Alanna Heiss
Encyclopedia
Alanna Heiss is the Director of AIR
, Art International Radio
, an Internet-based art radio station operating out of the Clocktower Gallery in Lower Manhattan
, New York. She founded and was the Director of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center from 1976–2008 and is one of the originators of the alternative space movement.
Heiss has curated and/or organized over 700 exhibitions at P.S.1 and elsewhere.
. The daughter of teachers, she graduated with a B.A. from Lawrence University
in Appleton, Wisconsin, which she attended on a scholarship from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music.
, Richard Tuttle
, and James Bishop. The Clocktower Gallery became a legendary alternative space and currently serves as the broadcast center of Art International Radio.
In 1972, Heiss curated "Rooms," the inaugural exhibit in what is now known as P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, Queens
. She invited a great number of artists - many of whom experimented with such new forms as video, installation, and performance art - to install their work throughout the building, which, before becoming the locus for the Institute for Art and Urban Resources, had been an abandoned schoolhouse. Richard Serra
, Walter De Maria
, and Richard Nonas were among the artists to participate in this exhibition, which articulated much of the ideals and conceptualizations of installation art and has since become emblematic of the alternative space movement. Nonas later remarked that “Alanna is probably the most important single figure in that effluence of another kind of art-making or art-doing in New York in the seventies—not only the art itself but also the way the art existed in the city.”
Over the next three decades, P.S.1 became one of the most respected exhibition and performance spaces in New York, with such exhibitions as New York, New Wave (1981); Stalin's Choice: Soviet Socialist Realism, 1932-1956 (1993); Greater New York (2000 and 2005), and Arctic Hysteria (2008); Robert Grosvenor (1976); Keith Sonnier
(1983); Alex Katz
: Under the Stars, American Landscapes 1951-1995 (1998); John Wesley
: Paintings 1961-2000 (2000), and Gino De Dominicis
(2008). Rooms were also used as artists' studios. In 2000, the organization became affiliated with The Museum of Modern Art, giving it greater financial stability, extending the reach of both institutions, and combining P.S.1’s contemporary mission with MoMA’s strength as one of the greatest collecting museums of modern art. The deal also allowed MoMA, after a seven-year period, to take command of P.S.1's financial management and the appointment of its board members. In 2008, shortly after this seven-year period, Heiss left P.S.1 to create AIR, Art International Radio.
, which is unaffiliated with P.S.1 but houses in its online archive programs that originally aired on WPS1. AIR
produces its own arts-oriented material and is home to the Clocktower Gallery
.
for her contributions to the promotion of the arts in Sweden
, and is a recipient of the Skowhegan Award for outstanding work in the arts. She was honored in 2008 with the Women of Distinction Award by the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York
, and was recognized as New York’s 100 Most Influential Women by Crain’s New York Business
. In 2007, Heiss received the CCS Bard Award for Curatorial Excellence. In 2001, Heiss received an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute
, and in 2008 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Lawrence University
.
Art International Radio
AIR, Art International Radio is an online, non-profit cultural Internet radio station at ARTonAIR.org that is also home to the Clocktower Gallery...
, Art International Radio
Art International Radio
AIR, Art International Radio is an online, non-profit cultural Internet radio station at ARTonAIR.org that is also home to the Clocktower Gallery...
, an Internet-based art radio station operating out of the Clocktower Gallery in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
, New York. She founded and was the Director of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center from 1976–2008 and is one of the originators of the alternative space movement.
Alternative exhibition space
An alternative exhibition space is a location, et al. other than the normal professional venues, for the exhibition of artwork to the public. Located in places which have been converted, such as a store front empty space into an exhibit space, for an organized assembly of artworks from an...
Heiss has curated and/or organized over 700 exhibitions at P.S.1 and elsewhere.
Early life and education
Heiss was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and raised in a farming community in southern IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The daughter of teachers, she graduated with a B.A. from Lawrence University
Lawrence University
Lawrence University is a selective, private liberal arts college with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Lawrence University is known for its rigorous academic environment. Founded in 1847, the first classes were held on November 12, 1849...
in Appleton, Wisconsin, which she attended on a scholarship from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music.
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
During the 1970s, Heiss emerged as one of the most prominent figures of the alternative space movement. In 1971, she founded The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, which was devoted to creating installations in otherwise unused or overlooked spaces in New York. Under the aegis of this organization, she created the Clocktower Gallery and the Idea Warehouse, among many others. In 1973, the Clocktower Gallery, located in a municipal building in Lower Manhattan, opened with its three inaugural shows: Joel ShapiroJoel Shapiro
Joel Shapiro is an American sculptor renowned for his dynamic work composed of simple rectangular shapes. Shapiro is represented by The Pace Gallery in New York. He lives and works in New York City, with a summer house on the shore of Lake Champlain, in Westport, New York...
, Richard Tuttle
Richard Tuttle
Richard Dean Tuttle is an American postminimalist artist known for his small, subtle, intimate works. His art makes use of scale and line.- Biography :...
