Andrea Nacciarriti's Immersive Installation at Doomed Essex Street Market

Italian artist Andrea Nacciarriti has created a site-specific installation at the historic Essex Street Market in New York's Lower East Side, which is slated for demolition. The project, titled "00 00 00 00 00 [Essex Street Retail Market]," was developed with curator Santa Nastro, who invited Nacciarriti after he won the Premio New York from the Italian Cultural Institute in 2014. The market, built in the 1940s under Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, will be replaced by a new facility across the street. Nacciarriti's intervention involves darkening the space by covering fifteen skylights, removing all signage and banners, and demolishing the glass door of the Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space to create a stark white cube within the chaotic market. A digital countdown on a counter marks the time until November 17, 2019, the closing date of the exhibition and metaphorical end of the building. The work amplifies the disorder and traces of generations of residents, turning the market into an immersive aesthetic experience. The project was supported by the Artists Alliance Inc. (AAI) and the Essex Market board.