Events &amp; Things To Do

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! Even if you’re not into Valentine’s Day, it's no excuse not to celebrate a love-filled weekend of art and design. For the next month, you can take your lover or best friend to play in the glittering "Heart of Hearts" installation in Times Square or experience true beauty at the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial. Check out private arts club the Norwood without becoming a member for the Sweetheart Ball or try the Out to See arts and film celebrations happening down at the South Street Seaport. On the actual day, check out a tech-savvy sculpture show at Lyles & King, and then have the main event at House of Yes for LUST, an immersive and sexy arty dinner soiree. Then, wash off all the saccharin sweetness of Valentine’s Day with a good old nerdy film fest about infrastructures at the Van Alen Institute.
All the best events to check out here

Events & Things To Do

February 11, 2016

Construction Begins on 40-Story Marriott Hotel Replacing Antiques Garage in Chelsea

By Ondel Hylton

After an 11-year run, the popular Antiques Garage flea market, where bargain hunters haggled over an eclectic assortment of used goods, shuttered its weekend fairs in the summer of 2014. Like many soft sites around the Flower District, the parking garage used by the market at 112 West 25th Street was purchased by development interests, namely Extell, who later sold to Lam Generation for $68 million. Since the purchase, the three-story garage has been razed and groundwork has finally begun for a 330-room, four-star Marriott Renaissance Hotel. With the help of some unused neighboring development rights, Lam's tower will grow to 140,000 square feet of floor area and stand roughly 450 feet high over its mid-rise Chelsea locale. The neighborhood's current tallest building, Chelsea Stratus, is just one lot away and rises 25 feet higher than Lam's upcoming tower.
More details ahead

February 9, 2016

Student Project Gets Subway Riders to Scratch and Sniff

By Michelle Cohen

"If You Smell Something, Smell Something Else." Those words introduce a handful of signs that have been popping up at a few subway stations around the city, including Canal Street, Herald Square and Union Square. And most people, quite frankly, would rather do just that, if they had a choice...and now they do. School of Visual Arts graphic design student Angela Kim was acutely aware of this fact, and she decided to add a few more to the collection.
What's that smell?

February 4, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 2/4-2/10

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! Get your rest, because there's a full week of art activities awaiting. First, hop over to the High Line to experience the new LED kinetic sculpture, then experience a giant cat judging you (as it should be) every night in Times Square for #MidnightMoment. Artist and lab anatomy instructor Frank Porcu shares his unique vision at the Lodge, and Jong Oh talks minimalism at Marc Straus–and then serves Korean food! Curator Jessica Holborn explores the healing power of the embrace, and Annika Connor talks about her new book and tips for artists navigating the rough and tough art world. Wait in line for standby tickets to see Grace Jones' 1982 "A One Man Show" at the Kitchen, then cozy up at the adorable Roger Smith Hotel for their winter art opening.
All the best events to check out here

Events & Things To Do

February 3, 2016

First Look at the Bowery’s ‘Faux-Hostel’ Ace Hotel

By Ondel Hylton

Construction and engineering mega-firm HAKS brings the first full look at the Lower East Side's Ace Hotel, slated to open next year at 225 Bowery. The ten-story building was formerly the 101-year home of the Salvation Army Chinatown Shelter, which provided rooms, meals, and services to the city's homeless population until it shuttered in 2014. The 62,000-square-foot building was purchased for $30 million through a joint venture between the Omnia Group and North Wind Development Group. Building alteration permits were filed by Nataliya Donskoy of ND Architecture and approved that same year, and the historic structure is undergoing a complete gut-renovation and will be topped by a four-story rooftop addition.
More info ahead

February 2, 2016

Escobedo Solíz Studio’s Wild ‘Woven’ Design Will Fill MoMA PS1’s Summer Courtyard

By Michelle Cohen

MoMA has announced that the Mexico City-based architecture firm Escobedo Solíz Studio was selected as the winner of the 2016 Young Architects Program (YAP). Chosen from five finalists, the winning project,"Weaving the Courtyard," will create a "temporary urban landscape" for the 2016 Warm Up summer music series in MoMA PS1's outdoor courtyard in Long Island City, beginning in early June. The site-specific architectural intervention will use the courtyard’s concrete walls to generate both sky and landscape, with embankments in which platforms of soil and water suggest the appearance of a unique topography. The architects describe their project as "neither an object nor a sculpture standing in the courtyard, but a series of simple, powerful actions that generate new and different atmospheres."
Find out more

