“The new guard is even leaving its mark farther east in Maspeth, Queens, with the sprawling arts space Knockdown Center… It’s a 20-minute walk from the nearest subway. The new bohemia is a place you often need to Uber to.”
“Using a color palette reminiscent of scoops of sherbet and making shapes that recall fruit, body parts, rainbows, and more, Amie Cunat’s mural for Knockdown Center breathes new life into New York City architecture. The mural takes inspiration from drawings of notable buildings like churches, layering each structure on so it recalls the squished reality of real estate in the city, but with an added dose of sugary surrealism. Every day the cityscape changes a little more, for better or for worse, and here you can see it from yet another perspective.”
– Cassidy Dawn Graves
“Sprawling at fifty-two feet long, Carl Hazlewood’s “Traveler” is a curiosity: A work that would demand your attention in any great room, the mural sits in a narrow hallway at the Knockdown Center in Maspeth. There it works differently, drawing the viewer in and out, causing passersby to pause, stay awhile and reflect. The entirety of the mural is impossible to take in from any single vantage point, and so the artist’s title is in part a reflection of this reality — to appreciate the work requires the viewer to move up and down the corridor; to become the traveler. In Hazlewood’s words, the piece “will have to be … discovered as one moves (or travels) parallel to the mural.””
– Neil Chiragdin
“Maspeth’s huge event, art, and music space — will give us another late summer opportunity to get our fill of free outdoor movie screenings. Starting on Friday, August 11, new and classic movies will screen in multimedia center’s outdoor space lovingly referred to as the Ruins.
If you haven’t been to Knockdown Center yet, the space is well-worth the short walk or bus ride up Flushing Avenue. Built in 1903, the center originally served as a glass factory and then as a door factory. Now, it provides a unique setting for 50,000 square-feet and three acres of art and music. ”
– Magdalena Waz
“Brooklyn dancehall label Mixpak Records makes a (small) leap to Queens for a backroom, bouncy affair at the expansive Knockdown Center. “It’s really important for black girls to support each other and to see that tonight,” says 24-year-old Karmenife, pictured immediately below. “I’m a pansexual queer black woman. I love who I love, and who I love loves me.””
– Tim L
“Bushwick’s most spectacular day of the year is back for its fifth year for a full weekend of avant-garde gender-smashing performances. Past performers have included Maddy Beats/Horrorchata, Charlene, Sasha Velour, Latrice Royale and other favorites from the borough and beyond.”
– Taya Kenny
“And at the Knockdown Center is the latest installment of the free monthly performance series “Sunday Service,” this time curated by Same As Sister and titled Pairings in Horror: The Visceral & the Visual Impact, a live and digital performance with horror as its muse.”
– NY Mag Writer
“Celebrate Independence Day with an afternoon of progressively minded protest music. Catch maverick guitarist Marc Ribot, who’ll present a new project dubbed Songs of Resistance, and NYC’s M.A.K.U. Soundsystem, a self-identified immigrant band that combines traditional Colombian percussion, psych-rock licks, Caribbean grooves and funky synthesizers into a diverse concoction.”
– Sarah Theeboom
“Later that month, Ferg headlines Peter Rosenberg’s sixth Peterpalooza on July 27 at Knockdown Center with Dave East, Pro Era’s Nyck @ Knight (who also play Steez Day), Jay IDK (ditto), WestsideGunn, and Conway (tickets).”
– Andrew Sacher
“Queer it up at For Us Fest, a day of performances and art highlighting QTPOC performers including Josiah Forde, Cynthia Bukilwa, Hameer Zawawi, Nia and Ness, Bringing Beautiful Back to Black, and many more.”
– Oriana Leckert