Nature now has some competition. Artists are restoring the space, at least temporarily, as part of the City-Wide Open Studios weekend. I'm led through the empty space by Yale environmental design grad student Dean Sakamoto and open studios organizer and photographer Marianne Bernstein. After three decades as a vital non-sectarian cultural center in the city, it was closed in 1986. Purchased by Yale in 1996, the building is soon to be renovated for the new School of Art and the School of Drama Experimental Theater.
Alternative spaces are like galleries in that artwork is usually on display.
But, in important ways, they're different, too. The roles of creator and consumer are strongly fixed. On the other hand, alternative spaces exist to promote more fluid, two-way communication. Often temporary and artist-run, they're amenable to experimentation and adventure. Places, even, to just hang out, to congregate.