ABC No Rio is a little place I have stumbled into for my
photography work. Professor Paul Sheridan in
Brooklyn College mentioned the fact a few BC students made the darkroom possible. Okay... I went in and what do I see? On the outside, it's a place for the kids to hang out. I went in deeper, and I saw a band doing a show with loud guitars and drums you can hear even from the third floor (when I was developing my prints - it's a surprise the music didn't agitate the chemicals for me). And deeper in the darkroom, I have found... peace and quiet. My work stopped becoming a chore for Paul Sheridan, and it became the only place where I can make prints perfectly...
And I should've brought over my Mary Cleere Haran CDs... The darkroom had a radio/CD Player lying around, and I can play a little something to make the place into my next home office.
(From the ABC No Rio brochure:)
ABC No Rio is a gallery, performance space and arts center located on Manhattan's Lower East Side. We are known internationally as a venue for oppositional culture. ABC No Rio was founded by artists committed to political and social engagement and we ratin these values to the present.
ABC No Rio is collectively run by volunteers. We are committed to social justice, equality, anti-authoritarianism, autonomous action, collective processes, and to nurturing alternative structures and institutions. Our volunteers include artists and activists whose work promotes critical analysys and an expanded vision of possibility for our lives and the lives of our neighborhoods, cities, and societies.
ABC No Rio now has a tremendous opportunity. The City of New York has offered to see ABC No Rio the four-story building we occupy at 156 Rivington Street for one dollar if we can raise the money to renovate and maintain it. We've already expanded the scope of our activities to include a silk-screen printing facility, a zine library, a computer center and now, a photo darkroom.
Mailing address:
ABC No Rio
156 Rivington St.
New York, NY 10002