Cover Photo by Michael Moran

Article by Anna Lewis

The location of SculptureCenter -- Long Island City, Queens -- has given the museum a valuable power. Away from Manhattan and its pressure to produce works that sell, artists feel able to produce more experimental work for SculptureCenter exhibitions. SculptureCenter is located in an evolving area which suits the contemporary artwork shown inside its walls which is always evolving as well. The woman responsible for this is Mary Ceruti who was hired as the executive director of SculptureCenter in 1999.

SculptureCenter Executive Director, Mary Ceruti

Formerly the Director of the Cap-Street Project, a San Fransisco public art installation company, Mary has made SculptureCenter as we know it today. SculptureCenter today is a contemporary art museum that has no collection, only exhibitions. The exhibitions almost always display art work of living artists, and many projects are commissioned specifically for SculptureCenter.

SculptureCenter was founded in 1928, and it was originally a community of artists who had an exhibition space -- it was not really a museum. When Mary became SculptureCenter's Executive Director in 1999, it was located in a carriage house on E. 69th street between Third and Lexington Avenues, and it had been struggling for quite some time. The programs at the center were not thriving nor did they reflect the NYC contemporary art scene. The gallery space, which had only 1000 square feet, could not support large scale contemporary art projects and was therefore not ideal, nor was the Upper East Side location. Mary's first job was to help rethink and restructure SculptureCenter. She thought that SculptureCenter's program needed to evolve to focus on the contemporary art of today and that SculptureCenter's space should better cooperate with the art.

In 2001, Mary and the Center made a leap across the East River, moving from the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Long Island City, Queens. The new space that fulfilled Mary's vision for the museum opened to the public in 2002.

SculptureCenter's Entrance - Photo by Michael Moran

Inside SculptureCenter - Photo by Kyle Knodell

SculptureCenter today is unusual in a number of ways. Unlike many museums, SculptureCenter has compensated artists for their work since the 1980s and still does to this day. Artists are paid a fee for exhibiting, and SculptureCenter, sometimes in collaboration with other organizations, pays the production fees for work commissioned specifically for an exhibition.

Mary has several different ways of finding artists who often create works specifically for the Center. She gets referrals from artists she knows or with whom she has already worked, she goes to art shows, galleries, and she works with curators outside of SculptureCenter. After finding an artist, Mary's next step is more or less the same for everyone. She meets with the artist to further look at his or her work and get to know the artist better. Then Mary asks what direction the artist is going in and asksthe artist what he or she expects to be working on in two years. It is an important question since Mary plans shows so far in advance.

SculptureCenter works with anywhere between 8 and 40 artists at a time. Some of these artists are currently exhibiting their work, and other artists will exhibit their work in the future. Shows are booked 18-24 months in advance. The time it takes to put an exhibit together can take anywhere between 6 months and 3 years. Generally, work that has been commissioned specifically for an exhibit takes longer than work that has already been completed. However, there are exceptions. Mary spent 3 years planning a retrospective exhibit of Ursula Von Rydingsvard's work. It was a traveling exhibit, and therefore, in addition to curating the work for the collection, Mary had to oversee travel arrangements, venues, and funding.

Also unlike many museums, once a year the Center sponsors an exhibit solely for artists who apply via an open call. A committee selects 30 of the artists who applied, and a guest curator selects work from the 30 artists for the exhibit. This year the works of 12 different artists were selected for the exhibit. It just so happens that the exhibit, entitled "In Practice", is currently being shown at SculptureCenter. The exhibit is inspired by Freud's lecture on fantasy and dreams; there is nothing one can dream that he or she has not already experienced.

"In Practice" Exhibit at SculptureCenter - Kyle Knodell

In addition to overseeing the Center's exhibits, Mary has also started the Public Process program. The Public Process program is a summer internship program for high school students. In the program students learn what factors determine what goes in a public space, and who has a say in it. During the program students select an artist to make a sculpture for a public space in Long Island City. The work selected can be seen in the Hunters Point Waterfront South Park, right near the Long Island Ferry.

Although SculptureCenter is not alone on Long Island City -- MoMa's PS1 is also located across the river -- there is still a powerful "Manhattan-Centricness" says Mary, that keeps the larger masses from visiting the museum. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing: SculptureCenter's location also means that those who do come to the Museum really want to see the work!

SculptureCenter, Across the River