"Alternative ArtSpace" video documentary final proposal

Alternative Artspace will be a video documentary highlighting local businesses that house and sell art work. Living in Downtown, Jersey City I was witnessing this trend of spaces acting as a gallery and another business. The first one I can recall was the bar L.I.T.M, even though I wasn't old enough to enter I would look through the window and see them display work. Then eventually all these new businesses were following suit and the art community grew. Being an artist this interested me in getting my work out there but also this whole idea of having two different worlds into one space.

     Even though this seems like something that is new and recent it has been going on for a while. alternative exhibition space dates back to the early 70s. In 1969 spaces started to pop-up like Apple by Billy Apple and Grain Grounds by Robert Newman. This started a movement that expanded throughout the years as curators were adapting to this alternative exhibit spaces in relation to the art at the time.

     During the 70s art was evolving in the sense that work was taking new forms and mediums like for example performance and video. Artist were intentionally making work that was site specific and did not want the commercial "white cube" gallery space. Early on the influence of an alternative gallery space is coming from a curatorial vision and also from artist works. There was this rise of spaces in New York, Chicago and California made a dent but didn't really compete with the commercial galleries. In 1981 the "Alternatives Retrospective" was shown in the New museum and it was curated by Jacki Apple. In a way I'm channeling this show but focusing on alternative spaces today.

     My project is going to focus on documenting the new age of alternative spaces that act as a gallery and some other form of business venture. I have reached out to local businesses like L.I.T.M, Wolf Juice, Steam Cafe and E.Tittle Mouse&Co, to interview the owner/curator and attend their openings to get a sense of the space. I also was able to get in touch with Brendan Carroll who curates shoes in these alternative spaces.

     Each individual will get ten questions but one or two will be the same I want it to be different and more suitable for the environment they work in also this give the video more diversity and a flow when it comes to editing. I really want to uncover what the future holds for the "coffeeshop era" of alternative spaces. I want to discover what these places look for in an art, what look they look for, do they curate it with the artists' help, do they keep it local to help promote the artist, how they market/profit from this, do they see this trend continuing in terms of being competition with commercial spaces, and how does this help or affect the artist and the work they produce?