"Downtown 2021" takes its name from the film Downtown 81, which portrayed 1980s New York City in all its glory. Forty years later, the exhibition acts as a sequel to the film, taking inspiration from downtown as an idea, a state of mind and a generative space—rather than just a geographic location. An essay in two parts will accompany the exhibition; one on the artists and spaces in the exhibition, and the other on spaces from the recent past that have closed or are on hiatus. Taken together, the spaces reveal the currents of new visual culture and the idea of a new downtown.

• Downtown 2021 Exhibit Details