Breaking News: The Keepers Loom at Penn Station
Alt text: Preservation Leaguer of NYS | Breaking News | The Keepers Loom at Penn Station
Friday, September 22, 2023 | The Keepers’ presence here brings attention to the blatant demolition of the Penn Station neighborhood’s historic buildings, the environmental impact of that demolition, and the human cost of displacing longtime residents and business owners. The Keepers appear when life is out of balance with nature in response to the gentrification and rapid mass development of urban areas where the importance of the mixed-use district, history of the area, and the natural environment has been ignored.
The Penn Neighborhood: At Risk and Worth Saving
The Keepers is a performance art intervention created by longtime NYC cultural provocateur, Ed Woodham. Woodham is the founder/director of the annual public art festival Art in Odd Places, which has taken place each October across 14th Street in Manhattan since 2005.
The Keepers September activation has been commissioned by the Preservation League of NYS thanks to a Capacity & Regrowth grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. Through that grant, the League is using artistic interventions to draw attention to its Seven to Save endangered historic sites across the state. The Keepers Penn Station appearance is organized in partnership with the Empire Station Coalition. The Preservation League of NYS included the Penn Station Neighborhood on its statewide Seven to Save list of endangered historic sites in 2022. The proposed redevelopment of Penn Station and the surrounding area has been met with intense criticism since it was first put forward in 2020. Issues of concern include displacing thousands of residents and business owners and the environmental impact of needlessly demolishing buildings, some of which have immense historic value, that could be retrofitted and put back to active use.
Empire Station Coalition is a coalition of 14 organizations opposed to the plan to demolish the neighborhood around Penn Station and replace it with ten glass skyscrapers owned by Vornado, NYC’s largest real estate investment trust.
More information at preservenys.org + humanscale.nyc/penn-for-all