January 28, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 1/28-2/3

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! Last week's blizzard Jonas may have made a fun day for jumping in snow piles, but it put a total damper on a bevy of artists waiting to present themselves to the hungry art world. This week, make up for lost time at Last Rites' rescheduled Allison Sommers opening or the most popular winter pool party at the Grace Hotel, hosted by artist Annika Connor. Two LA artists with opposing views come together at Joseph Gross Gallery, while Katya Grokhovsky invites visitors to put their hands all over her exhibition. Peter Caine brings a pooping robotic Ronald Reagan to a gallery on the Lower East Side (enough said). Times Square Arts invites guests to meet their first artists in residence, and the Schomberg Center invites Basquiat fans to a talk relating his work to its effects on African Diasporic communities.
All the best events to check out here

Events & Things To Do

January 28, 2016

Keep Track of Your World Travels With This Colorful Scratch-off Map

Whether you spend your days hopping from one city to the next or save up your vacation time for an epic yearly adventure, traveling is a great way to regroup and relax. Every new destination means new memories, and who doesn't want to keep track of the journey along the way? These two maps from will help you do just that while also adding some worldly decor into your living space. Both the Scratch Map and Scratch Map Deluxe feature a fun scratch-off surface that reveal vivid bursts of color with just a few coin swipes.
Find out more here

There’s a James Turrell Light Installation Hidden in This Midtown Office

Turrell’s installation at the Guggenheim via flickr CC

January 26, 2016

There’s a James Turrell Light Installation Hidden in This Midtown Office

You may have thought your company's new espresso machine was fancy, but it's got nothing on this trippy new sculpture hidden in a Midtown office. Designed by famed light installation artist James Turrell (you may remember his wildly popular "Aten Reign" that filled the Guggenheim's rotunda with shifting artificial and natural light a couple years ago), "Three Saros" is a 24-foot, two-story volume that "transports spectators into an ethereal, prismatic sea of light"—likely also reducing smoking breaks and water cooler kvetching.
More on the work here

Download Ikea’s Adult Coloring Book for Free!

Adult coloring books are all the rage these days and we couldn't be happier. While there are many different types available for purchase (check out this coloring book-notebook combo or this architectural-inspired rendition), Ikea has just released their own version, which is free to download (h/t Curbed). From decorative houseplants to POÄNG chairs and KALLAX shelving units, each of the five pages includes a collection of Ikea products arranged in fun geometric patterns.
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January 25, 2016

Tour the Guggenheim and Its New Exhibit Through Google Street View

The wonders of Google Maps have gotten us into some pretty amazing places, such as the uber-private Gramercy Park and a tourist-less version of the holiday window displays. Now, the Street View team has granted exclusive access to the Guggenheim (h/t ArchDaily). Not only does the technology let users tour the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed spiraling rotunda, but it allows one to browse through the artworks currently on display.
Find out more

January 22, 2016

New Renderings for Chinese Lantern-Inspired Skyscraper at 470 Eleventh Avenue

By Ondel Hylton

Reaping the seeds of the Bloomberg administration's sweeping 2005 rezoning of the far west side, a consortium of developers led by Siras Development hopes to begin construction this year on a dramatic 720-foot skyscraper at 470 Eleventh Avenue. Anchoring the southeast corner of Eleventh Avenue and 38th Street, the 47-story tower will soar from a quarter-acre site across from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center that the developers purchased in 2014 for $110 million. The mixed-use project dubbed Hudson Rise will boast a total of 380,000 square feet split between a commercial podium, 328 hotel rooms/hotel condos, and topped by 40 condominiums that that will be marketed to Chinese buyers. Archilier Architects are the tower's designers, and though the firm has designed numerous large-scale developments in China, this will be their first in New York. Said to be inspired by traditional Chinese lanterns, the tower will be one of the most spatially complex skyscrapers in the city, distinguished by a vertical stack of alternating, cantilevering, and interlocking volumes that are clad in an array of facade treatments.
More details and renderings ahead

My 1,400sqft: Painter Stephen Hall Brings Us Into His Greenwich Village Loft and Studio

Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to artist Stephen Hall’s home and studio in Greenwich Village. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

