artist rendering of grid system
corridor gallery
165 E. Main Street
North Adams, MA
hours: coming soon
The Corridor Gallery is an artist-run exhibition space with an innovative display system for objects and artworks. The design of the gallery itself functions as a prompt for artists and non-artists alike to consider the question: how can the practice of collecting and collection be meaningful to our 21st century lifestyle?
Set in the grand entryway of the Walkaway House in North Adams, MA, the Corridor Gallery uses the context of this 1853 historic residence and its bizarre history as a funeral home and dental office to playfully evoke the past, present and future in regards to this question.
To address the challenge of plaster and lath walls within the historic home, the gallery is retrofitted with a grid system of threaded inserts. Embedded in the wall and flush with the plaster surface, the mounts are ready to receive custom arrangements of shelves, panels, hooks and display cases. The design of the gallery is inspired by the cabinets of curiosities of the 17th century. These were often dedicated rooms in one’s home for the display of noteworthy objects, ranging from natural specimens (both real and fake) to relics and artworks.
Collecting is a deeply human instinct. The objects with which we choose to surround ourselves help us to build identity. Today we do this virtually as well as physically. With smart phones, many people have pocket-sized portals to virtual spaces for sharing curated content. In these virtual spaces we speak a visual language of grids, image filters, hashtags and endless scrolling. Through the consumption and collection of pixels we craft semi-fictional narratives to share with the world not unlike the cabinets of the 17th century.
With a nod to those virtual spaces and “drag and drop” templates, the Corridor Gallery is reclaiming the idea of dedicating a space in the home as a template for the arranging and curating of physical things in actual space. It will function as an empty “cabinet” for filling with contemporary “curiosities”. We recognize that, as precursors to the modern museum, cabinets of curiosity were a colonialist trend historically implicated in exploitative practices. The Corridor Gallery is interested in projects that challenge, refresh and explore ideas of: collecting as practice vs. collections as objects; object agency; and how provenance and modes of display shape perceptions of value. Through the lens of contemporary art, it will host a rotating display of curated shows that exhibit objects or artifacts both 2D and 3D, real or fake, art or not.