The 14th Factory 

 

The 14th Factory, opening in April 2016, is the first in a series of unique, collaborative, multi-sensory art experiences presented by 14th Factory Foundation. Each exhibition incorporates comprehensive art education programs, and funds raised from an auction of art following the show will be directed to our charitable partners - Robin Hood, Madison Boys and Girls Club and GO Campaign - who generate meaningful results for New York's underprivileged youth. 

 

Orchestrated by artist Simon Birch, the debut project will transform 120,000 square feet of the historical, former JP Morgan Building at 23 Wall Street, Manhattan, into a immersive installation environment that allows the audience to explore themes of universal and personal interconnectedness as ‘empires’ (whether political, economic or technological) expand and contract. The project is conceptually based on the history of the 13 factories of Canton, China, a district that served as Western trading quarters for the international community in the 19th century. An example of the expansion and contraction of civilization, tied into the rise and fall of our own lives, the 14th Factory signifies an imagined space – a place of meaningful production, where histories and stories can be made and re-made, now and in the future.

 

Birch envisions The 14th Factory as an organically linked installation of 15 sections, constructed by collaborative units of both renowned and emerging talents from the fields of visual and performance art, architecture, film, fashion, photography and graphic design. Collaborators hail from China, Hong Kong, UK and US, and include Beijing-based visual and performance artists Cang Xin, Li Wei and Yang Zhichao, Hong Kong artist and designer anothermountainman, photographer Wing Shya, and New York composer Gary Gunn, among many other talented, emerging, artists.