Goodbye, Dark Space
Attending the Super Bowl this Sunday? Make sure to stop by the Gateway Center concourse—which connects Newark Penn Station to five surrounding office buildings and the Hilton—to see a creative way to fill empty space. (Besides, you know, a 30 second ad about Clydesdales.)
A new pop-up art exhibition, "Wind Up Wonderland," is in the concourse going through Gateway II, owned by C&K Properties. It's an extension of a project the owner implemented in a 12k SF, vacant retail space in the concourse, which managing director Kevin Collins tells us once housed an architectural firm. It's been having a hard time finding a right fit for the space, "but we didn't want to leave it dark, especially with so many people passing by," he says. After similar successful projects in C&K's Manhattan properties, it paired with curators Solo(s) Project and Project for Empty Space to open an art gallery that could vacate quickly if a tenant leases the space. The gallery rotates every four months, and its third installment, "All That Glitters" (co-curated with The Barat Foundation) is currently showing.
One of the works in progress. The additional exhibition will no doubt bring color to a space tenants have described as looking "monolithic." (They apparently did well on their SATs.) It's also difficult to tell which part of the concourse you're in, Kevin says; having both exhibitions lets passersby know they're walking through Gateway II. Tenants not only eat lunch and relax in the space, but attend the gallery's opening receptions; C&K also hosts monthly jazz concerts there with WBGO 88.3FM. Amenities like these "differentiate your buildings and create an identity," Kevin says. The new exhibition, which gives a nod to Alice in Wonderland, opened Tuesday and will be up through June 30, while "All That Glitters" can be viewed until March 20. Kevin says he hopes the concourse exhibit will be a continuing feature as well.
