Dangerous, dirty, rebellious—not words you’d usually think of when describing a gallery show. But Lizzy Goodman and Hala Matar didn’t come to New York to give the art world something it’s used to—they came to bring back rock’n’roll. “Meet Me In The Bathroom: The Art Show” is curated by Lizzy Goodman and Hala Matar, presented by Vans, and organized by UTA Artist Space and The Hole.” Opening on September 4 at The Hole on the Bowery, the show is an homage to the gritty, arty rock scene of the Aughts.
The show includes pieces by the musicians who defined the era: Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes, Karen O and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fischerspooner, Alison Mosshart of The Kills and many others. These are coupled with works from the artists and filmmakers who were there: Rita Ackermann, Urs Fischer and Spike Jonze to name a few. The show’s made with a “sense of how, like the rock scene, it is ephemeral, how it might not all hold together, and so we’re going to put things together that haven’t been put together before,” explains Goodman. It evokes the “beautiful instability” of the time: the joyful chaos of everyone creating at a feverish rate, never knowing what’s going to happen next, what would fall apart and what would remain for years to come. “We’re attempting to engineer an impressionistic recollection of a moment,” she continues, which meant ditching the white walls and glass-enclosed pieces and replacing them with graffitied surfaces and a bar. It’s not just about the work, but the space itself.
“Meet Me in the Bathroom” feels like the aftermath of a party, that special bittersweet feeling of the most amazing night coming to its inevitable end. It’s about so much more than being young and immune to hangovers—it’s about community. The show is made not only for the those that lived in or around the scene, but the ones that came after it. “The notion of scene-making for young artists is really influential,” says Goodman, “because they long for it.” Her and Matar’s show reminds New York of what it is: a city that inspires generation after generation of artists to band together and create their own unique world.
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