Suite 718

Inside the Walther Collection’s project space in downtown Chelsea and its role as a workshop, research center and forum for contemporary photography

Published with The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm and New York.

Between April 2011 and January 2021, the Walther Collection operated a project space in Chelsea, New York. Located in Suite 718 of the landmark West Chelsea Arts Building, it became an incubator for ideas, promoting sustained inquiry into the collection’s three main areas of focus: African, Asian and vernacular photography, expanding the history of the medium worldwide. The Project Space presented exhibitions, organized rigorous symposia, hosted public lectures and acted as a research hub for the collection’s publications. It was a library, gallery, workspace and "forum for collective thought." Recording the space’s extensive activities, Suite 718 reflects on the significance of the Walther Collection and its relationship to New York’s cultural milieu. It presents each exhibition with select artworks, installation images and texts, as well as an illustrated chronology and overview of the collection’s 53 exhibitions and 18 publications.