What’s Happening: Six mid-size Tribeca galleries acquired a derelict upstate school to evade the high prices of art storage in the city and transformed it into an unlikely contemporary art hub.

The Download: In the early pandemic’s grimmest days, when existential fears loomed large for mid-size galleries, the Tribeca dealer Andrew Kreps was scouting properties upstate where he could store art for far cheaper than in the city. He soon discovered the long-abandoned Ockawamick School in Columbia County, which had sat unoccupied since the ‘90s and was being sold by the estate of late interior designer Eleanor Ambos for $1.2 million. It fit the bill—the 78,000-square-foot property, which sits on two dozen grassy acres, could offer both storage and, as Ambos’s listing suggested, an unorthodox art venue. Kreps’s neighbors, the dealers Stefania Bortolami and James Cohan, were intrigued and went in. HBO promptly rented out the school from them as a set for Pretty Little Liars, making the investment profitable.

Fast forward to this summer, and with the additional help of peers Kaufmann Repetto, Anton Kern, and Kurimanzutto, the school has undergone an unlikely transformation into The Campus, one of upstate’s liveliest contemporary art hubs. Kicking things off is a giant group show drawing from more than 80 artists across the six galleries’ rosters, taking over seemingly untouched spaces like brick-lined hallways and science labs that look plucked from a John Hughes movie. Unexpected dialogues ensue—a Miguel Calderón video about bestsellers is projected in a locker room shower while a Great Migration–themed sculpture by Yinka Shonibare animates the cavernous gymnasium. Blue-chip names abound, from Jenny Holzer and Rachel Harrison to Sanya Kantarovsky. Space is given to emerging talents thanks to a partnership with NXTHVN, the annual fellowship founded by Titus Kaphar and Jason Price.

The results disprove any skepticism about too many cooks in the kitchen—er, cafeteria—but that’s largely thanks to freelance curator Timo Kappeller, who liaised between the galleries to create a more unified vision for the inaugural show. He also had sizable precedent to work with. MoMA PS1 and an outpost of Jack Shainman Gallery are both located in converted schools, and Kreps’ initial idea stemmed from the 2006 Berlin Biennial, which was partially staged in a Jewish school for girls that was shuttered by Nazis. The Campus will surely see most foot traffic in the summers, when antsy New Yorkers are itching to escape musty city summers, but Kappeller has year-round activities planned like workshops, film screenings, performances, and talks to keep the remote school abuzz.

In Their Own Words: “This culture can be very one-against-the-other,” Chiara Repetto, co-owner of Kaufmann Repetto, told Hyperallergic. “It’s mors tua vita mea in a way—I get in, but you don’t get in. We noticed that the more we work together, it’s just a win-win.”

Surface Says: School’s in for summer, but maybe watch out for the toxic mold.

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On the garden level of Bistrotheque, Bethnal Green’s sceneyest warehouse-set restaurant, cabaret and cocktail lounge The Cockatoo has opened its doors. Bistrotheque proprietors David Waddington and Pablo Flack worked closely with local studio Nice Projects to realize the high-vibe dining room, which features emerald green mohair velvet banquettes and shimmering fringe diffusers. In a nod to its upstairs sibling restaurant, a disco ball presides over the entirety of the downstairs space.

While you could pop in for a nightcap, DJ set, or cabaret and drag performance, Waddington and Flack also took care to build out a full dinner menu, care of head chef Blaine Duffy. A Mexican-inflected rotation of flavors like ancho chile and jicama are on rotation until Sundays, when a traditional British roast and Yorkshire pudding take over.

When Materia opened their gallery space inside a lived-in SoHo penthouse this spring, founders Matt Ensner and Megan Somerville filled the space with their latest lighting collections and antique items collected from their extensive travels. Those same items—as well as the treasures inherited from their grandparents—now complement the studio’s offerings and embody their belief in the power of accumulation.

The series, called Materi(a)ntiques and sourced without regard for provenance, encompasses a selection of collected decorative items curated to provide timeless, sometimes offbeat panache for all types of interiors. Expect finds like one-of-a-kind Murano cast glass vessels and Art Deco–inflected candlesticks to bronze figurines of an attentive Labrador. “The objects we care about most are those patinated by time, whether precious or quotidian,” Ensner says. “These ‘things’ are mostly met by chance encounter, and it often feels when we bring them home as if we have invited strangers to a dinner party.”

The debut season of The Art Pod, a 15-episode series that launched this spring, shines a light on the careers of as many women who play pivotal roles in the global art market. In each episode, host Karolina Chojnowska applies her 15 years of industry communications experience to pulling back the curtain on the movers and shakers at work in megawatt galleries like Pace and Hauser & Wirth, institutions like Dia and Baxter Street, and beyond. This month’s lineup featured a triple threat: Megan Skidmore of Powerhouse Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Allison Rudnick, and art advisor Nazy Nazhand.

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Surface Says: To this day, Liaigre embodies its founder’s timeless elegance with a deft eye for contemporary art, furnishings, and interior styling.

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