MAKING SPACE, the first annual SUPERFRONT Architects-in-Residence exhibit

SUPERFRONT is proud to present the work of FRANCISCA BENITEZ and PAWEL NIEDZWIECKI in MAKING SPACE, the first annual SUPERFRONT Architects-in-Residence exhibit. In MAKING SPACE, SUPERFRONT’s two Architects-in-Residence explore the notion of residency in New York. Both artists/architects have responded to SUPERFRONT’s spatial identity as rooted in its location in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. PAWEL NIEDZWIECKI, trained as an architect, has literally resided in SUPERFRONT’s artist studio space during the past 5 months, producing work that explores personal affections through architectural methods. Niedzwiecki’s ink drawings often reference musical composition as an architectural language. One series of hand drawings finds a new permanence as a tattoo on his body. The personal language of form that emerges is further transformed as Niedzwiecki installs his studies spatially, in the form of a carved and painted door and an installation built into existing walls. FRANCISCA BENITEZ explores what it means to inhabit New York’s system of public spaces, from public housing to Brooklyn sidewalks. Alongside her own highly political and conceptual series of graphite rubbings of built surfaces, Benitez exhibits pieces made by or in conjunction with residents of public housing. Through her work with senior citizens and youth in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) community centers in Brooklyn, Benitez exhibits collaborative works on paper and physical models that continue her investigation of the everyday social life of urban architecture. MAKING SPACE will be on view at SUPERFRONT from January 3 – March 27. This exhibit and the Architects-in-Residence program are partly enabled by generous donations from Nilizandr Gilbert and Sarah Millsaps. ABOUT THE SUPERFRONT ARCHITECTS-IN-RESIDENCE FRANCISCA BENITEZ, Architect-in-Residence Summer/Fall 2009, has been a New York based artist since 1998. Her work investigates and comments on the ways individuals, groups and society inhabit space. She chooses medium according to each specific project, including video, photography, drawing and performance. She graduated as an architect from the Universidad de Chile in 1998 and later studied art at Hunter College CUNY, where she completed her MFA in 2007. Her work has been exhibited in the Americas, Europe and Asia, most recently at the Beijing Biennale, China; Lokal.int in Biel, Switzerland; The Jewish Museum, Smack Mellon and Exit Art in New York, US. She has been awarded an independent project grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, a FONDART grant from the Chilean Government and a Lambent fellowship from the TIDES foundation. PAWEL NIEDZWIECKI, Architect-in-Residence Summer/Fall 2009, uses his technical skills as a designer and craftsmen to produce large-scale artwork in mixed media. Exploring digital laser cutting technology, as well as hand-crafted wood work, his creative practice is grounded by his rigorous and beautiful hand-drawings. He holds a Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts in Architecture, as well as a Masters of Architecture, both from the Savannah College of Art and Design. SUPERFRONT is a not-for-profit space for architectural experimentation and creative interdisciplinary exchange. Open in Brooklyn since January 2008, SUPERFRONT recently opened an additional satellite gallery at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. For more information: info[at]superfront.org http://newyork.superfront.org/2009/12/exhibit-making-space/