Not For Tourists is an alternative guide to New York City's contemporary art scene. In each <H>ART-edition, NY-based curator Niels Van Tomme highlights a non-profit cultural organization. Ranging from the well established to the marginal, from the intellectual to the politically engaged, Not For Tourists leads through the artistic heart of the Big Apple. In this episode, recently appointed director Stefan Kalmár (formerly at the Kunstverein München) talks about his vision for the legendary alternative arts hub ‘Artists Space'.

‘TO STOP THE MIMICRY'

Your first ‘act' as the new director was a well-noticed gesture. Tearing down all the inside walls and letting the daylight in again, you created for the visitor a visible link with Artists Space's staff and its immediate outside environment. Was it your intention to reestablish a connection to the organization's alternative Soho past?
Stefan Kalmár: "It wasn't so much about letting the day light in again. Of course, that was important too, but it was actually more about a psychological, Kafkaesque, institutional architecture. That turned into a mimicry, a quasi petit bourgeois notion of institutional self-definition. So, my intention was to start more or less with nothing, to take the kingdom away, and to just introduce some ‘markers': seating area, office area, exhibition area; spheres rather than dedicated separated spaces. Also, the ‘old school' Soho loft space, in our case a 7500 square feet one, became over the last years increasingly rare as an exhibition venue, but as historical backdrop it is the emblematic architectural reference point of our history and legacy."

Traditionally, Artists Space has been a launch pad for artists to more professional opportunities, and to the art market. In which ways has its role shifted over the years?
Kalmár: "While Artists Space has historically given voice to emerging local positions, one also has to recognize that it is no longer confronted with the demons of the past. I'm talking about monolithic, static hierarchical institutions, or a market that doesn't recognize the potential of emerging artists. Commercial galleries and larger institutions seem to have moved in on the terrain that was traditionally held by us. Today, I have to recognize that some of its initial functions seem to have been taken over by a global and highly diversified marketplace, as well as by larger institutions that discovered ‘young' and ‘contemporaneity' as an attractive currency. In more general terms, the world of today is very different from the one of 1972, when Artists Space started."

Critics have often described Artists Space as a "springboard to the art world", essentially providing access to ‘the existing'-but not questioning the parameters in which the organization and artists operate, only focusing on what is represented within ‘the existing'. With its spatial openness, artist curated library, hang out area, and drinks being offered during events, you're putting a lot of emphasis on building a relationship with the audience. Is there a specific way that you want visitors to approach Artists Space?
Kalmár: "I think Artists Space has the ability to stop the mimicry of corporate structures, to become a place that proposes different modes of production, that fosters criticality, and sets new relationships into play, by shifting our focus away from the presentation of artworks alone. I want the organization to be a more active, participatory and open place of examination, production and discussion-a space for emerging ideas and emerging artists alike. Ultimately, it's a center for new ideas in a radically changing world."

How different is working in a US non-profit environment from working in a European one? What are some of the biggest challenges you're facing?
Kalmár: "Obviously, the funding structure is very different but at the same time people are used to ‘giving'. It's embedded in the culture here that you voluntarily give donations to organizations rather than let the state sort things out. It is a very complex issue and I find it quite puzzling that, for example, some of the larger museums refuse government funding to ‘protect' their ‘independence'."

You recently relocated to New York. What are the most exciting and the most annoying aspects of the city?
Kalmár: Well, rent must be one of the city's most annoying aspects. It's crazy. I don't know how people manage this, let alone art students who, in addition, have to cough up thousands of dollars in tuition fees... In some respects you could argue that New York City nearly has a feudal structure and social architecture like something from the Middle Ages, but then it is amazingly progressive in other aspects. I'm still trying to figure out how these things connect.
On the other hand I feel there is a great loyalty among artists living and working here. One day we had Dan Graham visiting in the morning and Vito Acconci in the evening. That's pretty amazing for a European, to have a city with three, nearly four, generations of artists. And, I'm rather proud that artists in particular were the first to realize that things have changed at Artists Space."

Niels VAN TOMME

On view until May 1: ‘Make It New John', Duncan Campbell
Artists Space, 38 Greene Street, 3rd floor, New York. www.artistsspace.org