Issue Project Room

As I begin to write this I’m thinking about all the things I’ve seen and heard at Issue Project Room, both in their old location at the old can factory in Gowanus and their new digs in a stately bank building in downtown Brooklyn. and the sheer diversity of the offerings here boggles the mind. I can remember a quartet of electric guitars playing incredibly loud experimental contrapuntal pieces, installations of drone-​making devices, extremely rude and dirty performance art, a marathon performance of a Milton Friedman string quartet. if it’s live and edgy and and electronic and weird, Issue Project Room is a good home for it.
I went there last night for the first time in a while (I heard they had problems securing the vaulted roof of the bank, and were closed for renovations) for an evening of «internet as poetry.» I wasn’t in the best disposition for it. there was a torrential downpour outside, and my feet were totally drenched, what’s more because I’m about to leave the country for two weeks I stopped buying groceries a week ago and I’ve been trying more restaurants in my neighborhood, last night I tried a Chinese place, New Peking, that looks totally run of the mill but had great reviews on Unilocal – I’m not sure what these people were thinking, my sesame chicken was totally normal, which means heavy with sweetness and stickiness and fat, not in a great way, so I felt bloated and dazed when I arrived at Issue Project Room all wet. I tried to mitigate the effect with a large can of grapefruit radler ($ 6) but I think that just made it worse. The first act was Bunny Rogers, who was not only reading from her poems but singing and dancing and displaying a sculpture, two pastel wicker chairs that were woven kitty-​corner to each other. There were dramatic costume changes – from Disney princess get-​ups to a lounge lizard white leisure suit. Plus, a live piano player on a baby grand! Certainly not your average poetry reading. The poems were good too, though I wonder if all the drama of the performance distracted from the reading part, rather than enriching it. After a brief intermission, during which I guzzled water but still felt like garbage, was Kevin Bewersdorf, who is notorious, apparently, for not using the internet for five years. But now he’s back on it, and read some poems – a slammed a few, freestyle – contrasting the ideas of the web (soft) and the net (hard). «babies are perfect. babies are on the web» I noted on my phone, transcribing his words, and I still don’t know what they mean, but it sounded cool. He didn’t really seem to know how to read into a microphone well and a lot of his words got lost, in fact I think my favorite part was the very beginning when, un-​amplified, he made a Santa Claus «ho ho ho» that boomed in the old bank’s vault. Christmas in July!
Speaking of which. the space doesn’t have any ventilation or AC that I could discern which makes for some sweaty summer nights. so i might wait til yuletide to return.
p. s. I love the multicolored stretched fabric parallelograms hung around the room. it’s just for acoustic purposes, but it looks like a cool show of monochrome paintings!

I’m so glad I finally made it to see something here! This is a cool, clean, funky art space in Gowanus where a lot of creative types share the same building. I came to experience a sound installation on the 3^rd Floor, but enjoyed fluorescent light sculptures the whole way up thanks to another tenant. The installation I «saw» was a by an a Capella vocal group called We Are Your Friends — an adorable motley crew of untrained singers using the human voice in creative nonverbal ways. There was a fair bit of movement involved as well as a dramatic set-​up. I really enjoyed it, and the building itself both inside and out!

I saw Michelle Nagai perform her «Tree Set» here on a very, very cold and blustery winter evening last month. The show was an Emerging Artist Commission from the ISSUE Project Room and we watched Michelle play the MARtLET, described as a «wearable hunk of tree bark that’s been fitted with light-​sensing circuitry, machine learning software and sound synthesis algorithms.»
Needless to say, the hour and a half I spent here was very unusual, but I really enjoyed myself. The weather succeeded in its nefarious scheme to keep people home, but I was glad to be part of the ten or so folks that were here and to have enjoyed something new and fresh. The old American Can Factory that ISSUE is housed in is definitely worth exploring as well, with its cavernous, decidedly non-​Manhattan dimensions.
I left feeling like my thinking and perspective had been stretched, even if just a little bit, and I really appreciate that ISSUE is here to do that. I look forward to returning and supporting the space in the future, and am glad to hear that they’ll be expanding soon!
Note: this is a very loose addition to the Transportive Drinking Establishment List, since the focus is definitely not on drinking, but you’ll probably want to enjoy a beer or some wine with your performance.

