The Nest Residency features a new installation
Reception for the artist | Thursday, October 22, 5-8PM
224 Second Street, Oakland
Oakland's Swarm Gallery is pleased to announce the launch of a new collaboration with partners Metrovation Development and New York's Mixed Greens Gallery. The Nest is an artist residency in the heart of the Ironworks District, a historic manufacturing area close to Oakland's Jack London Square. Located at 200 Second Street, the Nest is an emerging locale for contemporary art that engages with site, architecture, and the concerns of public and private spheres.
During the residency at the Nest, artists will be living and working inside of a street-level live-work unit at Metrovation's recently developed building at 200 Second Street. Metrovation has been partnering with Swarm and other Ironworks businesses for years, to establish a lively art corridor that has enriched the neighborhood tremendously. David Baker's airy modern architecture provides a versatile environment that will be activated both inside and outside by the resident artists' projects. The Nest will host an ongoing program of 1-2 month residencies, with curatorial support from partnering galleries.
Metrovation has already commissioned two Swarm artists, Casey Jex Smith and Andrew Schoultz, to create permanent installations in the building's lobby. The Nest deepens this relationship between art, architecture and urban planning, by offering artists an immersive live-work experience tied to the neighborhood's history and community. Like many cities in the midst of significant revitalization efforts, Oakland is feeling the effects of economic slowdown. The Nest artists help the Ironworks neighborhood by attracting interest, investment, and creative energy while engaging both aesthetically and socially with their surroundings.
