Artist Residency Program at World Trade Center

Good evening. You're watching the Artist Forum.

My name is Ellie Fordyce, and I will be your host for this segment.

This evening I'm very, very happy to be up at World

Views, which is a wonderful art exhibit and

presentation that the Lower Manhattan Cultural

Council has been putting on here at the World Trade Center number

one building, World Trade Center.

And I have with us tonight Mukhtar Khokhash.

And Mukhtar, can you tell us something about this

program and your

involvement with it?

Sure. Um,

this is actually an artist residency program.

Artists apply f- to, uh, and are selected by a jury,

um, to be in residence on the ninety-first

floor for a period of approximately six months.

And it's a raw space. Um, it's a shared studio

experience for approximately fifteen to twenty artists,

and they get to work in this environment.

Some people, um, paint the views. Some people work on issues

of corporate culture. Some people are interested in issues of scale.

Others meditate and do very ephemeral, um,

works 'cause as you can imagine, the views are very inspiring,

um, and, uh, the light is very beautiful.

Um, this program was actually, uh, started, uh,

as it is, is, uh, three years ago. Um, however, approximately four

years ago, um, an experiment, um, to have artists in the

World Trade Center was initiated by an artist called Carl

Scorza,

and, um, who approached the Lower Manhattan

Cultural Council

about, uh, the desire to paint from the World Trade

Center during

the winter, uh, because it was, uh, convenient and the World Trade

Center would offer, uh, spectacular views.

So an experiment was carried out with the help of Graham Nixon, who was the

dean at the Studio School, New York Studio School.

And, uh, approximately fifteen artists

were selected.

They painted individually in different spaces throughout both towers,

and they never got a chance to meet, uh, and talk.

Um, and some people painted for a period of a

week.

Some, some others stayed for as long as eight

months.

Um, and when I joined the organization, um, the council three years

ago, we tried to create a more, um,

uh, a more, uh, consistent experience, uh-