Home grown: Asad Raza stages art show in his one-bedroom NYC apartment

While the hoi polloi was busy overtaxing their social media feeds in Miami during Art Basel, a select group of curators and artists were busy considering one of the more intimate and intriguing art world happenings of recent memory back in NoLita, New York. The idea for this tiny sensation took seed five years ago when Buffalo-born, New York-based artist, writer, and producer Asad Raza was helping the British-German artist Tino Sehgal produce ‘This Progress’, his acclaimed 2010 exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. During the end of the show’s run, he had an idea to produce another ephemeral show — inside his pint-sized one-bedroom apartment.
‘I didn’t get around to it and the idea just floated to the back burner,’ says Raza, who has worked with a who’s who of conceptual artists over the past seven years (including Philippe Parreno, Adrián Villar Rojas and Sarah Morris) producing shows all over the world. In the ensuing year he heard about other apartment-based exhibitions — from Jan Hoet’s Chambres d'Amis to Hans-Ulrich Obrist’s World Soup — which kept the idea alive. While working with Parreno this summer for his massive H {N)Y P N(Y} OSIS show at the Park Avenue Armory it brought back the desire, he says, ‘to make an intimate small show in my own life that’s totally different to what I’m doing here.’
When he saw artist friends (like Camille Henrot, Dan Graham, and Carsten Höller) he told them about the exhibition and asked if they wanted to do something. Nearly all of them came up with ideas - from dream-activating toothpaste by Höller to an edit of stuff acquired during the span of his life by Rachel Rose - for 'The Home Show', an elegant wunderkammer that sprawls through every nook and cranny of his 450 sq ft abode.
In addition to paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, sound works and performance-based pieces, Raza included things like a 15,000 year old mastodon tooth, an artificial heart that his heart surgeon father implanted into a patient (and returned later) and a 17th century letter sent to one of his ancestors from the son of the architect who built the Taj Mahal. His sister even made a perfume.
‘In a weird way the show is a portrait of my life. I put the artists I work with in it. It turned out to be a lot more intimate than I thought it would be. I’m really impressed with how many of the artists worked directly on my life and how that’s changed how I live life in my apartment. I’ve been traveling a lot the last few years so when I come home, it’s to rest between projects, but this have given me a whole new life here that’s interesting and meaningful, so that was really cool. I feel weirdly grateful to them and fascinated with this new life,’ says Raza, who has been receiving five to 15 visitors per day, including Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Guggenheim senior curator Nancy Spector and Dia Art Foundation director Jessica Morgan.
‘The fact that they’re coming I guess means that they thought it’s interesting, but it also feels like it just got produced out of my real life. I’m also interested in how it taught me something about this generation of artists who work on crafting experience. That’s coming through, really strong.’
The Home Show is an elegant wunderkammer that sprawls through every nook and cranny of Raza's 450 sq ft abode. Pictured: postcard and assemblage sculpture by Theo Boggs
‘In a weird way the show is a portrait of my life. I put the artists I work with in it. It turned out to be a lot more intimate than I thought it would be,' reflects Raza. Pictured: a 3D printed sculpture by Mathias Kessler
'Adrián Villar Rojas said he wanted to do a sculptural installation in the freezer,' explains Raza. 'He created an incredibly beautiful installation that’s kind of like a natura morte or Dutch still life'
'Sarah Morris gave me this painting that has all these circles on it and it’s a lunar calendar that I put in the bedroom. It seemed to related to astronomy, nature and the calendar which is part of everyday life,' says Raza
'I’ve been traveling a lot the last few years so when I come home, it’s to rest between projects, but this have given me a whole new life here that’s interesting and meaningful,' says Raza. Pictured: Shazia Sikander's The Bluest Eye, 2015, marker on paper
INFORMATION
’The Home Show’ is now on until through 20 December. By appointment Wednesdays-Sundays, 2pm-8pm, email: s.asad.raza@gmail.com
Photography: Mathias Kessler
ADDRESS
14 Spring Street
#2
New York, New York
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Is this the world’s most comfortable sofa? Cozmo and Pearson Lloyd invite you to find out
Pearson Lloyd and Cozmo lay bare the design process behind ‘Hug’, their new high-backed sofa design, at the eye-opening exhibition ‘Comfort Lab’ during LDF
-
A Mexican clifftop retreat offers both drama, and a sense of place
Casa Yuri, a clifftop retreat by Zozaya Arquitectos, creates the perfect blend of drama and cosiness on Mexico's Pacific Coast
-
Tour David Lynch's house as it hits the market
David Lynch's LA estate is for sale at $15m, and the listing pictures offer a glimpse into the late filmmaker's aesthetic and creative universe
-
Stephen Prina borrows from pop, classical and modern music: now MoMA pays tribute to his performance work
‘Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise’ recalls the artist, musician, and composer’s performances, and is presented throughout MoMA. Prina tells us more
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
With the return of back-to-school, it's back to business for the Wallpaper* team, who’ve been making the rounds at fashion pop-ups and pavilion launches. Elsewhere, we’ve been indulging in new literature and old restaurants, and taking in a farewell exhibition at a landmark gallery...
-
Curtains up, Kid Harpoon rethinks the sound of Broadway production ‘Art’
He’s crafted hits with Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus; now songwriter and producer Kid Harpoon (aka Tom Hull) tells us about composing the music for the new, all-star Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Art’
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
Here in the UK, summer seems to be fading fast. Moody skies and showers called for early-autumn rituals for the Wallpaper* team: retreating into the depths of the Tate Modern, slipping into shadowy cocktail bars, and curling up with a good book
-
Richard Prince recontextualises archival advertisements in Texas
The artist unites his ‘Posters’ – based on ads for everything from cat pictures to nudes – at Hetzler, Marfa
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
Another week, another flurry of events, opening and excursions showcasing the best of culture and entertainment at home and abroad. Catch our editors at Scandi festivals, iconic jazz clubs, and running the length of Manhattan…
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San Francisco
The artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?
The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition