Lidar – Bailey Ambrose Heller
By Kali Herbst Minino
The first “immersive art experience” show is now open in The Teal Building, the former home of long-gone Capitol Hill gay bar R Place.
The Seattle: City of the Future exhibition runs through June 25th and presents a 2023-era vision of Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair “City of Tomorrow” spirit.
It also might present a look forward at the future of the auto row-era building as previous plans for a restaurant-focused redevelopment are shifting.
A neon-lit dystopian alleyway by Brandon Traynoff, an uncanny video of a (fake) human at a climate refugee camp by Ruben David Rodriguez, and a forest of hand-decorated tree trunks by Jean Bradbury are a few of the installations. The artistic mediums also vary: 3D glasses, artificial intelligence, projectors, mirrors, and yarn are all used in wildly different ways.
CHS reported here on the plans to use the former R Place building as a LGBTQ+ community arts center after the purchase of the property by Tam Nguyen and plans for the Little Saigon restaurant family to expand to E Pine and overhaul the auto row-era structure.
Shelly Farnham of Third Place Technologies said the first show planned for the space was inspired by something she has long been hoping to build.
“There are 20 of us in a room together and he says, ‘here’s this building, let’s do something with it,’” Farnham said. “I was like ‘I have an idea, I’ve been wanting to do this maze thing for a while.’”
Temporary use of the building was donated to Third Place Technologies, and the non-profit worked with Marty Griswold at Capitol Hill-headquartered arts nonprofit One Reel to organize the first show. With Nguyen contributing use of the building, Third Place Technologies coming up with the theme, and One Reel putting out calls for artists, the group gathered dozens of local artists to contribute to the show. The level of interest was far stronger than anticipated.
“We thought we were going to have about 10 or 12 artists,” Griswold said.
43 signed up.
Recruiting announcements advertised project grants of up to $1,000. “All the artists have gotten stipends to participate in the show. Then, we’re selling tickets and they’re gonna get a percentage at the door,” Griswold said.
City of the Future received funding from 4Culture, a King County cultural organization that provides funding for public art, the Community Accelerator Grant, a state arts grant program, and the Bling Ball fundraiser held on New Year’s Eve. They also received financial and volunteer support from Timewarp, the Jilted Siren, and Polite Society.
In alignment with the group’s goal to engage the local art and LGBTQ+ communities, special consideration was given to artists who were located in Capitol Hill, part of the LGBTQ+ community, and/or in a racially diverse group.
Happening during Pride Month, many of the featured artists are part of the LGBTQ+ community, according to Griswold. Griswold says the history of the building is bittersweet.
“R Place was such a big part of Seattle’s history,” Griswold said. “It’s sad anytime for Seattle to lose a business, especially a prominent business that was gay owned and operated. But, that it is gay owned and operated today, it’s a really good thing. I think that the promise of tomorrow is really exciting.”
But the future of the building is a little unclear. Nguyen says that plans are being made, but cannot yet be disclosed. A restaurant is now probably off the table. Due to the taxing nature of restaurant work mixed with his family’s current priorities, Nguyen says there are no longer plans for a Tamarind Tree overhaul of the building.
“We are taking care of our parents at home, so we don’t think that this is the right time for us to open a restaurant,” Nguyen said.
In the near term, Nguyen said the basic structure of the building will be kept the same, with some updates that Nguyen calls “superficial.”
“We don’t want to change much,” Nguyen said. “A lot grew up in this particular space.”
Looking forward, it appears the most likely near-term future of the building will be more about community, the arts, and creativity and more creations like Seattle: City of the Future.
Seattle: City of the Future runs Wednesdays to Sundays through June 25th in The Teal Building at 619 E Pine. Admission is $10. For tickets and more information, visit seattlecityofthefuture.com.
PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
Love how R-place is shut down and then tries to survive elsewhere and doesn’t make it and now they’re like “let’s try art here!”. The owners of the building screwed over a giant community and were suppose to just move on? This building has been empty for a year, the bar could’ve stayed but the owners only care about money. We need queer community spaces, not an empty art gallery.
Hi Sarah – I’m a Capitol Hill artist that has a piece at the exhibition. I am queer, and I gather close to half the 48 artists/creators/organizers are LGBTQIA+ folks, many of color (like myself). A lot of the art relates to queer experiences (including a section of my installation). And not only were we given grants for the works of art ($$$ for queer artists that live on the Hill!), but profits from all ticket sales will be split 50/50 between the artists *and* LGBTQIA+ orgs (Lambert House/GayCity).
So, while it may not be forever (I so miss RPlace, too), it is very much not an empty art gallery at the moment. It is absolutely a vibrant queer community space for this month. Please come check it out – I would be happy to give you a tour! We’ve had several former RPlace staff and customers (myself included!) pop in this past weekend and they loved it!
Yes! So happy to see this happening!
Thank you for covering this! I’ve been seeing the ads around town and wanted to see if its worth checking out since the website didn’t have a ton of details. I’ll definitely go now at least for nostalgia’s sake of being in the R Place space again.
I’m glad something is happening and it’s not just another abandoned building or eyesore for graffiti. Excited for whatever is next too after this one.