The Locker Room: New York's Underground Art Scene Rises from Pandemic

In August 2020, event organizer Samara Bliss and her partner Graham Fortgang launched The Locker Room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, transforming a triangular former industrial building into a hybrid gallery, studio, and living space. The project emerged after Bliss lost her Soho venue and all work due to COVID-19. The space features a recording studio, rehearsal room, bar, and flexible art area. Over ten months, it hosted collaborative 'broken shaker' nights, a holiday exhibition 'New Year New York' selling half the works, and a provocative billboard campaign 'New York is dead, don’t come back' on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and a banner flown over Miami beaches, targeting wealthy New Yorkers who fled the city. In February 2021, during a harsh winter, The Locker Room ran a paid residency for ten artists (painters, musicians, photographers, filmmakers) requiring weekly COVID tests. Residents produced hundreds of works: band Duefunk recorded an album, photographer Mara Catalán made hundreds of shots, filmmaker Oliver Shahery created a documentary, and visual artists Les Punk, Jasper Socia, and Steelo created dozens of canvases. The residency and its output are now featured in the exhibition 'New York is Dead' at 222 East 46th Street in Midtown Manhattan, curated by Bliss and Fortgang, running through June 20, 2021. The show includes concerts, performances, and works by the resident artists. The collective plans to return to Williamsburg for a summer series of community events.