601Artspace

We like gifts, and we’d consider this gallery a gift for all of us. 601Artspace has a clear mission: foster freedom of expression, give curators opportunities to create research-heavy, politically engaged shows that ask you to think hard about who gets written out of history and why.

Recent shows have explored sensory experience as resistance, the sound of war in Ukraine, and hair as political identity. You might stand in front of a sculpture made from salvaged wood from the Stonewall Inn's original dance floor, photographic documents of lynching sites in California, or video reenactments of slave rebellions.

These are exhibitions with soul and depth that ask the big questions. Leave your coffee for after the show. You’re going to want to sit with what you just saw.

David Howe, an artist, collector, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and philanthropist, started 601Artspace in 2006 to show art he’d collected that was too big for his apartment. In 2012, he brought artist and curator Sarah Shaoul on board as director, and what began as a storage problem became something much bigger: a place where global and homegrown artists and curators can present serious, thoughtful shows, and where questions matter more than answers.