Iwan Wirth, president and owner of Hauser & Wirth, announced today the company will expand its global activities by opening a second location in New York City: a 23,000 square foot exhibition and project space at 511 West 18th Street. The venue will open to the public in autumn 2012, in conjunction with Hauser & Wirth’s 20th anniversary.
Hauser & Wirth’s new location on 18th Street will serve as a counterpoint to the intimacy of the gallery’s Upper East Side townhouse at 32 East 69th Street, which opened to
the public in September 2009. Together these two New York facilities will host a highly ambitious program of public exhibitions, projects and events that spotlight the work of some of the most respected and challenging artists of the day, including emerging and established talents, as well as landmark artists whose estates the gallery represents.
Both New York City locations – uptown and downtown – will be under the direction of Marc Payot, partner and vice president of the gallery.
The masonry building at 511 West 18th Street stands directly beside the High Line at the southern frontier of the West Chelsea arts district. It looks toward the West Village and the Meatpacking District, where the new home of the Whitney Museum is scheduled to open in 2015. Constructed in the 1930s as a working stable and garage, 511 West 18th Street has served many purposes over the decades, most famously as home to The Roxy roller skating rink and discotheque, an international destination that remains an enduring part of New York’s cultural history.
Hauser & Wirth will occupy the vast Roxy space, which is accessed from the street by a 20 foot-wide interior ramp. With its unusual shape, soaring ceilings, and abundant natural light from a street wall of paned windows and numerous rooftop skylights, the facility will create a compelling environment for exhibitions – one that evokes the atmosphere of artists’ studios and improvisational project sites.
‘New York is the world’s art capital and its cultural ecology is unlike that of any other city,’
Iwan Wirth said. ‘It offers the world’s largest audiences, which are extraordinarily diverse and sophisticated, along with the highest concentration of great museums, galleries, alternative spaces and arts organizations. We are excited to expand our capabilities as a social and cultural shop in such a rich, dynamic, creative environment. Hauser & Wirth’s entire global team is delighted and honored to be able to increase our participation in the life of New York City, and to create another special destination where the public can engage the work and ideas of the artists we represent.’
