Cool People Are Cool at DE-CONSTRUKT

On the last Sunday of each month, at 6 p.m., a potluck for “creatives” – officially the DIN DIN Curated Community Potluck – takes place at 41 Seabring Street. The venue, DE-CONSTRUKT, is a self-described “design studio, photography darkroom, event studio, and project space,” founded by the artist Laura Arena, who has lived in Red Hook for more than a decade. Anyone can come to the potluck – no RSVP necessary, but bring something to eat or drink – and meet 10 or 15 guests of the sort one might encounter at an art gallery in Buenos Aires or a film festival in Prague.

At the dinner in February, writers, designers, and photographers from places as far-flung as Japan and Bushwick shared quiche, Israeli couscous, and wine while describing their current projects and commiserating over rejected grant applications. Marcia Vaitsman, a Brazilian PhD who creates games that aim to generate social experiences within art spaces, described building a large net of rubber bands, alongside other interactive objects for an upcoming show, but she was still puzzling over whether the exhibition should come with any instructions for attendees. She believes that conceptual art centered on public engagement should do more than create fun experiences for an audience; it should explore original notions of its own, too.

Arena – who recently spent a few months in the Caucasus, where, among other projects, she mapped the Georgian city of Tbilisi by “chakra points” – runs in a cosmopolitan crowd, which allows DE-CONSTRUKT to bring creative ideas from around the world to Red Hook. As one of its primary functions, the studio operates as a residency program: the third floor of 41 Seabring houses not only an ample workspace but also three bedrooms, where artists can apply to spend two weeks or a month in order to immerse themselves in an endeavor of their choosing.

February saw two artists-in-residence. Britta Wauer, a filmmaker from Germany, has directed the award-winning documentaries In Heaven, Underground (2011) and Rabbi Wolff (2016). A mother of two, she came to Red Hook to focus on writing a script for an upcoming feature based on her adolescent memories, which have lately returned to her thanks to a “midlife crisis.”

Wauer grew up in East Berlin. The Berlin Wall fell when she was 14, and at the potluck, she recalled a moment where, with society in flux, authority figures like teachers and policemen seemed suddenly to have disappeared. At 15, she left home for an artist squat and had “the time of my life.” She said that Red Hook reminds her of Berlin in 1990, where, on dark streets, one could find parties and concerts hidden inside crumbling industrial buildings.

The other DE-CONSTRUKT resident is Ruixuan Li, a Chinese curator and writer who studied at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Li, who mentioned that plans for a superhighway had leveled her small hometown in Guangdong Province, first became interested in Red Hook while reading Sharon Zukin’s book Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places.

She’s now talking to locals with the goal of collecting oral histories of Hurricane Sandy, which she expects to use as material for a novella that will incorporate nonfiction reportage into a fairy tale inspired by Red Hook’s destruction and recovery. She hopes to see the work (which will also include visual elements) published in both English and Chinese.

Arena, who previously operated Lucky Gallery at 176 Richards Street until her landlord kicked her out, acknowledged looming financial troubles at DE-CONSTRUKT. The winter shutdown of the federal government had scared off international artists who might have sent applications in January for residency, and the program will pause in the spring.

On the bright side, Arena pointed out that she’d recently found a local photographer, Unice Gomez, to take charge of the darkroom. Gomez, who is finishing up a series of 100 images of miniature liquor bottles spotted on the streets in and around Red Hook, will try to find other Brooklyn photographers who might want to use the facility for a fee.

DE-CONSTRUKT will also continue to organize events. On March 9, Tyshawn Sorey, Chris Pitsiokos, and Luke Stewart will perform at the Zone Music Workshop at 8 p.m. And on March 16, at 8 p.m., Home Audio will feature music and art by Dino Georgeton, DJ Eric Umble, and Fionnuala Heidenreich. Arena doesn’t plan on giving up on the potlucks, either.