ABC No Rio 45 Years Soft Opening
ABC No Rio 45 Years
April 5 - 26, 2025
Emily Harvey Foundation
537 Broadway #2
New York, NY
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 12–6pm or by appointment
Soft Open: April 5, 12–6pm
Opening Reception: April 10, 6–8pm
ABC No Rio 45 Years is an exhibition organized by artists who have worked at the iconic Lower East Side cultural center, ABC No Rio. ABC is a collectively-run center for art and activism known internationally as a venue for oppositional culture.
This retrospective displays work by former and current artists, many well known in the NYC art world. ABC 45 Years is an abbreviated historical survey illustrating the many facets of activity at 156 Rivington. The walls will show the first Colab period and the “GayBC” years, through the period of struggle alongside the squatting movement and the Saturday Punk and Hardcore matinees, through to the 21st century when ABC became a full-fledged DIY community arts center under director Steven Englander’s tenure.
Each generation working there has continued No Rio’s commitment to political and social engagement through arts and activism, and many will gather to discuss and reflect on this rich history.
ABC was founded after an occupation in 1980. It has always operated with an anti-institutional and anti-establishment ethos, attracting disaffected youth, subcultures, and marginalized groups critical of, if not rejected by, mainstream arts institutions. As a collectively-run nonprofit arts organization, ABC No Rio is a hub for activists, artists, and musicians, fostering a rich sense of community, collaboration, and DIY ethos.
Now, as a new building rises at 156 Rivington Street, the ABC No Rio 45 Yearsexhibition shares this collective story of creativity and the struggle to preserve this internationally famous center.
Ephemera from No Rio’s archives and representations of its program areas include the silkscreen printshop, zine library, photo darkroom, punk/hardcore matinees, and co-sponsored projects such as Books Through Bars and Food Not Bombs. The “GayBC No Rio” theme explores the undercurrent of queer culture that was a foundational and binding element of ABC No Rio’s radical art and activism.
The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space and Bullet Space will share materials from their collections documenting the New York squatters and community gardens movements that battled Giuliani’s police in the 1990s.
Most days during the run of the show, there will be discussions, screenings, games, and varied events at the Emily Harvey Foundation. One will be held at The Clemente, where ABC has its “exile period” office.
Locations:
ABC No Rio 45 Years will be hosted at the Emily Harvey Foundation at 537 Broadway, 2nd floor in SoHo. The building was organized by George Maciunas as a Fluxhouse Cooperative in 1975, and stands as a representation of the social and esthetic objectives of the Fluxus movement towards a pragmatic and non-elitist conception of art.
From April 6th through May 31st, 2025, the partner exhibition Historietas: Latinx Comics as Alternative Histories will be hosted in partnership with ABC No Rio 45 Years at The Clemente at 107 Suffolk St, NYC 10002 as part of HISTORIAS, a citywide initiative that celebrates the transformative impact of Latinx communities in New York City. ABC No Rio and The Clemente have intersected over the decades, with Clemente’s currently hosting of No Rio’s offices, zine collection, and archives during No Rio’s period in exile during construction.
After the exposition has closed, a 3-day screening at the Anthology Film Archive curated by current and former No Rio-ites will follow in May.
The most up to date event schedule can be found at abcnorio45.org.
At the Emily Harvey Foundation
Colab Coffee Klatch
Wednesday, April 9, Friday, April 11, and Wednesday, April16, 4–6pm
Members of the influential artists' group Collaborative Projects (1977-89) might come around and hang out. Come to meet and greet, and learn about the artistic projects that launched ABC No Rio....and what came afterwards!
Each time there will be a screening of Roger Deutsch's short about Anton Van Dalen, The View from Avenue A (1985)
Walk-through the expos with Art Against Displacement
April 11, 6pm
From the Lockup: Words Fly Free
Saturday, April 12 (time TBA)
On the occasion of the anthology Books through Bars: Stories from the Prison Books Movement (2024) edited by Dave "Mac" Marquis and Moira Marquis, a discussion of the movements around solidarity with incarcerated people.
Reading World War III Illustrated
Saturday, April 12th, 4–6pm
The radical graphic magazine is one year older than ABC No Rio (first published 1979). A day at the Emily Harvey event space will celebrate the many publications brought out by this group of graphic artists, many of whom have been closely associated with ABC No Rio. The World War III artists will table the journal and related zines, show slides, and stream in from afar.
