Gesso | Primer

Over the past two weeks Gesso has provided neighborhood primers for New York City including Greenwich Village and Harlem. This week we're introducing you to the Bowery. More than just a neighborhood, the Bowery is also a street that has constantly changed throughout history.

Last week, we released our first New York City neighborhood primer about Greenwich Village. In this episode, we're going for a walk through the legendary streets of Harlem. 

See Greenwich Village through a new lens, as Gesso gives you an exclusive first look at our neighborhood primers in New York City.

Writer and curator Vikki Tobak discusses her Detroit roots, the genesis of hip-hop, and her new exhibit at the International Center of Photography.  Presented in partnership with ICP. 

Artist James Coupe discusses uncanny surveillance techniques, cult films, and his new exhibit at the International Center of Photography.  Presented in partnership with ICP. 

Photography wunderkind Tyler Mitchell and curator Isolde Brielmaier discuss cooking, black joy, and Mitchell's new exhibit at the International Center of Photography.  Presented in partnership with ICP. 

The story of Lee Krasner is not a neat or easy one to tell. Not because it’s been done before, though it has, or because she was one of the great 20th century artists, though she was. It’s because, now that she’s gone, there are several Lee Krasners.  

In collaboration with Washington Square Park Conservancy, we present a very special episode all about spooky myths. In the spirit of Halloween, we start the episode off with a spooky story, sure to scare the pants off you. Stick around to the end to hear from historian Sheryl Woodruff, who will separate fact from fiction.

Ever wish you could catapult backwards in time? You can. Enter the perfectly preserved tenement buildings at 97 or 103 Orchard St., Manhattan. For centuries, these tenements were home to hundreds of immigrants working hard to build new lives. Today, the Tenement Museum tells the stories of these very immigrants with meticulous care. Director of Programs Kathryn Lloyd reflects on the special interdisciplinary blend of education, fact, and imagination that brings their history to life.

Before it became a world-renowned example of urban renewal, The High Line was just a set of abandoned railroad tracks running across lower Manhattan. But to Robert Hammond, now the Co-founder and Executive Director of Friends of the High Line, those tracks sparkled with potential.   

A child of China's Cultural Revolution, artist Xiaoze Xie knows censorship all too well. For over twenty years, he's worked to understand thought control by making art and compiling an archive of illicit materials. Through January 2020, he brings his forbidden library to the Asia Society Museum in New York City. Included in this exhibition are photographs, an installation and a documentary from Xiaoze's Banned Books Project as well as paintings and a video from his Chinese Library Series.