The area around 3rd Ave. and 3rd St. in Brooklyn is a mashup of suburban box stores (yes, with parking lots in front), vacant lots, warehouses, and deteriorating buildings. Standing proudly at the corner of 3rd and 3rd is the Old American Can Company building. This solid, imposing building now contains hundreds of artist’s studios where creativity and imagination reign. On floor three of the building at the corner of 3rd and 3rd is the Issue Project Room, a quirkily named performance space first conceived by the photographer Suzanne Fiol in the East Village of Manhattan though it soon moved to a site along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. and then to its present location. It was Suzanne’s vision to create a “Carnegie Hall for the avant garde.” She wanted the performance space that would provide warmth and acoustical excellence. She also wanted it to become as iconic as Carnegie Hall and a place where innovative performers would aspire to perform.
Portion of the Old American Can Factory housing the Issue Project Room
Sample doorway. Note the metal door.
Stairway leading up to the Issue Project Room
Issue Project Room successfully blends the gritty quality of the older building with classical features of a concert hall. Painted entirely in white, support beams flank each side of the hall like stately columns and inverted metal pots hang from the ceiling as chandeliers while other lighting for the hall is provided by industrial tube lights mounted on the walls like sconces. Metal folding chairs provide seating with one cushy sofa at the rear for those who really can’t take metal chairs for any length of time. The performance space can accommodate a small ensemble and movement for dance is rather restrictive, but I imagine that seating is moved back for dance performances.
The star performer of the evening I visited the Issue Project Room was Todd Reynolds, a violinist who likely could have had a career path like Joshua Bell or Anne-Sophie Mutter. However, unlike them he seems more interested in the future of the violin than its glorious past or present. Reynolds’ terrific playing that evening was always in tandem with a computer for recording and replay, sound generation and graphics display. Two other performers joined him at times for brilliant ensemble performances. The music was all of a minimalist or post-minimalist style. The acoustics of the hall, the performance space lighting and the sound system were all first-rate and helped create the memorable event everyone in the audience hoped for.
The news is that Issue Project Room will be moving to a jewel-box theater on Livingstone Street. While this new space might look a little more like Carnegie Hall the vision of Suzanne Fiol will undoubtedly guide all future activities. After all, it's all much about the state of mind as the place.
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