We’re happy to announce another phase of the Pitt’s 43-year existence. Starting today, we are working in partnership with New Orchestra Workshop Society to create and support a new social space for the production of culture, and for public access to new art, at 8 East Pender Street, until recently the location of Selectors’ Records.
UNIT/PITT has some history with this space. From 2011 to 2013, we were located in a tiny storefront just across the street; but over the past three years, many of the talks and performances we have presented were at Selectors’ Records, a shop which is greatly missed by many in the visual art and electronic music communities. In fact Selectors’ was more than a shop: it was a social space where artists came to discuss art, where visiting musicians could meet a public, and where new political, social, and aesthetic ideas could take hold. This is what an artist-run centre should aspire to be, and this recent history is very much what inspires us to take this step now.
We will be announcing our summer program of readings, community forums, and artist talks at 8EAST in the days to come. 8EAST will also be UNIT/PITT’s base for coordinating artists’ projects and public actions around the city.
Tonight (Tuesday, July 3rd at 8pm) there will be a reception to open the space featuring some selections from UNIT/PITT’s image archives and performances of improvised music by some amazing musicians brought to us by NOW. We would be pleased to see you then, and in the days and months to come.
