Synthesis of the Arts

At ‘T’ Space, we strive to inspire architecture with poetry and set the spirit of painting in music with presentations of innovative international and emerging artists in nature. Our Synthesis of the Arts Summer programs unite the art, architecture, poetry and music of our time—an essential pursuit throughout history.

We reflect on fundamental meanings of the arts at a time when art and architecture have increasingly become financial instruments. We inspire the public by encouraging dialogue among contemporary artists and enthusiasts. Over the past decade, our passionate audience and philanthropic supporters have made our 28 summer programs possible with artists including Ai Weiwei, Sarah Oppenheimer, Don Byron, Richard Artschwager, and Mónica de la Torre.

Ricci Albenda, Open Universe – 2018 Season

Brice Marden, Cold Mountain Studies – 2019 Season

“The works in the Brice Marden show—thirty-five small drawings, from 1988-91, exquisitely installed in a space designed by the architect Steven Holl—were triggered by the ancient poems of Han Shan, whose name means, literally, ‘cold mountain.’

I absorbed from [these] works... a poetic affirmation of reconciliation with nature...and a recoil from the wastage of nature’s gifts. [They] hint at long spiritual rhythms that are not lost, though they may be occluded, in the staccato frenzies of our day.”

– Peter Scheldahl, The New Yorker

Pat Steir, The Floating Line – 2016 Season

“As Steir has described the experience [of The Floating Line], ‘I’m trying to define a particular space with color and light so that the viewer is standing in the very middle of the painting and not standing in front of it and looking at it.’ Immersed in a kind of panoramic arena, viewers of the lines are forced to confront their position in space while the lines literally articulate their architectural containers as well as the artist’s physical passage.”

– Claire Gilman, Pat Steir, The Floating Line, ‘T’ Space catalogue, 2016

Martin Puryear, Vessel – 2012 Season

“Assembling the sections of my sculpture, Vessel, at ‘T’ Space was like building a ship in a bottle, except that during the exhibition the viewers could enter the "bottle" and move around the completed work in a more intimate way than ever before. It was a unique experience for me.”

– Martin Puryear

Exhibiting Architecture

Every year, ‘T’ Space commissions a significant architecture exhibition at the gallery, furthering the crucial discourse on contemporary architectural thought and practice in the 21st century. Brochures featuring critical essays by artists and scholars including Sanford Kwinter, Sarah Whiting, and Jeffrey Kipnis supplement each exhibition.

‘T’ Space organizes Traveling Architecture Exhibitions with public and private university galleries across the country, yielding educational opportunities for local architecture students; partners include Banvard Gallery at Ohio State University, 1Point618 Gallery in collaboration with Kent State, University of Arkansas, and the University of Washington. Our exhibitions of José Oubrerie, Neil Denari, Tatiana Bilbao, and Astra Zarina have enriched thousands of architecture students, and are typically accompanied by lectures and critiques by the architects themselves.

Displaced Buildings in Aperiodic City, Neil Denari – 2017 Season

Live Music at ‘T’ Space

For each ‘T’ Space exhibition, artists are paired with musicians and poets working in contemporary forms of expression to develop exhibition themes. Cellist Frances-Marie Uitti performed Giacinto Scelsi and Morton Feldman in union with Agnieszka Kurant’s experimental convergences of art and ideas. The 2013 Architectonics of Music exhibition explored the way music, like architecture, is an immersive experience; it surrounds you and engulfs the body in space. This opening event featured Raphael Mostel performing John Cage’s In a Landscape, combining architecture, music, and nature.

Education

‘T’ Space Architecture Residency

This 25-day intensive studio challenges its participants to think and design critically. With theoretical and experimental freedom, the residents design a site-specific project unique to their program. The residency includes daily design critiques, pin-ups and conversations with invited professionals, as well as field trips to Hudson Valley destinations of acclaimed architectural and artistic interest. Residents are selected on a competitive basis and come from around the world. Philanthropic donations from foundations and individuals enable scholarships for deserving students. The Architecture Residency Program completed its fourth year in 2020.

‘T’ Space Lecture Series

The ‘T Space Summer Architecture Residency Program offers to the public a virtual lecture series featuring practicing architects, scholars, and esteemed art professionals. Lecturers have included Stan Allen, Yasmin Vobis, Chris Perry & Cathryn Dwyre, Daniel Belasco, Lars Muller, and Iwan Baan. ‘T’ Space lectures are live-streamed and recorded for online viewing.

The New Archive and Research Library

This year, The Steven Myron Holl Foundation opened the Architectural Archive and Research Library, an invaluable free public resource for the local and international community. The new building creates space for education and scholarly engagement, and resources for the summer architecture residents.

A 42-year archive of literature, art and architecture records the passage of trends in contemporary design from 1977 to the present and is still growing. The archive holdings include over 1,200 models, 20,000 watercolors, 3,000 books, original artwork, sketches, drawings and prints. The Architectural Library’s pride is its collection of artwork by renowned architects such as Louis Kahn, Zaha Hadid and Lebbeus Woods.

Archival materials are case studies from every step in the design process. Its wide range of materials enables visitors of all backgrounds and experiences to have thoughtful engagements with design theory and practice.

Ecology

The rural 30-acre forested ‘T’ Space Reserve was established in 2014 as a unique topological landscape. It is a home for experimental architecture, our summer architecture residency, and permanent site-responsive installations visible along a 1.5 mile trail interspersed with rock outcroppings and old stone walls.

‘T’ Space is dedicated to the preservation of our natural forested habitat. Through ecological architecture and art programs, we seek to revitalize the unity of humanity and nature.

‘T’ Space Reserve Installation Trail

‘T’ Space Installation Trail opened in 2017 with permanent sculptural and architectural installations focused on ecology and interactivity.

SUSTAIN / ABILITY, by Dimitra Tsachrelia, Eirini Tsachrelia and Nicolas Karytinos proposes a dialectic arguing for sustaining design, and focuses, not only on sustainability in the environment, but also on sustainability in culture and society in a desire to present the resilience and energy of the human spirit.

The Ex of In House

In 2016, the Ex of In House was built as a retreat for artists, architects, visitors, nature enthusiasts, and as a case study for students on academic tours. This 918 square feet super-ecological guesthouse explores a language of space aimed at inner spatial energy strongly bound to the ecology of place on the ‘T’ Space Reserve. Handcrafted from raw materials by local builders, it is the culmination of a design research and development project at Steven Holl Architects named Explorations of “IN.”

We invite you to join the ‘T’ Space community for Synthesis of the Arts exhibitions and events, lectures, tours of our campus and archive, and our architecture residency. We look forward to connecting and sharing ideas.

Photography courtesy of Susan Wides unless otherwise stated
Web design by Enrique Garcia and Elliott Cost