On The Ground Reader
On The Ground Reader
On the Ground follows Storefront’s 40th anniversary celebrated in 2022, marking a pivotal moment in our institutional history and a return to our geographic roots in New York City, the place that shaped our mission. Over the course of this yearlong curatorial framework, we looked at our founding ethos and interrogated how the urban storefront—even in its most humble form—can enable carescapes, provide refuge and a sense of belonging by maintaining an intimate social character embedded in its local context.
In a city of skyscrapers, where expansion happens vertically, the ground floor tends to be overlooked. Storefront, however, has always maintained a unique relationship with the sidewalk. Our iconic facade, with its twelve rotating panels that open the gallery to the street, creates a permeable threshold between public and private realms. This relationship with the ground floor was also a motivating force behind On the Ground, allowing us to showcase diverse artistic explorations and dialogues on the essential role storefronts play in cultivating public life and strengthening the city’s social fabric.
This reader extends some of these conversations into print and well beyond New York City. Its aim is to serve as a resource and experimental space to further dissect the intricacies of our evolving city by offering critical essays, interviews, poetry, and other visual contributions that expand on what we have collectively learned throughout the year. Positioning the ground floor as a marker of social, political, and economic transformation through the voice of several collaborators and interlocutors with whom we engaged over the course of the program, this publication applies various lenses.
On the Ground is the collaborative work of 113 collaborators, and it unfolded over the past two years. Thanks to our collaborators we continue to learn collectively and are able to build and facilitate reciprocal relations. They reaffirm the importance of investing in collective practices.
COLOPHON
Editors
José Esparza Chong Cuy
Jessica Kwok
Guillermo Ruiz de Teresa
Editorial Advisor
Sarah Demeuse
Copy Editors
Susan Behrends Valenzuela
Aída Cantú Artigas
Richard Moszka
Graphic Design
Estudio Herrera
On the Ground Contributors
Basel Abbas, Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Leila Adu, OlaRonke Akinmowo, Adam Anabosi, Elias Anastas, Yousef Anastas, Raimundo Atal, Germane Barnes, Alvaro Barrington, Francisca Benítez, Jenna Bliss, Eric Booker, Natalia Boumatar, Cudelice Brazelton IV, Tom Burr, Sol Camacho, Jordan Carter, Emmy Catedral, Jesse LeCavalier, Mxtress Charlotte, Jamie Cheung, Yoshiko Chuma, Savitri D., Gabriela D’Addario, Nicholas Dawidoff, Danielle Dean, Ali Dineen, Keller Easterling, Levi Eichenstein, Ming Fay, Parker Fay, Ryan Foerster, Roger Francis, Roland Francis, Ricardo Gallo, Igancio Gatica, RJ Gitter, Zacarías González, Eduardo Pavez Goye, Chong Gu, Ilana Harris-Babou, Claudia Irizarry Aponte, Bella Janssens, Paolo Javier, Sebastijan Jemec, Steffani Jemison, David L. Johnson, Ria Kalluri, Nathan Kensinger, Ted Kerr, Amirtha Kidambi, Benjamin Krusling, Rochelle Hoi-Yiu Kwan | YiuYiu 瑤瑤, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Thomas Laprade, Queen Layla, Gina Lee, Zoe Leonard, Glenn Ligon, Ming Lin, Lisa, Henry Love, Shannon Mattern, Mon Mohapatra, Jeremiah Moss, Carlos Motta, Dr. Wang Newton, Jindi Obiofuma, Anna Ozbek, Camila Palomino, Dominique Petit-Frère, Nick Poe, Yin Q, Geelia Ronkina, PJ Rountree, Rose Salane, Ray Santiago, Samita Sinha, Stacy Skolnik, Martha Snow, Alexandra Strada, Reverend Billy Talen, Sophia Tareen, Alexandra Tatarsky, Huda Tayob, Lam Thuy Vo, Terence Trouillot, Jeppe Ugelvig, Cecilia Vicuña, Diya Vij, Connor Sen Warnick, Will Watts, Amanda Williams, Robin LaVerne Wilson, Dong-Ping Wong, John Yao, Betty Yu, Ang Ziqi Zhang, Denise Zhou, Sharon Zukin, Zara Zulfiqar, the Stop Shopping Choir, FOOD Mahjong Club, KQT Pungmul