“How can we be here free and secure?”: A discussion circle with Jack Bratich
Three Thursdays, April 10th, 17th, and 24th, 5:30–7:30pm
As institutional structures sway and melt, the autonomous “monster” institutions assume a more important role. How can ABC No Rio step into those new shoes which are growing larger every day? How can the network of resistant solidarity centers around the country and around the world understand itself as the ganglia of a new world brain? How can our will to freedom and bright living spread across borders as deftly as big capital? As for ABC No Rio, ruins, rebuilding, resistance, resilience -- What does it mean to return with a review/remembrance to re-establish something in these times, after a decade in exile. Texts, prompts and links will be posted on the ABC No Rio Summer School blog.
Jack Bratich is an ABC No Rio Zine Library volunteer and professor of Journalism & Media Studies at Rutgers University.
Hardcore Collective Encounter -- "ABC No Rio Hardcore Matinees 1989-2016"
Tentative -- Friday, April 18th
A Fire in the Forest of Possibilities. Is ‘What If’ Now ‘What Was’?
A Walkthrough the Utopian Loisaida Past and Present
Saturday, April 19th, 5–7pm
A key work in the 1980 Real Estate Show was Peter Fend’s proposal to replace Con Ed’s electric power with natural gas generated from algae cultivation in New York harbor. The Lower East Side has long been the focus of utopian dreams and projects. What are the prospects for that radical progressive urban change today?
Presenters: Peter Fend, Matthew Mottel, Stephen Zacks, Paul Bartlett, Felicia Young, Robby Herbst, Emily Rubin
GAME DAYS
Two Tuesdays, April 15th and 22nd
Steven Englander, ABC’s longtime director, loved games. A few exhibitions engaged the theme, including one produced by the artists’ collective Artcodex. For the day, games will be played in the EHF gallery space. Board games that immerse players in ideas about fighting for social and economic change have a long history in the US.
Stephanie Wuertz will conduct sessions of Paul Ryan's "Threeing" game -- "exploring triadic relationships: a cybernetic exercise with movement and voice" on the 15th & 22nd, 5-7PM
Mike Estabrook of Artcodex, producers of “The Game Show” at ABC No Rio will roll out his "Analogue Rev: RPG for RVLT!"
Games on hand: "Bloc by Bloc", "Uprising", and... BYOG
On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting with Benjamin Shepard
Friday, April 25th, 5–7pm
Conflict and resolution are the lifeblood of social movements. How, and with whom, do we find lasting friendship, support, and joy in a world in need of so much repair? Benjamin H. Shepard will present his new book On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting: Oral Histories, Strategies and Conflicts (Common Notions, 2025) in conversation with Marnie Brady, Associate Professor of Politics and Human Rights at Marymount Manhattan College.
Poetry Event with Jennifer Blowdryer
Saturday, April 26th, 4–7pm
Jennifer Blowdryer will MC an Old School style Open Mic with no Features and, as always, some good music. "No list, just step up fast and don’t be a dick, say it in six. Just because I’m a woman, doesn’t mean I care!"
Other Events To Be Announced...
...might be yours. The ABC No Rio 45 Years exposition is designed to be a workshop space. If you want to propose an event to take place during the hours the EHF space is open to the public (see above), please send your proposal along to awm13589@yahoo.com.
Accessibility Notice:
Due to the age and character of the building, the space is not optimized for ADA accessibility. If you have questions about access, please contact us at ehf.newyork@gmail.com in advance of the event, and we will make every effort to accommodate you.
At the Clemente
Historietas: Latinx Comics as Alternative Histories
April 6–May 2025
The Clemente, 107 Suffolk St, 4th Floor
Curated by Carlo Quispe
Opening reception and comics slideshow: Sunday, April 6th at 2pm
On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of ABC No Rio’s founding, Historias Sembradas—the research and public engagement phase of Historias, The Clemente’s multi-year initiative—presents Historietas, an exhibition of Latinx comic book artists whose work weaves together multi-generational narratives of survival, resilience, and coming-of-age in NYC’s neighborhoods.
