SEEKING NEW TERMS FOR DIVERGENT ART SPACES
A 2017 interview with art space Station 116 (Athens, OH) founders Stephen Deffet (NYC) & Daniel Manion (CHI)
This is the first episode of the Talking Studio, an audio discussion series focused on the creative work and experiences of students in the College of Fine Arts. By providing space for discussion, the Talking Studio hopes to shed light on the spectrum of interests and particular concerns driving students in their formative years.
Dan Manion, Senior BFA Printmaking Major, and Stephen Deffet, Senior BFA Painting major at Ohio University.
In early February, Talking Studio sat down with two senior B.F.A. studio art majors, Stephen Deffet and Daniel Manion, to discuss their collaborative research project concerning what they call “divergent art spaces.” In 2015, the two opened Station 116 a garage-based gallery in Athens, OH—a new addition to the local network of art/DIY & punk venues on the outskirts of the Ohio University campus.
“Most of the scholarship on alternative spaces begins in the 1960’s in the United States, and dies out around the 1980’s. We believe that these spaces have been around longer than the 1960’s and have had a recent resurgence with the advent of technologies and the culture surrounding a DIY attitude.” they said.
The two received a Provosts Undergraduate Research Fund (PURF) grant for their research, which began with historical research into what are know as alternative spaces, as described by Lawrence Alloway in the 1970’s.
Through field research, contacting and visiting exhibition spaces, collecting first hand knowledge of various alternative spaces in Chicago, New York City and elsewhere, the two are attempting to develop an updated working definition of these non-traditional exhibition spaces as they exist today.
Courtney Kessel, gallery coordinator for Ohio University Art Galleries, wrote a letter of recommendation and support for Deffet and Manion’s research grant application.
“The definition of where and how contemporary and emerging artists exhibit their work and engage audiences is more fluid than ever before, especially with the visibility shift from what once was word-of-mouth to the space of the world wide web. Many of these venues wouldn’t exist if not for the internet,” said Kessel.
The two started Station 116 in May of 2015, and have held exhibitions of solo work and group shows with local and regional artists and artists from all over the country. In our discussion, both maintain that the time and effort spent with the gallery was out of a mutual interest in the community it serves, situated just off campus, as a space to develop as artists and students, independent of some of the hierarchies of academia.
“Without one another’s encouragement it wouldn’t have happened. We were interested in doing something that would work with the already established DIY punkscene that are interconnected and very supportive of each other [in Athens].” —Daniel Manion
“My studio practice was vastly different before starting this space, I really just stopped my studio work for months. With the work we’ve had in helping out with exhibition design and curating in general, here and at the Kennedy Museum of Art, I realized I am interested in the exhibition space itself, in every respect. Who it represents, and doesn’t. Who is within it and who’s outside of it. I don’t see this [work] and my studio practice being different. I don’t see the writing I do, and the preparator work I do as being different. It’s all the same.” — Stephen Deffet
A list of divergent spaces referenced in the interview:
- Drift Station: http://www.driftstation.org/ a curatorial practice run by artists/educators Angeles Cossio and Jeff Thompson.
- Clutch Gallery: a 25-square-inch space in the heart of Meg Duguid‘s purse.
- Acid Rain: a project by Jerstin Crosby.
- Stephen and George Laundry Line: http://sglaundryline.tumblr.com/
- Connect with @dan.manion & @stephendeffet on Instagram
FOLLOW-UP:
[11/2023]: This was my original podcast interview and article, which formed in 2017, and led to a whole series of cross disciplinary conversations with students in a variety of fields of the arts. Listen to all the episodes on soundcloud. Daniel Manion runs a print shop project called Sad Sack Press (Chicago) and Stephen Deffet is a visual artist working in NYC. I decided to post here in the interest of archiving not only my own work, but the potential cultural value of the artists activities at the time of the interviews. Station 116 was an alive and well alternative art space run and managed by students at Ohio University from 2015 until 2019.