If you didn’t know there was a Food Hall inside Industry City, the sprawling warehouse turned creative and small manufacturing space in Sunset Park, this is your chance to go and check out the latest iteration of Vertical Urban Factory. The exhibition, curated by Nina Rappaport, first launched at The Skyscarper Museum in 2011. Since then it has traveled around the world, to the Architecture Museum in London’s Kings Cross, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit, Toronto, Switzerland, and back to New York City. Until August 1st, it was at the Falchi Building in Long Island City after which it moved to Industry City. In that time, the exhibit has expanded to address both local conditions in the places it traveled to, as well as include new developments in manufacturing in the last four years.
As Rappaport tells us, as she walked us through the exhibition during its soft preview (the exhibition is open to the public but the launch event isn’t until September 10th), when she first exhibited Vertical Urban Factory, the discussion about the return of urban manufacturing was pretty nascent. While she doesn’t go so far as to claim to be an integral part of the movement, it is clear Rappaport’s work digging into the history of the urban factory, as well as pushing for new paradigms of production in the contemporary era, has clearly been timely. Certainly, Vertical Urban Factory has been influential in educating a wide ranging, global audience about the connection between manufacturing’s past and future.
Part of the exhibition is showcased on rollers from the former Paragon Paint Factory in Long Island City
The opening event is on September 10 from 6-8pm, but the exhibition is already open to the public. A conversation about urban industrial space will take place at The Gallery at Industry City on September 23rd and on Wednesday, September 9th Rappaport will be on a panel discussion with Rama Chorpash, Director of MFA Industrial Design at the New School, Victoria Hattam, Professor of Politics at The New School, and Sonam Velani, Policy Advisor to the Deputy Mayor of NYC.
Next, discover the Top 10 Tallest Buildings in NYC.