Curated by Peruvian cartoonist and educator Carlo Quispe, with ties to ABC No Rio and WW3 Illustrated magazine, Historietas brings together seven contemporary Latinx creators whose work spans from the Bronx to the Lower East Side, tracing histories across public schools, prison libraries, community spaces, homes, and streets. These artists—Ivan Velez Jr., Sandy Jimenez, Carlo Quispe, Sharon De La Cruz, Ivan Monforte, Medar De La Cruz, and Daisy Ruiz—challenge dominant narratives through the immediacy of comics, using the medium to document lived experiences and create informal yet powerful counter-histories. The Spanish word Historietas translates to “little histories” or “short stories,” but despite their modest size, these comics serve as potent tools for self-representation, storytelling, and political discourse. Through independent and mainstream publishing, the featured artists ensure that their voices and perspectives are seen, read, and remembered.
Uptown/Downtown: When Boroughs Collide
DEI Warriors on the Culture Front
Monday, April 28, 3–6pm
Presentation by Lisa Kahane and round table discussion
Invitees include: Joe Lewis, Lisa Kahane, Jane Dickson, John Ahearn, Charlie Ahearn, John “Crash” Matos, Frank Morales, Yasmin Ramirez, and Betti-Sue Hertz, Libertad Guerra, Amy Starecheski
Austrian emigre artist Stefan Eins opened the Fashion Moda experimental art space in the South Bronx in 1978. ABC No Rio opened two years later in Loisaida, after a building occupation. Several of the artists from “the Moda” came down for the Real Estate Show, and later showed at ABC. Artists from ABC went uptown to the Moda regularly. This crosstown traffic continued throughout the 1980s. One of the okupas of the squatting movement in the Bronx had a zine library; when that squat was evicted the zine library came to ABC No Rio, the seed of the present-day collection. This artistic traffic between boroughs was crucially important in laying the foundations for the diverse multi-cultural artworld of the present-day.
Questions around intersectionality have dogged the cultural world in NYC for at least a century.* The axis of Colab, through Fashion Moda and ABC No Rio, set out to intervene in this by siting experimental cultural centers in peripheral barrios of the city in the late 1970s and through the '80s. These centers welcomed artists of color. How did that work? And did it work to build the artworld of today? The question is especially urgent given the recent federal government's all-out attacks on "DEI" funding in all sectors. The time is now urgent for this important history to be better known.
Accessibility Notice:
Unfortunately, as construction proceeds, there are no elevators to the upper floors at The Clemente. There is a central, wise staircase with 3 flights of stairs to reach the 4th floor.
Events Off-site
ABC No Rio: A Culture of Opposition Or Mixtapes And
Celluloid 1980-2025, May 11th–13th at Anthology Film Archives
In conjunction with the exhibition ABC No Rio 45 Years taking place in April at the Emily Harvey Foundation, this series presents film and video output spanning several eras of the alternative art space ABC No Rio, offering a window into the creative and political practice that has sustained the space for 45 years. As their new building at 156 Rivington Street approaches completion, ABC No Rio’s legacy as a catalyst for oppositional culture provides a vital source of inspiration for expanding the political imaginary of the speculative, hyper-gentrified city we find ourselves in today.
MAIL ART
We are looking for your personal impressions of ABC No Rio from the last 45 years….? Remembrances of people, exhibits and performances, reproductions or images of work that were exhibited in the space, text of poetry or spoken word. The call is still out!
MAIL ART received for exhibition at the Emily Harvey Gallery NYC April 2025 has been posted to Flickr – #abcnorio45
Our Open History Database is a public-participation open database, aiming to reconstruct a full chronology of ABC No Rio.
For 30 years, Director Steven Englander worked to maintain a place for ABC No Rio in an increasingly unaffordable city. While his death in December is a great loss to the ABC No Rio community, construction on the new building continues and Steven's work can be honored by contributing to the Steven Englander Memorial Fundraiser, with funds going directly towards the building’s completion.
Learn more about donating or supporting ABC No Rio at abcnorio.org.
ABC No Rio 45 Years is a project of the Solo Foundation, in collaboration with Allied Productions, the MoRUS museum, Bullet Space, and ABC No Rio. It is partially supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.