, and James Bishop. The Clocktower Gallery became a legendary alternative space and currently serves as the broadcast center of Art International Radio.
In 1972, Heiss curated "Rooms," the inaugural exhibit in what is now known as P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. She invited a great number of artists - many of whom experimented with such new forms as video, installation, and performance art - to install their work throughout the building, which, before becoming the locus for the Institute for Art and Urban Resources, had been an abandoned schoolhouse. Richard Serra
Richard Serra
Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
, Walter De Maria
Walter De Maria
-Early life and career:De Maria was born in Albany, California on October 1, 1935. He studied history and art at the University of California, Berkeley from 1953 to 1959. Although trained as a painter, De Maria soon turned to sculpture and began using other media...
, and Richard Nonas were among the artists to participate in this exhibition, which articulated much of the ideals and conceptualizations of installation art and has since become emblematic of the alternative space movement. Nonas later remarked that “Alanna is probably the most important single figure in that effluence of another kind of art-making or art-doing in New York in the seventies—not only the art itself but also the way the art existed in the city.”
Over the next three decades, P.S.1 became one of the most respected exhibition and performance spaces in New York, with such exhibitions as New York, New Wave (1981); Stalin's Choice: Soviet Socialist Realism, 1932-1956 (1993); Greater New York (2000 and 2005), and Arctic Hysteria (2008); Robert Grosvenor (1976); Keith Sonnier
Keith Sonnier
Keith Sonnier is a Postminimalist, performance, video and light artist. Sonnier was one of the first artists to use light in sculpture in the 1960s, and has been one of the most successful with this technique...
(1983); Alex Katz
Alex Katz
Alex Katz is an American figurative artist associated with the Pop art movement. In particular, he is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints and is represented by numerous galleries internationally.-Life and work:...
: Under the Stars, American Landscapes 1951-1995 (1998); John Wesley
John Wesley (artist)
John Wesley was born in Los Angeles, California, on November 25, 1928. He is a pop artist.After holding a series of odd jobs, he began painting at the age of 22...
: Paintings 1961-2000 (2000), and Gino De Dominicis
Gino De Dominicis
Gino De Dominicis was an Italian artist. A controversial and mystifying figure, even the news of his death was greeted with suspicion, as for years earlier he had reported his own demise in the mock conclusion to a biographical essay.His first show was at Rome's Galleria L'Attico in 1969...
(2008). Rooms were also used as artists' studios. In 2000, the organization became affiliated with The Museum of Modern Art, giving it greater financial stability, extending the reach of both institutions, and combining P.S.1’s contemporary mission with MoMA’s strength as one of the greatest collecting museums of modern art. The deal also allowed MoMA, after a seven-year period, to take command of P.S.1's financial management and the appointment of its board members. In 2008, shortly after this seven-year period, Heiss left P.S.1 to create AIR, Art International Radio.
AIR, Art International Radio
In 2004, Heiss founded Art Radio WPS1.org, the Internet radio station of P.S.1; it was later discontinued on January 1, 2009. When she left P.S.1 in 2008, Heiss founded Art International RadioArt International Radio
AIR, Art International Radio is an online, non-profit cultural Internet radio station at ARTonAIR.org that is also home to the Clocktower Gallery...
, which is unaffiliated with P.S.1 but houses in its online archive programs that originally aired on WPS1. AIR
Art International Radio
AIR, Art International Radio is an online, non-profit cultural Internet radio station at ARTonAIR.org that is also home to the Clocktower Gallery...
produces its own arts-oriented material and is home to the Clocktower Gallery
Art International Radio
AIR, Art International Radio is an online, non-profit cultural Internet radio station at ARTonAIR.org that is also home to the Clocktower Gallery...
.
Awards
Heiss has received the Mayor’s Award for Contributions to the Artistic Viability of New York City, as well as France’s prestigious Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in the Légion d’Honneur. She has been decorated by the Order of the Polar StarOrder of the Polar Star
The Order of the Polar Star is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I of Sweden on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim....
for her contributions to the promotion of the arts in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and is a recipient of the Skowhegan Award for outstanding work in the arts. She was honored in 2008 with the Women of Distinction Award by the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York
Girl Scouts of the USA
The Girl Scouts of the United States of America is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It describes itself as "the world's preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls". It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912 and was organized after Low...
, and was recognized as New York’s 100 Most Influential Women by Crain’s New York Business
Crain Communications Inc.
Crain Communications Inc is a publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan. The company publishes a variety of trade newspapers, including some city-based business newspapers, such as Crain's Cleveland Business, Crain's Chicago Business, Crain's Detroit Business, and Crain's New York Business...
. In 2007, Heiss received the CCS Bard Award for Curatorial Excellence. In 2001, Heiss received an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...
, and in 2008 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Lawrence University
Lawrence University
Lawrence University is a selective, private liberal arts college with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Lawrence University is known for its rigorous academic environment. Founded in 1847, the first classes were held on November 12, 1849...
.