If you’ve even spent one day in New York City, chances are you’ve encountered some unsightly scaffolding. The eyesore is so ever-present that most people probably don’t think much of it, as it’s been normalized as a NYC architectural mainstay. But what if ugly scaffolding didn’t have to be this way? What if, instead, scaffolding could be turned into canvases for public art?
These are the exact questions the folks behind the Facade Foundation found themselves asking, and they began to conceive of a way to transform scaffold netting into public art spaces. The non-profit unveiled its first-ever project this past April, featuring a piece from the rapper and conceptual artist Shirt.
FF installation #1 by Shirt
Since then, the Facade Foundation has installed two other scaffolding works of art, one by June Canedo de Souza entitled “Yellow foot, thorn, fence,” and the other by Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola entitled “Rapunzel,” composed entirely of durags.
Completely sold on their mission, I recently spoke to the Facade Foundation team to learn more about their inception, process, and ultimate goals as an organization. Their responses are below, lightly edited for clarity and length.
What was the genesis of the Facade Foundation?
There’s an ongoing conversation between years of vision and experience on all sides here, which will continue. Though Facade Foundation focuses specifically on the ever-present scaffold netting required by law at these active sites, which makes for amazing large-scale surfaces, we’ve long been thinking about the heart of this idea.
One of our founders talks about a moment a few years back on the recently rezoned Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn—now an epicenter for high-rise condo development—where he describes the canal flanked by scaffolded skeletons, one after another, for blocks. To him, they looked like empty gallery walls waiting for art to be hung on them. A question began lingering about what repurposing into a public art space could do to improve this perpetual state of construction for the people who actually have to live here. And not just these, but the hundreds or more scaffolds around the city?
Another of our founders, a long-time conceptual and participatory artist, has been developing ideas for exhibiting art and programming in underutilized spaces throughout New York City for at least a decade. Still another founder and longtime force in NYC construction has brought a wealth of experience to the dynamic; he instantly connected to the idea, having worked in numerous creative capacities and with the city dozens of times.
We all grew up here, and scaffolding has always been present in our lives. We’ve also always been deeply interested in public art installations—a couple of us even met because of “art on the street” through mutual longtime friends who are legendary graffiti writers!
What was it like going from a great idea to an actual nonprofit?
Turning an idea into an actual business or nonprofit means getting organized. It means organizing people and ideas, information, references, visuals, language and text, certifications, professionals, and know-how. It means chipping away at something much bigger than any of us individually, every day! We became determined to find a way to bring this idea to life in the right way.
By some kismet in 2023, NYC rolled out the City Canvas program, which allows artwork to be placed on temporary structures at active construction sites. We’ve been huddling up since then to get this thing off the ground. We were super excited to complete our first installation with the artist Shirt in April.
FF installation #2 by June Canedo de Souza
How do you source the artists for the Facade Foundation installations? What’s the collaboration process with the artists to bring their ideas to the scaffolding?
We started with people we know, people who inspire us already, who we might work closely with already, whose work we’ve loved for years, people whose work and practice we want to share, people we think would bring something unique and wonderful to the new medium. We feel very lucky to have an incredible orbit of artists around us, making art in all kinds of mediums, and we’re constantly learning about and discovering people along the way.
We encourage artists to reach out and stay close! Our focus for this first year is on making curatorial choices that signal who we are and what we can do. We’re engaging a wide range of contemporary practices—conceptual and multidisciplinary artists, abstractionists, figurative painters, photographers, sculptors, and more—mapping what we hope will grow into a long lineage of rich and diverse work on display across the city.
Collaboration with every artist is different with each person in their own way! For us, the process is more about the person and their practice first, not just a single work. While there are individual pieces we’d love to see at scale, all kinds of circumstances don’t always allow for that. What matters most to us is working with someone and, together, determining the right work or works for a given site.
FF installation #3 by Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola
What’s it like working with the various parties to facilitate your installations? Was it hard to convince others to get on board with this project at first?
We appreciate this question! Logistics for this kind of work across all parties are complex, and there are a lot of moving parts to building such an organization. For every facade, it’s us working with the site and its mix of owners, contractors, and construction experts, as well as the artist and their team (who have to bring the artwork to the city so we can make sure it’s not an ad). It’s always important to find (and be available to be found by) people who see our vision and are willing to work with us to do something new.
We have a really straightforward concept that, if you have spent any amount of time in NYC, you understand could have real legs if done right. There are many thousands of scaffolded buildings with huge surfaces of netting that go unutilized for months on end, which then end up in the landfill. Many artists would love the opportunity to exhibit their work at this scale, with many eyes on it.
It hasn’t been hard to convince people to “get on board”–it’s always a bit of an uphill battle in the early days of an idea before people have seen something done widely. But we’re also lucky to have worked with some great crews, building owners, and scaffolding and general contractors. We’ve also had an amazing response from the first few artists we’ve reached out to. We are focused on doing the work, showing folks what’s possible, and increasing awareness of what can be done in the space.
What has the reception of the Facade Foundation’s work from the public been like so far?
The initial response has been overwhelmingly great! Each of our first three installations has been momentous and special in its own way. Every artist we’ve worked with brings their own universe of people who love them and their work, root for them, and show support. Each time we reveal a new facade, we figuratively and metaphorically turn a new corner for many people who didn’t know what we were doing around the block. When people come across this work on the street, it’s something else.
We’ve just completed our biggest installation yet, and it’s been so fun and affirming to see people’s reactions as they come down the block. People just get it. We’ve heard so many people say, “Wow, why aren’t we doing this everywhere?”
What are your goals for the Facade Foundation and its impact?
FF’s ultimate goal is to create a long-term, sustainable, citywide platform for exhibiting ambitious contemporary art, transforming the neglected facades of New York’s scaffolded buildings into dispersed exhibition spaces, and bringing artists’ lively practices and work into daily public life.
We don’t take our stewardship of this exciting new form of public art for granted, and we believe we can play a vital role in bridging the gap between the art and construction worlds in this city with the level of care it deserves. We also believe we can make a significant impact on the many thousands of pounds of waste created by scaffold netting per year in NYC. Imagine if all those netting systems were instead sustainably printed with important artworks? In turn, they could become limited, upcycled, framed editions, tote bags, and other items in collaboration with the artists. We are committed to doing this with each and every facade we make and install.
What aspect of the Facade Foundation are you proudest of?
We’re proud of bringing artworks out of galleries and into public space at this scale. Building on New York City’s longstanding traditions of public art, FF is proud to reclaim this ubiquitous citywide surface as a new kind of open-air exhibition space woven into the fabric of everyday life. We’re proud to be setting a new standard in this city! On a personal level, FF is an attempt to give something back to the city of people that raised and inspired us in infinite ways and continues to do so.
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