Ace AIR

354+ Nights of Artists Making Art in Hotel Rooms

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I founded Ace AIR—Ace Hotel’s Artists in Residence program—in 2014 and oversaw the curation, documentation and promotion of the program until leaving in January of 2019. In that time there were 354 stays. Went “On Tour” with Printed Matter to host 40 artists nation-wide and in London, and with zero marketing, cecame 4th organic search result for “Artists in Residence” (Google, 2018).

Pictured above is Riley, who participated during Opening Ceremony’s residency.

The program was very straight forward and had few rules:

  • Artists got a small stipend and food

  • Artists stayed one night at the hotel

  • Artists were asked to do whatever they wanted so long as it didn’t harm guests or damage property.

Artists took that looseness and filled rooms with mylar balloons, broadcasted psychedelic videos, painted oyster shells, collected beach glass, slept, hired 3rd parties to produce work on their behalf, wrote poems, collected recipes, wrote and recording music, drafted short stories, and played solitaire.

Pictured above is Ace Hotel’s website in 2023; on the heels of the program being around for a decade it’s prominently featured up top. Cool to see it growing!

 

Curators & Artists by Year

    • WORD Bookstores, December 2014
      John Keene, Deji Olukotun, Sarah McCarry, Rahawa Haile

    • PlayLab, November 2014
      Lunifred Benjamin, Ryder Ripps, Matthew Giordano, Nightcoregirl, Zut Alors!

    • Flux Factory, October 2014
      Michael DiPietro and Lena Hawkins, Gil Lopez, Ayden Grout, Will Owen

    • Printed Matter, September 2014
      Jason Polan, Heather Benjamin, Stefan Marx, Cali Thornhill DeWitt

    • Tumblr, August 2014
      Ashley Ford, Kate Gavino, Chelsea Hodson and May-Lan Tan, Kristina Wilson

    • Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, July 2014
      Queer Art + Technology Collective, Joon Oluchi Lee and Roddy Schrock

      Tomorrow Lab, June 2014
      Katie Shima, Confection, Ltd., Ekene Ijeoma, Karen Mackay, Jenni Hensler

    • The Museum of Art and Design, May 2014
      Stephanie Lin, Alissia Melka-Teichroew and Jan Habraken, Michael Rees, Francis Bitonti

    • 24 BY 36 (Ace Hotel), January 2014
      Sto Len & Asha Man, Daren Ho & Antonia Kuo, JD Samson, Colby Bird, Denise Kupferschmitdt, Mikael Kennedy, Ariel Dill, Morgan Blair + Nick Kuszyk, Miho Hatori, Phillip Birch, Danniel Schoonebeek, Patrick Higgins, Amanda B. Friedman & William McMillin, Archie Lee Coates IV & Jeff Franklin, Adam Dugas, Kunal Gupta / Thu Tran, Alexis Georgopoulos & Frank Lyon, Ashok Kondabolu (Dapwell), NOWORK / Pierre Le Hors, FCKNLZ (Grant Worth), Garrett Morrin, Lesley Flanigan & Steven Reker, Colin Self, Lizzi Bougatsos

    • Opening Ceremony, December 2015
      Riley Gallagher, James Evans, James Parker Riley Gallagher, Surprise Guests

    • Residencies Unlimited, November 2015
      Ivan Gaete, Beto Shwafaty, David Helbich, Christiaan Bastiaans, Manuela Viera-Gallo

    • Lady Boss, October 2015
      Sue Smith, Kate Gardiner, Tracy Candido, Julie Sygiel

    • Printed Matter / NY Art Book Fair, September 2015
      Christopher Schulz, Tamara Santibañez, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Jason Evans

    • AUNTS, September 2015
      Ann Lewis (gilf!) / Sylvia Dean Ventiko / Tara Aisha Willis / Karl Scholz / Adams Stark; Christen Clifford / Amy Khoshbin and Michael Clemow / Sophie Sotsky and Greta Hartenstein, Chris Blue / Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste / Daria Faïn / niv Acosta / Shantelle Jackson; Michael DiPietro and Lena Hawkins / Felicia Ballos and Jean Brennan (Collective Settlement) / Kirsten Schnittker /

