Gallery Hours: Thursday and Friday 3 - 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday 12 - 6 pm, or by appointment
It is with great excitement that we launch our 2007/2008 interdisciplinary theme “Play” at Proteus Gowanus. The process for creating the exhibits and programs, in keeping with the theme, is downright fun, a protean unfolding of related art, books, artifacts, objects, films and performances generated by suggestions of visitors to the gallery, a growing number of “PG Correspondents” - artists and workers in many disciplines - and by the rich interdisciplinary resources of eight collaborating non-profit organizations. It is an associative process in which one idea leads to another over the course of the year. We will explore the versatile meanings of “Play,” investigating its history and future as the bedrock of culture; its regenerative power as the creative basis of every discipline and as the spark that ignites the child’s imagination; and its darker role in our entertainment-obsessed culture.
My co-curator this year is Maddy Rosenberg. Play Correspondents include: artist/animator Pahl Hluchan; artist/filmmaker Jeanne Liotta; Brooklyn Museum Librarian/Curator of Books Deirdre Lawrence; toy designer/historian/educator Karen Hewitt; and author/video game expert Heather Chaplin. Pahl Hluchan will program an animation series, an ongoing feature in the gallery. Jeanne Liotta will program a film series about play, and curate a new fixture at PG: a television monitor located in the alleyway above the front door, designed and installed by artist Charles Goldman. Check our Workshops/Events page for a variety of play-related programs, from mahjong lessons to improvisational performances.
Please note: The Play Book publication date has been changed to February 2007
We introduce the year with The Play Book, not a catalog, but a book to be played with - a loose compilation of artist-designed games, play-related text and images. Click here for a detailed description and a pre-publication subscription offer. The Play Book is the first of a series of publications called Proteotypes that grow out of Proteus Gowanus programs.
Two new permanent installations of an archival nature have joined The Museum of Matches in the space adjacent to Proteus Gowanus: The Reanimation Library, an independent library serving artists, writers and cultural archeologists; and Anonima, an archive of art, books and ephemera from a 1960’s artist collaborative.
We remind you that, though Proteus Gowanus collaborates with non-profits, encourages quiet viewing and contemplation, and looks a bit like a museum, we enthusiastically sell everything on display with the exception of archival material. Co-Founder PK Ramani and I invite you to come visit!
Co-Founder/Director
Proteus Gowanus
Sasha Chavchavadze
Play Participants include:Rosaire Appel, Gerard Barbot, The Brooklyn Museum Library, Cabinet Magazine, Ted Chafee, Heather Chaplin, Chris Cogburn, Donn Davis, Susan Dunkerley, Joanna Ebenstein, Kristin Eno, Janice Everett, The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, Marty Greenbaum, Melissa Hensley, Karen Hewitt, Andrew Keating, The Kentler International Drawing Space Satellite Flatfile of Contemporary Prints, Susan Happersett, Halona Hilbertz, Pahl Hluchan, Sharon Horvath, Leslie Kerby, Jenni Knight, Tom La Farge, William Lamson, Jeanne Liotta, Desi Minchillo, David Moore/Bing and Ruth, Jim Osman, Place in History, Shervone Neckles, Debra Pearlman, Alan Rosner, Lance Rutledge, Shirley Sharoff, Sandrine Sheon, Sally Sturman, The Institute For Figuring, Dan Torop, Ugly Duckling Presse, Paulus Van Horne, Vertical Player Repertory, Wendy Walker, Melinda Yale, Christa Wolf Jane Zweibel, 99 Hooker.
Work by the above participants is rotated throughout the year. If you are interested in seeing work by a particular participant please email or call ahead to check availability.
The Artistsbook Library: Eileen Arnow-Levine, Carol Barton, Mindy Belloff, Doug Beube, Mark Staff Brandl, Stephanie Brody-Lederman, Catya Plate, Libby Clarke, Lucinda Cobley, Beatrice Coron, Maureen Cummins, Evelyn Eller, Sandra C. Fernandez, Anne Gilman, Geoff Green, Martha Hayden, Bob Heman, Susan Hensel, Kumi Korf, David Lantow, Andre Lee, Jill Mckeown, Veronica Morgan, Florence Neal, Heidi Neilson, Susan Newmark, Sarah Nicholls, Donna Maria deCreeft, Amee Pollack and Laurie Spitz, Purgatory Pie Press - Dikko Faust and Esther Smith, Maddy Rosenberg, Susan Rotolo, Elsie Sampson, Miriam Schaer, Susan Share, Shirley Sharoff, Carolyn Shattuck, Robbin Ami Silverberg, Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, Micki Watanabe Spiller, April Vollmer, Debra Weier.
Also on view at Proteus Gowanus on an ongoing basis:
Cabinet Magazine’s selection of magazines and books with a rotating mini-exhibit housed in a four-ton 1900 safe.
A selection of art, artifacts and books related to mathematics courtesy of The Institute For Figuring.
The Kentler International Drawing Space Satellite Flatfile of Contemporary Prints located at Proteus Gowanus offers a selection of prints by over 80 contemporary artists curated by Florence Neal and archived by Sally Sturman. Visit the Kentler website as well.
Proteus Gowanus maintains an ongoing selection of art, artifacts and books related to The Gowanus Canal and to bees.
Click here for a bibliography of books related to “Play.” (PDF)
Related web links:
Special thanks to Karen Hewitt, Heather Chaplin, Herbert Pfostl, and Wendy Walker for their contributions to these lists.
The Art of Play: Player Centric Design and the Process of Innovation (PDF)
Tracy Fullerton, Assistant Professor
USC School of Cinema-TV Interactive Media Division
Co-director, EA Game Innovation Lab
Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta
"Homo ludens. Art at play: Lightworks"
Absolutearts
Kaspar Hauser
feralchildren.com
Winners of the Catan Food Contest
Learning Materials Workshop
Near Future Laboratory: Games=Art? Games=Play?
The Sarut Group: Play Art
Words as Art and Play
New Educator, Fall 2003