January 22, 2016

My 1,400sqft: Painter Stephen Hall Brings Us Into His Greenwich Village Loft and Studio

By Diane Pham

Since being transformed into homes for artists in the 1970s, Westbeth Artists' Housing has hosted some of New York City's most brilliant creatives. And long-time resident and painter Stephen Hall most certainly falls into that set, helping to fill the residence's walls with thought-provoking ideas for the last 17 years. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Stephen came to New York back in 1978 and began exhibiting his work in the East Village in the early '80s. Today, his colorful pop-surrealist masterpieces can be found in collections all across the globe, with his paintings now commanding between $5,000-$20,000 a piece. He's also dreamt up art for major motion pictures, music videos and magazines. Curious to see the madness and magic behind his Stephen's off-kilter works—which he describes as "paintings [that] confront us with complex conundrums for which each of many possible solutions may very well tell us as much about ourselves as about the subject at hand"—6sqft recently paid a visit to his duplex loft, a family home that mixes mid-century modern design with pops of color and familiar but fantastical forms.
Keep reading to meet the artist, and to get a peek inside his live/work space

January 21, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 1/21-1/27

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! It may not be Armory week, but you can still get your art fair fill at the sixth annual Outsider Art Fair, which showcases non-traditional and untrained artists (think Henry Darger and modern counterparts). Taxidermy artist Joseph Grazi invites you to hear his musical side, and Mickalene Thomas shares her photographer inspirations at Aperture. Adrian Villar Rojas talks about his otherworldly sculptures with the Public Art Fund, and stencil legend Nick Walker takes up residence at the Quin. You can push your art experience to learn more about love with Lainie Love Dalby, or experience the aesthetics of Jessica Calderwood. Finish up the week with the Victorian sensibilities of Allison Sommers at Last Rites.
All the best events to check out here

Events & Things To Do

January 14, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 1/14-1/20

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! This week, we've chosen a well-rounded experience that will get you out of the house and into varying genres within the art world. Start the weekend early by experiencing Julia Sinelnikova's hand-cut light sculptures, which can often be found at the Bushwick art raves you're too afraid to go to. Castor Gallery explores the diversity of contemporary artists working in the Middle East, and Fort Gansevoort brings its savory BBQ with a side of art, this time by Isabelle Fein. Celebrate the book release of "The Art of Ballpoint" while experiencing original works by artists featured in the book, or head to the Bronx to Wall Works Gallery, which specializes in new and old school graffiti. Bushwick's boutique hotel, BKLYN House, welcomes you to check out their 11 commissioned Brooklyn murals, and CHERYL begs you to get crazy with them at their all encompassing art dance party. And finally, hear some of the city's top starchitects discuss the ever-changing skyline.
All the best events to check out here

Events & Things To Do

January 10, 2016

Robert Kuster’s Hand Blown Glass Balloons Keep the House Party Going All Year

With the holidays behind us and the cold weather finally setting in, our next party seems farther away than we'd like to admit. With most of us our days spent either in our office or our apartment, why not invite the party into your living space with these vibrant hot glass balloons from artist Robert Kuster? Mr. Kuster started blowing glass as a second career, but has since achieved more success than most artisans do in their lifetime. His beautiful chandeliers currently hang in prestigious galleries, magnificent homes, hotels, upscale restaurants and public installations across the country, and now your New York apartment can be added to that list.
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January 7, 2016

Custom Painted Bagel Clocks Are the Perfect Wall Decor for Your NYC Breakfast Nook

New York is famous for many things but one of the most iconic as far as food culture is concerned is the bagel. Now New Yorkers and tourists alike can enjoy this delightful round bread not only on their breakfast plate but also on their wall with the Bagel-O-Clock! These fully customizable bagel wall clocks are available in several flavors including plain, pumpernickel, poppyseed, sesame and twister, and can be garnished with variety of bagel-friendly toppings. Each clock is an original piece painted by the young Canadian artist Charlotte Ficek.
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January 6, 2016

Art Nerd New York’s Top Event Picks for the Week – 1/7-1/13

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! The now-appropriate temperatures don't mean you have to hunker down inside to kick off 2016. Each night this month, check out iconic artist Laurie Anderson's tribute to dogs in Times Square. Whitehot Magazine's Noah Becker turns on his curatorial eye for a group show at Berry Campbell, and famed photographer Ricky Powell partners with some nouveau street artists for an exhibition of collaboration. Experience the ghosts of Christmas trees past at Michael Neff's Suspended Forest exhibition in Queens, or explore the ideology behind pleasure with Katya Grokhovsky. Learn something new with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair at the Morbid Anatomy museum, or with the work of the late Charles Bukowski at Cornelia Street Cafe. Finish the weekend off by challenging yourself to be your most daring during the 15th Annual No Pants Subway Ride.
All the best events to check out here

Events & Things To Do

December 30, 2015

POLL: Have You Ever Gone to Times Square for New Year’s Eve?

