Anxious Spaces: Installation as Catalyst is Clocktower’s annual performance and installation festival. The 2015 exhibition brought a dynamic selection of artists to Knockdown Center’s dramatic compound for a month of on-site development, kicking off the exhibition with a celebration of the work and its fluid transformation from environment to stage.

The opening event on July 5 featured a special set by Aurora Halal in the backyard ruin, Lucas Abela playing glass with his face, and Prince Rama activating their zen waterpark in the outdoor patio. The evening culminated in a 24-person improvisation with Abela’s IV drip drum machines.

Installations by Will Ryman, Molly Lowe, Tim Bruniges, Aurora Halal, Lucas Abela, Ben Mortimer, Prince Rama, and Audra Wolowiec. On view through July 26, Saturdays and Sundays, from 2 to 6pm and by appointment.

Knockdown Center is pleased to present the U.S. debut of Internet Yami-Ichi (Internet black market), where artists, creators, and makers will come together to sell and trade Internet-related items in a flea market style bazaar. The Internet Yami-Ichi invites vendors and visitors to browse face-to-face, to “log in” to an intercultural exchange of the Internet and real world. Artist duo Exonemo and online collective IDPW.org organized the first Yami-Ichi festival in Japan, which has since spread to Berlin, Brussels, and now New York, for its largest iteration to date. The Internet Yami-Ichi in New York coincides with the first ever World Wide Yami-Ichi Weeks (WWyW), simultaneous events taking place in Taichung, Taiwan; São Paulo, Brazil; Linz, Austria, and Seoul, Korea.

The event is a manifestation of the enthusiasm, desires, and freedoms of the early days of the Internet. A time when users – not corporations – controlled data. As IDPW.org puts forth, “Once upon a time, the Internet was supposed to be a place for liberty.” Since then the Internet has evolved and impacted life in many ways. We are ever-more dependent on smart phones and digital communication to interact with the physical world. The desire for quick communication has spawned countless memes and emojis, now used like a second language. Social media and data sharing sites are hubs for friendships and knowledge. Privacy, anonymity, and freedom of speech have become critical points of debate as companies enforce copyright laws, activities such as “liking” are tracked and monetized, and forum trolls wreak havoc on message boards. The Internet Yami-Ichi brings these experiences in virtual space to the real world – creating a humorous and timely discussion of Internet culture.

The Japanese word “Yami-Ichi” translates directly into the English “black market”, though due to an emphasis created by mixing different Japanese writing systems the word “yami” takes on double meaning of “sick for” / “addicted to” etc., so a more accurate translation might be “Internet Obsessive Market.”

Contact yamiichiny@gmail.com or visit yami-ichi.biz/nyc for more info.

Getting down early summer style with DJs Eli Escobar, Lloydski & Andy Pry…Food and Beverage provided by Roberta’s…NO COVER!

In partnership with Hyperallergic, The Lost Lectures presented 6 world-class speakers, performances, interactive demos and art installations.

The evening’s lineup featured musical sensation Blood Orange (aka Dev Hynes), writer and publisher Choire Sicha (of The Awl), photographer Barbara Nitke, scientist Marc Abrahams, and Brooklyn dance sensations Flex Is Kings + filmmaker Deidre Schoo.

For more information on the speakers, visit the The Lost Lectures.

The fact that the bicycle has come to be so cool is no fault of its own. The world’s most efficient vehicle is not only about self-propelled transport and synergistic fun and freedom, it’s also profoundly aesthetic as a personal fashion statement embodied with wheels.

In August of 2014, The Knockdown Center hosted Bike Cult Show featuring made-to-order cycling machines, using a variety of materials and methods, where cliches like form vs. function, the genius in the details and 10,000 hours practice surely apply.