The Best Public Art Opening in New York City This Spring

For Creative Time’s latest mixing of politics with partying, the arts organization is taking over the decommissioned firehouse at 87 Lafayette Street and turning it into a club as a way to talk about the failings of the criminal justice system.

Tapping artist Phil Collins (the Turner-prize nominee, not the former Genesis member) who has been working with men incarcerated in Sing Sing prison, in collaboration with The Fortune Society, which supports successful reentry into society after incarceration, Creative Time is attempting to return to the time when underground house music venues also served as places of political engagement and brave personal liberation. Called “Bring Down the Walls,” the project encompasses public programs that include everything from workshops, discussions, and classes on the jail system during the day, to a fully formed club scene at night.