On an oddly shaped block on the north side of Canal Street between Varick and 6th Avenue (right across from the old Screening Room) is a 37,000-square-foot, temporary, free, outdoor, cultural park called LentSpace. A real estate developer is loaning the vacant space (hence its name, get it?), which once housed an office building, to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) for about three years, after which a new building will likely take its place.
Opened on September 18th, the east side of the park is shielded behind a wooden fence whose external upper portion is covered in shimmery, blue paillettes and inside, its lower portion features benches. While LentSpace houses a tree nursery that temporarily holds trees that will be planted around downtown neighborhoods, the space is also currently home to a sculpture exhibition. "The seven sculptural pieces in the inaugural lineup all, in one form or another, incorporate visual puns playing on the conventions of city-park design or on the idea of what deserves to be classified as public art" (NYT.com). Ironically, days after opening, some jerk spray-painted "This is not art" onto a couple of the works. Read more at curbed.com.
Adam Kleinman, the curator for LMCC, promises there will be exhibitions, films and performances in the park. You can check out the calendar of events at the LMCC website here. LentSpace is a pleasant, spacious oasis away from the madness of Canal Street. LentSpace is open daily from 7:00am - dusk until January. It will be closed for the winter from January - March. See more at NYT.com.
Ryan Taber, Pompey's Folly, 2006
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