Pioneer Works
Situated in Red Hook Brooklyn, Pioneer Works is a nonprofit organization and cultural center that encourages artistic and scientific freedom, while advocating for inclusion and diversity. It offers itself as a free space for artists and scientists, equipping them with free tools to use and exchange ideas to form new models of thinking. Founded by artist Dustin Yellin, Pioneer Works prioritizes community building through interactive processes and educational classes among artists and scientists, a space in which different thinkers can work in collaboration.
The building that houses Pioneer Works was formerly named Pioneer Iron Works (which also inspired the establishment to form the name). The organization states that their, “adaptive reuse of the site represents the organization’s commitment to sustainability and the preservation of historic spaces.” Dedicated to their mission, their origin was also grounded in their cause and belief; maintaining the spirit and cultural/historical significance of the site while also restoring it and adapting the site for Pioneer Works’ mission and purpose.
From “Dynasty Handbag: Titanic Depression” to “3 Women, On Women: Merve Emre, Sigrid Nunez, and Doreen St. Félix on Susan Sontag Now,” the center offers art exhibitions and programs that incorporate different mediums to produce multimedia events that offer social and political commentary in various forms. In addition to art exhibitions, the center also houses a music studio, a bar and restaurant that run during events, and a garden. Pioneer Works also offers a virtual version of their center, “Broadcast,” which tackles everything from music to Indigenous works, to contemplative existential questions, in the form of audio, articles, and video. Yellin was driven to create a space that advocates for and actively contributes to the convergence of ideas and mediums. He states, “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and it’s something I’ve always been doing, in a very organic form… this just brings the organic artist space, or atelier, to an institutional level.”
Although the organization has worked with nonprofits that address the increasing levels of gentrification of Red Hook and public schools in the area, it is still critical to assess the level of gentrification that the organization has brought it. An unnamed nonprofit leader has commented on how Pioneer Works’ existence has “attracted a certain clientele of white hipsters,” and that one of the city’s largest public housing projects sits just a few blocks from the Pioneer Works building. Pioneer Works’ existence, along with its mission, purpose, and role in gentrification introduces a question to grapple with – how should society handle two truths that seem to exist simultaneously?
Sources
Fabricant, Annie. “Dustin Yellin - on Building 12-Ton Sculptures and a ‘utopian Art Center’ in Brooklyn.” HuffPost, 7 Dec. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/dustin-yellin-art-space_b_1242701.
Friedman, Gabe. “Pioneers at Work.” Brooklyn Magazine, 4 Oct. 2022, www.bkmag.com/2022/09/22/pioneer-works-at-10/.
Lipinski, Jed. “An Artist’s Big, Big Plans for Red Hook.” The New York Times, 13 Jan. 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/nyregion/the-artist-dustin-yellins-big-big-plans-for-red-hook.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
https://pioneerworks.org/