About the Project
On Saturday, October 19, 2013, Creative Time and the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum presented Between the Door and the Street, a major work by the internationally celebrated artist Suzanne Lacy, perhaps the most important socially-engaged artist working today. Some 400 women and a few men–all selected to represent a cross-section of ages, backgrounds, and perspectives–gathered on the stoops along Park Place, a residential block in Brooklyn, where they engaged in unscripted conversations about a variety of issues related to gender politics today. Thousands of members of the public came out to wander among the groups, listen to what they were saying, and form their own opinions.
Between the Door and the Street grew out of a series of deep and wide-ranging conversations between Lacy and a group of activist women, held over the course of five months. Lacy considers this preparatory work to be a key part of the project as a whole, and their ideas, expertise, and principles informed the project.
This project built upon Lacy’s rich body of work devoted to issues of feminism, including Silver Action, presented at Tate Modern, London, earlier this year; The Tattooed Skeleton, at the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, in 2010; and Cleaning Conditions, part of the Do It exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery, in summer 2013. Between the Door and the Street was her first major public project in New York City.
Lead project support for Between the Door and the Street was provided by Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, Stephanie Ingrassia, Katie Michel, Barbara Nessim, Mary Jo and Ted Shen, Ellen Taubman, Ippolita Rostagno, Carol Goldberg, Diana Wege Sherogan, Annette Blum, Judy Cox, Louise Eastman, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Toby Devan Lewis, Brooke Garber Neidich, Pamella Roland, Martine Trink Rubenstein, Victoria E. Schonfeld, Elizabeth Smith, Frederieke Taylor, Barbara Tober, Donna Harkavy, Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz, Claudia Baez, Riva Blumenfeld, and Margaret Sullivan.
Creative Time and the Brooklyn Museum are grateful to The Park Place/Underhill Avenue Block Association, whose collaboration and enthusiasm have made this project possible.