Artist Squats in U.S.?
Image of 59 Rivoli by "Fanch the System" on Flickr
Last weekend, this item in the New York Times Travel section caught my eye:
“On the Rue de Rivoli, one building stands out amid the busy boutiques and department stores. Inside a colorful interior, the place buzzes with shoppers and tourists — and young people covered in paint.
This is 59 Rivoli, the latest of Paris’s legalized art squats.”
-“In Paris, Art Fills the Void” by Alice Pfeiffer (read the full article)
I immediately wondered: Does such a thing exist in the US of A? Based on some quick Google research (good old Google), there are a number of artist squats throughout Europe, from the UK to Berlin (check out this quick video tour of Berlin’s Tachles Arthouse), thanks to support from nonprofits and government. But here in the US? There’s this article from New York Magazine in 2006: “The Last East Village Art Squat,” which hardly paints a pretty picture of squatting life; and this one, from the Baltimore City Paper, way back in 1999 – making me wonder if squatting is as common in that city now as it apparently was a decade ago.
So, does anyone know of active artist squats in the U.S.? I’m sure they exist, and I’m sure it’s no accident that they don’t have websites announcing their presence… I’m just curious to hear what cities they’re in, and if anyone has any personal experience living/working in one. Also, are there actually any groups advocating for legal artist squats?
Enlighten me!
[...] other hand, my brain rejects the notion that artists are necessarily vagabonds (living, perhaps, in artist squats?) — after all, think of Wallace Stevens, or William Carlos Williams, two of my favorite [...]