vantage points from which to view the exhibition, disrupting the seemingly neutral experience of looking at art. At the same time, the exhibition focuses on works that explore the conflict between open and closed systems. It is with this double move--one that takes place first in the artworks themselves and then in the way those works are represented--that we ask the viewer and the works to anticipate the arrival of the unexpected.

Image: Tsuyoshi Ozawa,Vegetable Weapon-Mutton Hot Pot/Beijing, 2002, Unique c-print, 44 1/2 x 61 7/16 in., Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo