Project for Empty Space believes ‘artists make the future’

In Newark and New York City, Project for Empty Space (PES) is a multifaceted exhibition, residency and incubator project that carves out much-needed studio and exhibition space for artists — and much more. Guided by the belief that ‘artists make the future’, the organisation, which also provides grants and mounts public art endeavours, is nurturing social discourse and exploring ways forward through art.

As a partner of the Christie’s Fund for the Arts, PES lives up to its mission of creating a more diverse, equal and accessible art world. The nonprofit organisation, which describes itself as ‘woman-run, femme-powered, People of the Global Majority/BIPOC, Queer, and unapologetically Intersectional’, arose from the combined energies of co-directors Jasmine Wahi and Rebecca Pauline Jampol.

The curator-educators were initially each staging their own site-specific collaborations with artists and curators — Wahi on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and Jampol in Downtown Newark, New Jersey. In 2012 they began working together on a series of pop-up exhibitions in a building attached to Newark-Penn Station in the city’s Gateway Center complex.

‘Eventually we decided to formalise our partnership. We had an opportunity to take that space in the Gateway Center, which we gutted and turned into artist studios,’ Wahi explains. ‘That's when we started our artist-in-residence program in 2015, and since then we’ve kept growing.’ The Christie’s Fund has assisted with operational costs that have enabled PES to expand its artist residency program and open a new exhibition space.

Today PES has four permanent exhibition spaces: a box truck, which toured their recent exhibition across the United States; PES Futures, an incubator in New York’s Chinatown and and two Newark locations, which neighbour their developing studio space.

In 2015, when putting down roots in Newark, PES prioritised growing and facilitating the already strong artist community in the city while also bringing new artists and opportunities to the scene. The artist-in-residence program offers mid-career artists two years of free studio space plus unrestricted honoraria, professional development opportunities and a solo exhibition. Alumni include Derrick Adams, Kambui Olujimi, Nina Chanel Abney and Helina Metaferia. The organisation additionally offers subsidized studios to a larger cohort of artists.

While a 2022 resident at PES, the artist Damien Davis created a body of mixed-media work titled SEARCHING, which addressed issues of isolation, surveillance, being Black in America and holding space for intimacy in the face of social issues.

‘It’s probably the most personal and raw work I’ve created. I don’t think I could’ve arrived there without the environment Project for Empty Space fostered,’ he explains. ‘Newark offers something unique — there’s a large concentration of artists and creative people who are genuinely interested in service, collaboration and community activism here.’

Davis found the experience was so impactful that after his residency ended, he decided to move to Newark. ‘For the first time, I’m living within walking distance of my studio, and I feel more connected to my practice than ever before,’ he adds.

For 2023 artist-in-residence Azikiwe Mohammed, PES’s support of not only his art but also his dedication to social impact was invaluable. ‘Engaging with a parent organisation that is interested in multiple aspects of my practice has allowed for community engagement in ways would be difficult for me to do by myself. It helps expand the idea of who the work can be for,’ he says of his experience. On the occasion of his solo show Trains, Buses and The Four C’s at PES in 2024, Mohammed’s New Davonhaime Food Bank project partnered with Project for Empty Space to distribute more than 200 bags of food to neighbours in Newark.

Helping the Newark arts scene flourish has long been important to Jampol, who moved to Newark to study art in 2004. ‘At PES, there’s a core focus on creating programs that serve Newark artists. We created Newark Artists Database to highlight artists living and working in Newark, and we started a grant program to catalyse these artists’ projects with the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation.’

This long-term investment is reflected in the transformation of the area around PES’s Newark outpost, which has seen the opening of new studio and exhibition spaces as well as public outdoor installations that enhance the community. PES has been engaging with Newark’s local government to curate a cultural corridor within the main artery of the city, near Newark Penn Station.

In 2025 Project for Empty Space shows no sign of slowing down. On Demand, a guest-curated exhibition by Feminist Incubator Alumn Caroline Sinders, is currently on view at PES Futures, and a new show, Daphne Arthur: Fragile Intangibilities, opens in Newark on 15 February. This summer, PES Futures will mount an immersive exhibition by PES alumni Shoshana Weinberger on the future of Vogue and ballroom culture.

Project for Empty Space is one of more than 30 partner organisations around the world supported by the Christie’s Fund for the Arts. Founded in 2021, the Christie’s Fund is dedicated to broadening access to the art world and developing the careers of emerging artists.