    • Oyster Books, August 2015
      Haley Mlotek, Kashana Cauley, Morgan Parker, Durga Chew-Bose, Hannah Giorgis

    • bitforms gallery, July 2015
      Marina Zurkow, R. Luke DuBois, Rashaad Newsome, Yael Kanarek

    • BHQFU, June 2015
      Zulu Padilla, Alva Calymayor, Nicole Reber, Sophia Le Fraga

    • Materials for the Arts, May 2015
      Carolina Penafiel, Christian Joy, Ryan Humphrey, Carrie Morrissey, William Powhida

    • n+1, April 2015
      Dayna Tortorici, Doreen St. Felix, Kaitlin Phillips, Erin Sheehy

    • Plus 81, March 2015
      ikumi, Kenzo Minami, Meguru Yamaguchi, Masashi Kawamura

    • Chihiro Shimizu

    • Northern Spy Records, February 2015
      Shilpa Ray, Justin Frye (PC Worship), John Moloney (Caught on Tape, Sunburned), Stephen Cooper (Cloud Becomes Your Hand)

    • Deer Dana, January 2015
      Matt Sukkar, Luisa Opalesky, Josh Bartky, Jojo Samuels & Sean Ryan Pierce

    • 24 BY 36 (Ace Hotel), January 2015
      Kevin Driscoll, Jamilla Okubo, Joshua Caleb Weibley & Masha Vlasova, Food Core Klub (Thu Tran and Sandra Chi), E.E. Ikeler, Jenn Schiffer, Bryan Kasenic and Seze Devres, Laina Dawes, Leah Beeferman & Carey Denniston, Sister Sister (Trevor Powers and Annie Sollinger), Dennis RedMoon Darkeem, Ditko! Zine Library, Allyson Paty, Allen Riley & Matthew Underwood, Colene Blanchet, Rob Corradetti, Julia Kaganskiy, Amirtha Kidambi & Peter Evans, Lazy Mom, Ted McGrath, Dana Veraldi, A&C Supply Brooklyn: Meghan Wicks & Jason Roy, Lydia Cambron, Halmos

    • One Offs
      Lissa Rivera and BJ, Kevin Driscoll and Lana Swartz (Lonely Old Bitcoin Miner)

    • Faust, December 2016
      Sabekst, Caroline Caldwell, Victoria Siemer

    • Printed Matter, November 2016
      Caroline Paquita, Jordan Nassar, Kyle Quinn, Dawn Kim

    • Friends Records, October 2016
      Lexie Mountain, Chris Day, Shaun Flynn, Carabella Sands, April Camlin

    • Printed Matter, September 2016
      Stuart Matz, Melinda Melmoth, Masanao Hirayama. Emma Kohlmann

    • Puppy Teeth Records, August 2016
      Lætitia Tamko, Catherine Cohen, Phyllis Ophelia, Mallory Heyer

    • Undo Magazine, July 2016
      Taste: Jaquy Yngvason, Sound: Jarrett Wetherell, Sight: Tomás Whitmore, Touch: Jérôme LaMaar, Smell: Amaris Modesto

    • Filipino American Museum, June 2016
      Gina Apostol, Stephen Miguel Decker, Patrick Rosal, Paul Pfeiffer, Michelle Lopez

    • LAND Gallery, May 2016
      Myasia Dowdell, Carlo Daleo, Matt Murphy, Margot Werner, Cynthia Alberto

    • McSweeney's, April 2016
      Leanne Shapton, Chelsea Hogue, Paul La Farge, Shelly Oria, James Hannaham

    • Joshua Caleb Weibley, March 2016
      Alli Miller, Sun You, PK Worryshop (Porter & Kaila), Zack Davis, Rebecca Simon

    • BuzzFeed, February 2016
      Tomi Obaro, Chaya Babu, Esther Wang, Niela Orr

    • Topical Cream, January 2016
      Lyndsy Welgos, Julika Rudelius, Keren Cytter, Lyndsy Welgos, Sara Hornbacher

  • Curated with Printed Matter

    • New Orleans
      Kyle Bravo, Marta Maleck, Skylar Fein, Ashley Teamer, Tom O'Brien

    • Pittsburgh
      Melissa Cantanese, Ed Panar, Stephen Grebinski, Christina Lee

    • Los Angeles
      Seth Bogart, Kandis Williams, Blackmama Whitemama, Eve Fowler, Adam Villacin

