FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Perry Street Rove to Open February 8, 2002, with Group Exhibition of Emerging Artists

Independent curator and artist Kenny Schachter has long been known for exhibitions presented in venues not typically associated with fine art-rented, uninhabited, raw spaces used for extended periods of time. While awaiting the completion of two permanent exhibition spaces, conTEMPorary in the West Village, and a Chelsea gallery, both designed by Acconci Studio (under the direction of noted installation artist and sculptor Vito Acconci), Schachter will present an exhibition in a storefront space on Perry Street in New York City opening February 8, 2002.

The show, entitled Tensionism, will run through March 22nd, 2002 and will feature the work of thirteen artists including: Sol Sax, Susan Smith-Pinelo, Brendan Cass, Sanford Biggers, Graham Gillmore, Misaki Kawai, Zoe Pettijohn, Bob Myers, James A. Brown, Mika Rottenberg & Sharon Glazberg, Dave Beech, Rory MacArthur and Peter Fend. Perry Street Rove will also feature an ongoing installation by Vito Acconci detailing the developments in the design and construction of conTEMPorary and the Chelsea gallery project.

The art in this exhibition, largely made after the events of September 11th, reflects the anxiety that is palpable in New York City and beyond. Each of these artists will subsequently be showcased in a series of two person exhibits when the conTEMPorary gallery opens in April 2002 at 14 Charles Lane, also located in the West Village.

The title of this show comes from artist/architect Frederick Kiesler, an inspiration for Schachter's plans for the upcoming spaces, who crafted an architectural system of the future in 1925, which he called "Tensionism". Kiesler railed against the vertical nature of cities, referring to skyscrapers as coffins towering up from the earth to the sky; 'one story, two stories-one thousand stories-coffins with air holes.' Kiesler was aiming for a functional, organic architecture liberated from the ground with no walls or foundations but with a system of spans (tension) in free space. In any event, the expression he employed serves as a metaphor for the present global condition where terror is something that everyone can taste and fear has been forever instilled in our minds.

"Take care that the jade you are riding does not bolt under you, and you pitch on those inquisitive noses into the muck"-Frederick Kisler, Manifesto of Tensionism: Organic Building The City in Space Functional Architecture, De Stijl Magazine, 1925.

Located a block east of the new Richard Meier-designed residential tower, Perry Street Rove is the storefront space in the former Cooper Classics building at 132 Perry Street, between Greenwich and Washington Streets. The building has been turned into a residential loft building, Perry Street Condominiums, in the midst of opening.

For additional information, please contact 212 807-6669 or visit www.roveTV.net where the exhibit will be broadcast live throughout.

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