The Invisible Dog, a new three-story art center in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, is an exuberant example of the integration of forward thinking and care for the past. The art center, admittedly, had a leg up: its home came equipped with an irresistable history. Built in the late nineteenth century, the 20,000 square-foot factory went through a number of industrial incarnations before its owners struck gold in the 1970s with the invisible dog trick: a stiff lease and collar surrounding the empty space where a dog would be. A mixture of par... Read more

The Invisible Dog, a new three-story art center in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, is an exuberant example of the integration of forward thinking and care for the past. The art center, admittedly, had a leg up: its home came equipped with an irresistable history. Built in the late nineteenth century, the 20,000 square-foot factory went through a number of industrial incarnations before its owners struck gold in the 1970s with the invisible dog trick: a stiff lease and collar surrounding the empty space where a dog would be. A mixture of party-hearty silliness and tongue-in-cheek trompe l’oeil, the trick became an icon of its era. But eventually public taste moved on; meanwhile, over the years, the Brooklyn neighborhood was changing. The factory closed its doors in the late 1990s; the boarded-up building was a blight on its quiet Brooklyn block.

What happened then is a kind of urban fairytale. Lucien Zayan, a recent New York immigrant, stumbled upon a small gallery and inquired after the building behind it. Zayan knew he had hit on something when he heard the building’s history: he’d spent his life working in the French theater, including the Aix-en-Provence festival and Paris’s renowned Théàtre de Odeon and Théàtre de la Madeleine, and he recognized the perfect mise-en-scène. With the support of the building’s current owners, he decided to turn the space into a large-scale art center.

Less than a year later, the Invisible Dog is up and running. The building has been restored for safety and cleaned, but otherwise preserved intact. The rawness of the unfinished space is integral to the Invisible Dog’s identity: Zayan wanted a place that artists could really use, not a pristine renovation without personality. The ceiling on the third floor was restored using floor boards found in other parts of the building, and the enormous elevator shaft (the elevator removed) will be left open, as a unique exhibition space. Everywhere, the commitment to collaboration and community is clear. The ground floor, with its 14-foot ceilings, will be used for public events, performances, educational programs, and exhibitions, organized by guest curators from around the world. The second floor, divided into studios, is already occupied by nine specially-selected artists on one-year leases. They meet regularly with Zayan to discuss their work and the project. The third floor, light-filled and spacious designed by Anne Attal, will be available for flexible rental by the general public.