International Center of Photography Opening Dynamic New Space on Lower East Side
Mark Lubell Portrait, © Henry Leutwyler.
Exterior of ICP. ©Michael Mooney
Musée Magazine’s editor in chief, Andrea Blanch, sat down with executive director Mark Lubell, who has made abounding progress in the expansion and development of New York City based institution The International Center of Photography, or ICP. The new center will open its doors this coming January 25th, 2020, with a day-long public event at the new Bowery location at Essex Crossing. Originally established in 1974 by Cornell Capa, the conglomerate features both a school and museum for photography and visual culture. Musée’s forthcoming Issue 23: Choices will feature the full conversation with Mark Lubell.
Andrea Blanch: I imagine as the executive director of the International Center of Photography, there are several big choices you must make. What were some of the biggest?
Mark Lubell: When I arrived, the Midtown location’s lease was up and the school’s lease was almost up. One of the biggest decisions was; do I forfeit the exhibition program and focus on the school? I could have done that, then planned to raise money to build it back up in the future. But I decided no. I decided ICP did need to have a visible exhibition arm, a museum. I felt that we didn’t need to build a huge building or buy anything gigantic but we definitely needed to have an exhibition space. That was the first critical decision that happened and we ended up buying the Bowery location. Everyone was worried about the Midtown location, but once we owned something it really changed things for the board and changed things in terms of our public perception. People perceive you differently when you own.
Blanch: Did that affect the school in any way? How much has changed since you’ve come?
Lubell: I think my vision harkens back to Cornell Cappa’s vision of a center. I think putting the school and the museum under one roof puts them in dialogue with one another. I hope the two will influence each other. I believe in holding classes in the galleries. We should be doing things much more whole earth. Not this sort of church and state separation into fiefdoms.
© Michael Mooney for the International Center of Photography, from CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, one of four inaugural shows at ICP
Blanch: Why did you decide to move to the Lower East Side?
Lubell: The Lower East Side, to me, is one of the coolest and emerging locations in New York City. It still has a taste of old New York in that it is socially, economically, and ethically diverse. It has this wonderful history, and ICP crosses with that history in that in our own archives we have photographers like Jacob Riis who actually photographed the Lower East Side to show the horrible living conditions when the first wave of immigrants came in. You can really make a case that in the Lower East Side, and in our own archive, there are some great examples of Concerned Photography. I think it’s a very dynamic and interesting area. It also has four subway lines, which is critical in New York City as you need mass transportation. I think we are going to be a cultural anchor in that area.
Blanch: Where do you see ICP five years from now?
Lubell: Well, my hope is that we have opened a very successful, thriving, engaging center on the Lower East Side in which we’re at the heart of the conversation of photography and image-making, both showing historical work and contemporary, and then having robust dialogues about the key issues in the world today. And that I hope that we have an engaged school that is fostering the next generation of visual authors that will go out and tell us these stories. That’s my hope for ICP.
For further details on the January 25th event, visit the ICP website event release.
© Michael Mooney for the International Center of Photography, from CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, one of four inaugural shows at ICP
