Andrew Kass
A Little About Lots

January 28, 2022 – February 06, 2022

“A Financial District lot with a turbulent history that has sat empty for nearly two decades briefly became the venue for an insurgent effort to open the space for public use, while also making a quixotic political point. The parcel in question is 111 Washington Street, at the corner of Carlisle Street.

Once home to a parking garage that was demolished (in anticipation of a more lucrative use) during the era of fevered real estate speculation that followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the 11,000-square-foot site has remained desolate and forlorn since the mid-2000s, surrounded by an unsightly green plywood fence. Over the weekend of September 5, one or more public-spirited citizens covered the wall with tarps and then used power saws to cut more than a dozen elegant arches into the wooden rampart. It took the three days of Labor Day weekend to complete this work, which transformed a drab barricade into an inviting portal, with a view of the wild urban forest that had sprouted up during the lot’s years of disuse. 'Then there was an opening party on Monday night,' recalls Esther Regelson, who has lived next door on Washington Street since the 1980s. 'It was very strange. A bunch of guys went into the site and 'opened' it up to the public..'

When a passerby remarked that the shredded facade looked like an attempt to create a community garden in the manner that has become common in vacant lots on the Lower East Side, Ms. Regelson said, ‘I wish. I have been throwing seed bombs over the fence but can’t get flowers to take root in the gravelly, shallow soil. I actually went and got bulbs to plant, while the property was open, to try to get flowers for next spring. But I’m afraid I may be too late to plant them before the Gestapo closes up shop again.”

(The BroadsheetDAILY, 2020)

Andrew Kass (b. 1991) is an American conceptual artist who works in sculpture, installation, photography and video. Kass often uses overlooked spaces and construction objects in his practice and explores ideas of redevelopment and abandonment within the urban experience. He is best known for his non commissioned public artworks and site specific projects in New York City.