The Hallery

2017 / ongoing

 

The Hallery is an ongoing project to bring people together to appreciate art in an intimate, non-conventional setting, and showcase the artistic possibility of any space with a one-night-only art show / party. I want to challenge people to think more about the potential for art in their homes, hallways, bathrooms, and cars – not just in formal museums.

The first Hallery took place in my apartment on April 29th 2017 in San Francisco. I converted my railroad style apartment’s long, narrow hallway, living room and kitchen into a gallery to showcase my friends' art and music. The show featured original pieces from 12 independent Bay Area visual artists (linked below) and music from a local live jazz band. The artists spanned from professionals to hobbyists working in their spare time. It provided the opportunity for artists, and people who might not consider themselves artists, to showcase their creative works and widen people’s perceptions of who can create art. The works were for sale, and priced affordably, so that visitors could support the artists and take a piece of the show home with them, to start transforming their own homes into spaces filled with art.

Talking to my friends after the evening I received a lot of thoughtful feedback on why they enjoyed the show. The spectators liked how the show de-rarified the gallery space, allowed them to chat with the artists, ask as many questions as they’d like, and understand the artist’s practice directly from the source instead of having to try and interpret the pieces unassisted or with a minimal placard. The artists liked the unconventional and informal setting which allowed artists who never showed their work in a gallery to think about their work as “gallery-worthy” art, allowed more established artists to show new and experimental works, and provided both groups of artists with feedback on how people responded to their work.

Throughout the night I heard many people talking about what work they make or would want to make to showcase in the next show. I think the show humanized the artistic process and acted as a tangible source of inspiration for people. I know I was inspired by all the great work!

I don’t think the Hallary should be limited to a single hallway in my apartment. At the very least, it should create a model for making galleries in the thousands of railroad-style apartments in our cities. Hopefully, it will also catalyze people to turn other non-traditional spaces into art galleries. I hope this will be the first of many shows I host in our homes, but more importantly, I hope it inspires many other people to do the same. 

I’m in the process of “open-sourcing” the checklist and emails that I used to coordinate the show for anyone to use. In the meantime, please reach out if you have any question about what organizing this show was like. I’d also love to hear how you take this model and make it your own!

If you’re interested in getting involved in the next show I host (will be sometime this summer in the Bay Area) or reaching out about your own show you can reach me at etan.zapinsky@gmail.com.

Once again, many thanks to the artists who participated in the first Hallery on 4/29/17. Without them this wouldn't have been possible:

A special thank you to Raquel Schreiber for her amazing name for the event.