You’ll feel like you’re in Berlin — if you’ve ever been to Berlin. If not, you’ll feel like exactly where you are: somewhere special.
Climb the three flights of stairs to get to this one large room, bring your Apple products, homemade guitars and synthesizers.
It’s free, you can probably learn a lot from your peers, or you can just sit on the black velvet couch in the back and drink $ 5 beers.
AWESOME SUNDAY NIGHT ACTIVITY.

Went there to see Moby a few months ago and really liked the space. I’ve only been there once. The only thing I didn’t like was that there were more seats then standing room which isn’t my favorite when seeing a live show, but that maybe just my preference. The space is great and I would recommend going to a show.

Love this place
Great events with popular artists (Thurston Moore, Moby) and obscure artsits (theremin players anyone?)
There’s always something here for the daring + experimental. It’s a great place to take your friends + truly one of those «Only in New York» kind of experiences.
Check out their month long floating points festival, where 20+ artists make use of their completely custom 15 channel speaker:

Came here for an experimental electronic music show this past Friday.
Loved the sign outside the building, and the building itself.
Why do artists love obscurity,
but love being out there and loud at the same time?
i have no idea. but it works for us.
dan friel should have headlined.
his set should have also been louder.
as loud as the last guy.
i missed the first act, and was disapointed by that.
but anyways this is a venue review.
the sound was top rate.
but the sets were short.
the wine/​beer not worth $ 5.
then again im cheap when it comes to drinking.
i would have loved a graphics show going on during the performances.
as they have a huge screen there.
as a graphic artist i felt it should have been utilized.
will definitely be going back again.
if you want to impress people into thinking youre artsy even if your not, take a date here.
if you are actually into art i would suggest this place to your friends.
lastly if you go to an experimental electronic music show
PLEASE DO NOT WEAR EAR PLUGS.
i honestly was slightly peeved when i saw two girls sitting in the front row put them in.
IT IS MEANT TO BE LOUD.
IT IS MEANT TO BLOW YOUR SCULL APART
AND MUSH YOUR MIND INTO A NEW WAY OF BEING.
thats just my opinion.

obscure? sure.
pretentious? hell yeah!
snotty? i wouldn’t settle for less.
this is undoubtedly, unquestionably, unflichingly and uncompromisingly the ultimate venue for real avant-​garde music in nyc. there’s my life (including pre-​nyc) before ipr and after ipr.
despite the high-​brow nature of the events, the person behind the venue, suzanne, is quite approachable and lovely and i get a nice community vibe from that place.
their sound system is on the super high-​end scale, with 15 custom-​built speakers powered by a sophisticated sound spacialisation software + hardware combo. the best time to witness this system being put to creative use is in june, during their floating points festival, during which artists are encouraged to create and perform pieces that make full use of its potential.
most shows are $ 10, by the way. i never thought i’d get to see the best music at such low cost! so, you really have no excuse not to go there and support the venue.
bring the silo back, though! it added so much to the atmosphere of the place.

I don’t know or understand a lot of what goes on here, nonetheless they have brought some really great shows to Brooklyn. Let’s face it, the music scene in NYC has gone south and there are now few places where you can see something new, exciting, or challenging. I’ll admit, i have gone in excited and left cursing the money, time, and effort i wasted in seeing something (the guy who made music for BABY massage? really? fucking creepy.) But that’s kind of the point, right? If i wanted something safe, i’d let other people look and listen and tell me what i ought to like.
They’re a non-​profit with very little funding so it is definitely a no-​frills venue (though it looks like they won a big-​time grant and will be moving downtown at some point). Please go, buy up all the shitty wine they’ve got, and support one of Brooklyn’s only experimental arts venues.

This is the Silo, for those of you more succinctly in the know. It sits on the Gowanus canal and you have take a quick glance at the giant black gate housing the door if you want to get in, but you’re also kind of leaving the city once you step through.
Usually as you are crossing beneath the thin tree branches someone emerges from the door at the base of the left tower to take your money, and you get a visit-​to-​the-​lighthouse-​keeper vibe. They direct you to appropriate spot, and you get to enjoy a freakin’ stellar show.
Everything from the members of Sonic Youth scoring 16 mm films projected on the walls to the works of stellar playrights past and present are yours to behold, and when its all done, you cross the yard and get back to the city.