The independent space Art in General is returning to New York City after a five-year hiatus. For the first time since shuttering its physical location during the Covid-19 pandemic, Art in General is back with a pop-up exhibition at Yve Yang Gallery in Soho, opening 22 August.
The reincarnated non-profit also has a new director: Xiaoyu Weng, a New York-based curator and writer, who simultaneously serves as the artistic director of the Tanoto Art Foundation in Singapore. She previously worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, among other institutions. The artist Paul Pfeiffer, the digital strategist Jiajia Fei and the gallerist Yve Yang are among Art in General’s new board members.
"We wanted to bring back Art in General, because it feels uniquely suited to tackle the key issues facing artists and curators today," Weng said in a statement. "Whether it comes from the market or an authoritarian government, important voices across the art world are being silenced. Art in General has a mandate to create spaces that exist outside censorship."
While the organisation searches for a new permanent space in New York, it will arrange pop-up exhibitions, talks and events throughout the city—and perhaps even tour some art fairs.
Art in General was founded in 1981 by the artists Martin Weinstein and Teresa Liszka. It was envisioned as a space to celebrate the avant garde, with a focus on experimental work and bringing attention to lesser-known practitioners the world over. The late curator Holly Block (1958-2017) was director there for 18 years; she left to head the Bronx Museum of the Arts in 2006.
Over the years, Art in General showed the work of more than 2,000 artists—including Pfeiffer, Marina Abramović, Francis Alys, Sanford Biggers, Tania Bruguera, Pierre Huyghe, Joan Jonas, Glenn Ligon, Pope.L, Gabriel Orozco, Pipilotti Rist, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Kay WalkingStick.
Art in General occupied 79 Walker Street in Tribeca for 35 years. It moved to the Dumbo neighbourhoood of Brooklyn in 2016. When it closed four years later, the non-profit was mourned as a major loss for the local art community.
The upcoming pop-up exhibition, curated by Qingyuan Deng, will include works by the artists Lee Bul, Josh Kline, Agnieszka Kurant, Heidi Lau, Davina Semo, Wong Ping and Xaviera Simmons, among others. The exhibition is accompanied by an auction of the works on view to raise money for the non-profit. A reception will take place on 28 August at Yve Yang Gallery, just a few blocks away from Art in General’s original location.
- Art in General Benefit Auction Exhibition, Yve Yang Gallery, 12 Wooster Street, New York, opens 22 August
