30 International Architects Display Their Urban Designs in ‘Sharing Models: Manhattanisms’

New York is a city where many people keep to themselves on daily basis. Yet living in the city provides New Yorkers with opportunities to share and cohabitate a lot of the same spaces. On Friday July 15, ‘Sharing Models: Manhattanisms‘ opened to the public at Storefront for Art and Architecture. At the exhibit, 30 architects from around the world presented a combination of real and fictionalized aspects of urban life which display how the concepts of sharing and interconnectedness shapes the present and future of New York City.

Eva Franch i Gilabert is the Executive Director and Chief Curator of ‘Manhattanisms.’ According to Storefront for Art and Architecture‘s website, Franch is an architect, curator and educator who has been head curator for the non-profit since 2010. Storefront’s mission is to “advance innovative and critical ideas” that include architecture, art and design. Franch says that the exhibit “creates a new territory that is simultaneously fiction and real, a model space that opens a window to new perceptions of the city’s assets.” She adds that each of the architect’s work is accompanied by a written explanation to create a dialogue about the “notion of sharing and what it means for the norms, rules, and codes that govern” public spaces.

The international artists represented cities within and outside of America, including New York, San Francisco, Milan, Mexico City and Copenhagen. Physical models created in a variety of mediums lined half of the narrow exhibit space. The models explore a range of themes including nature in the city, the future of living in certain neighborhoods and four-dimensional building plans that work around New York’s current zoning codes. There are also two-dimensional renderings of each of the models hung on the wall of the exhibit.

A model of Fort George that doubled as a cake

In addition to the work inside the building, the facade of Storefront’s building on Kenmare Street is also incorporated into the exhibit. Five artists have been chosen to create stencils that reflect the theme of “sharing.” The stencil for the first two weeks that ‘Manhattanisms’ is on display is called “We Love We Share” designed by Curtis Kulig. The phrase was painted numerous times in silver spray paint and guests were also provided with copies of the stencils and could choose to graffiti a part of the building with the phrase. The artists chosen for the following weeks are John Giorno, Lawrence Weiner, Sebastian Errazuriz and Shantell Martin.

‘Sharing Models: Manhattanisms’ will be on display from Tuesday to Saturday, 11-6 pm through September 2nd.

Now, check out Renzo Picasso: A Lesser-Known Architect Who Had Creative Plans for NYC and Then & Now: The Original Bronx Borough Hall in NYC. Contact the author @jen_bagcal.