A really cool art collective out of Brooklyn called The Locker Room has taken the OK Uniform space at 253 Church and will open there on Tuesday, May 6. A grand opening starts that night at 7. This is great for that stretch of Church, which is only made quiet by the void across the street. (OK Uniform left the space a year ago after two decades.)

The first show is called “Inflation” featuring works centered around the concept of a balloon through a range of balloon-inspired, inflatable, and air-filled works that explore the themes of value, spectacle, fragility and collapse. It includes work from the balloon sculptor DJ Morrow, Pneuhaus (an inflatable architecture collective), Robert Moy of Brooklyn Balloon Company, Marguerite Wibaux, Colleen Comer and Penique Productions (a Barcelona-based inflatables collective).

The gallery/collective/recording studio was founded in 2020 by Samara Bliss, an event producer who was out of work during the pandemic and created the experimental art hub and residency program in Williamsburg. They were behind the viral campaign “New York is Dead. Don’t Come Back” in 2021 with billboards in Los Angeles and a prop plane flying over Miami, drawing on the trend of leaving the city during the pandemic. And Bliss was named one of nine women of the year by Time Out in 2021 for her work with the gallery.

More TK when they open.

The Locker Room
253 Church | Franklin & Leonard
Hours through June 1:
Wednesday – Friday, 1 to 7p
Saturday, Sunday, noon to 7p