    • New York City
      Stuart Matz, Melinda Melmoth, Masanao Hirayama, Emma Kohlmann

    • London
      Paul Knight, John Booth, Lillian Wilkie, BOYS FOREVER, Setsuko

    • Seattle
      Martine Workman, Steven Miller, Corianton Hale, Sarah Galvin

    • New York City (2)
      Caroline Paquita, Jordan Nassar, Kyle Quinn, Dawn Kim

    • Palm Springs
      Sonya Cohen, Paul, Mpagi Sepuya, Patrick Lee, Edie Fake

    • One-offs
      Dewey Saunders, Aaron Clark, Johanna Boccardo,

    • GMHC, December 2017
      Shungaboy (Michi Yamaguchi), Chuck Hettinger, Michael Russnak

    • Rashaad Newsome, November 2017
      Emmanuel Iduma, Paul Anthony Smith, Kiyan Williams, Alexandra Bell

    • SI Maker Space, October 2017
      DB Lampman, Nancy Quin, Emily Perina, Eustace Pilgrim, Scott Van Campen

    • Printed Matter, September 2017
      Jen Shear, Linda Hang, Jeffrey Cheung, Alexis Taylor

    • Ashley Robicheaux, August 2017
      Rosana Caban, Rahm Silverglade, Sam Himself, Ashley Robicheaux

    • Kimberly Klark Gallery, July 2017
      Robert Grand, Sophie Jennis, Dennis Witkin, Colleen O’Connor, Emma Hazen

    • Teen Art Salon, June 2017
      Quinn Wilke, Danielle Cohen, Luna Doherty-Ryoke, Devon Ma

    • Discwoman, May 2017
      Bearcat (Kerrie Ann Murphy), Yulan Grant, DJ Abby, DJ Haram (Zubeyda Akil)

    • Trax Records, April 2017
      Tyler Stone + VA

    • ITP (NYU), March 2017
      Chang Liu, Rebecca Lieberman, Matt Romein

    • Penumbra Foundation, February 2017
      Molly Rapp, Olivia Perez, Jolene Lupo, Lisa Elmaleh

    • Bronx Art Space, January 2017
      Glendalys Medina, Esperanza Cortés, Jonathan Gardenhire, Sophie Barrett-Kahn (use "Sophie Kahn" for press), Alexis Mendoza

    • One-offs
      LydIa Ricci

    • Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, December, 2018

    • Nordic International Film Fest, November, 2018
      Brandon Brown, Haley Rice, Corey Camperchioli, Samantha Quick

    • Refinery 29, October, 2018
      Eva Lee & Evelyn Zhang, Abbie Winters, Louisa Cannell & Elsa Jenna, Janet Sung & Seeta Kanhai, Elliot Salazar & Isabel Castillo Guijarro

    • Brad Troemel, September, 2018

    • Artiphon, August, 2018
      Rodney Hazard, Caleb Hawley, Jachary, Suzi Analogue

    • Distributed Web of Care, July, 2018
      Ari Melenciano, Mindy Seu, Jessica Lynne, Stephanie Gray, Shannon Finnegan

    • D’hana Perry, June, 2018

    • Giphy, May, 2018
      Julia Sinelnikova, Matthew Keff, Maximillian Piras, Mengxin Li

    • Children's' Museum of Art, April, 2018
      Mira Moore, Christopher Lineberry, Georgina Arroyo, Kirsten McNally, Naima Freitas / Alan Young

    • VOLTA, March, 2018
      Tug Rice

    • Sea Dog Theatre, February, 2018
      Various Artists from Sea Dog Theater

    • National Sawdust, January, 2018
      BISHI, Natti Vogel, Vince Peterson, Zach Fredman

    • Children's Museum of the Arts, April 2019
      Brandon Lee Harris, Deepti Menon, Rachelle Hall, Ian Tousius

    • Bushwick Community Darkroom, March 2019
      Elizabeth LoPiccolo, Sheridan Telford, Max Taylor, Chris Voss, Lucia Rollow

    • Shani Jamilla, February 2019

    • Fountain House Gallery, January 2019
      Roger Jones, Alyson Vega, Laura Anne Walker, Angela Rogers