Dylan Seh-Jin Kim
Curatorial
Borrowers: The Studio Show
Columbia University, New York, NY
5 July 2022 – 5 August 2022
Works by Kelly So Jung Min, Seiji Murakami, Juri Rhyu, and Bietu Seah
Curated by Dylan Seh-Jin Kim
According to city data, Columbia University was the largest private landowner totaling 13.9 million square feet in ownership of Lenapehoking/New York City land in 2022. The largest of the university’s recent acquisitions include the construction of the Manhattanville campus, a $6 billion development located from 125th Street to 134th Street. The university’s plan to build their self-titled “Manhattanville” will also see the demolition of Prentis Hall, an old milk-bottling plant turned university building that houses seminar rooms and studios for the university’s MFA Visual Arts and Sound Art candidates. The university’s plan to move the School of the Arts further uptown following the condemned Prentis Hall has neglected the unequivocally negative reactions by students and faculty, a disposition that generally reflects the institution’s attitude in dismissing the university’s arts community.
Started by Albert Samreth and Dylan Seh-Jin Kim, DEALER was conceived in consideration of the institution’s real estate expansion and disregard for visual arts students’ needs. Operating on institutional grounds, DEALER reflected on the fated displacement of visual arts students by borrowing university property for the wants and needs of the community. DEALER reconditioned an artist’s studio, located somewhere on the university’s campus, as an arts space to provide undergraduate students the opportunity to showcase work and a space for convening amongst artists.
For its inaugural show, DEALER presented Borrowers: The Studio Show, a group exhibition exploring the temporal, ideological, and functional architecture of an artist’s studio.
Press Packet