Yesterday, 6sqft shared a video that explored the history of New Year’s Eve in Times Square. The first celebration was held in 1904 as a celebration of the New York Times’ new building at the crossroads, and in 1907 the first ball drop took place. Since then, the tradition has taken place every year except […]

Events & Things To Do

December 28, 2015

Art Nerd New York’s Picks for an Over-the-Top, Artsy New Year’s Eve

In a city where hundreds of interesting happenings occur each week, it can be hard to pick and choose your way to a fulfilling life. Art Nerd‘s philosophy is a combination of observation, participation, education and of course a party to create the ultimate well-rounded week. Jump ahead for Art Nerd founder Lori Zimmer’s top picks for 6sqft readers! Closing out the year is either a reason for total, over the top indulgence, or an excuse to drink champagne at home with close friends and welcome a fresh start. This year, we're leaning toward the former, using the tail end of 2015 as an excuse to seek out the artful magic that New York City holds. I've gotten into the game myself, co-producing an elaborate Surrealist Ball at the beautiful Roxy Hotel that will bring my wildest dreams of Magritte and Dali to life, a party fit for an Art Nerd. There are also some other incredible-sounding events slated for this Thursday, including You Are S0 Lucky, which provides ticket buyers a 72-room manor to explore, followed by four floors of DJs in an undisclosed location. Shanghai Mermaid channels 1920s Hollywood at a downtown Manhattan location transformed into a center of hot jazz, while Sleep No More's McKittrick Hotel continues their narrative decadence with the King's Masquerade. Over-the-top Queen of the Night is hosting a Bond-themed black tie gala complete with sumptuous dinner and after party. Or for something more low key, take the opportunity to check out the private dining club Parlor for glamorous drinks and dancing.
All the best events to check out here

Events & Things To Do

December 28, 2015

Renderings Revealed for Cantilever King ODA’s Bushwick Hotel

Back in March, 6sqft brought you renderings of a cantilevered, ziggurat-like project in Gowanus. The architects were none other than of-the-moment firm ODA, who have become the king of cantilevers and cube-like designs. The project never came to fruition (the developers noted that they won't be working with ODA), but it looks like the firm recycled some of the design ideas for their latest endeavor. ArchDaily revealed renderings for a new seven-story, 100-key hotel at 71 White Street in Bushwick. The ODA-designed structure, of course, features a dramatic cantilever with an interior courtyard and employs their signature boxy facade. It will use the foundation of a former 1930s manufacturing building, but for a true Brooklyn twist, will incorporate the existing brick graffiti wall into the new design.
More renderings and details this way

December 25, 2015

Happy Holidays From 6sqft!

By Diane Pham

The 6sqft team wishes you a joy-filled holiday!

Events & Things To Do

Did You Know the First TV Yule Log Was Aired in 1966 From Gracie Mansion?

Original footage of the Yule Log via WPIX-TV

December 24, 2015

Did You Know the First TV Yule Log Was Aired in 1966 From Gracie Mansion?

If you grew up in a house without a fireplace, there's a good chance the Yule Log played on the television during Christmas. This somewhat strange annual broadcast was, in fact, created for homeowners longing for the glow of a hearth, but also as a way to give station employees some time off. So in 1966, WPIX Channel 11 set up a camera at Gracie Mansion, then occupied by Mayor Lindsay, and filmed one of the home's flickering fireplaces for 17 seconds using 16 millimeter film. It was spliced together into a three-hour loop with holiday carols playing in the background, and there the Yule Log was born on Christmas Eve at 9:30pm. This same footage ran for four years, but but when WPIX wanted to do a new shoot at the Mayor's residence, it was an Oriental rug that halted the plans.
Find out what happened and how the yule log is once again a Christmas tradition

December 22, 2015

POLL: Is ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ Your Favorite Holiday Song?