The new space is going by Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive (HA/HA), which "expands upon Howl! Happening's innovative exhibitions and public programs and focuses on the thriving multi-dimensional artistry and history of the East Village/Lower East Side."
It will also serve as the headquarters for Howl Arts, which purchased the commercial space here in 2018.
Here's more via the Howl press announcement:
By the community, for the community, HA/HA will be activated with three exhibition galleries, as well as a library, screening and reading rooms, a chef's kitchen, and an outdoor terrace for special events.
Energized by the creative and disruptive spirit of the 60s, 70s, and 80s on the Lower East Side ... HA/HA expands Howl's programming capabilities and aims to advance Howl Arts' mission to preserve and showcase the legacy of often overlooked underground and experimental cultures of the East Village and downtown neighborhoods.
"We've been fighting against gentrification in the East Village for decades," says Howl executive director Jane Friedman.
Howl's Permanent Collection, to be showcased at HA/HA, comprises over 3,000 objects, including art, rare digital and analog media, performance-art ephemera, and personal archives from the 1960s onward.
The collection documents the origins and growth of local cultural and social movements that have had far-reaching impact — offering a myriad of opportunities for new interpretations of the punk, new-wave, and no-wave movements; performance art; drag; street art; public-access television; nightlife; LGBTQ activism; the AIDS epidemic; and urban gentrification.And the inaugural exhibition opens today (Sept. 19) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.:
"Icons, Iconoclasts, and Outsiders" presents works by artists, writers, musicians, scenesters, performers, icons, iconoclasts, outsiders and other creators from the 1960s to the present whose life and work energized the underground and are now entering mainstream cultural discourse.Selected works on display include Arturo Vega, Brian Butterick, Richard Hambleton, Helen Oliver Adelson, Marcia Resnick and Scooter LaForge, among many others.
The exhibit is up through Oct. 31. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This main-floor and lower-level space at 250 Bowery was previously the International Center of Photography, which moved to a new home on Broome Street. The Howl HQ is on the upper floors.
