Reflecting on 2025
Ed Woodham’s Love Saves the Day Parade as part of our 2025 Performance Festival. Photo by Stefan Hagen.
Dear Open Source Gallery and KoKo NYC supporters, neighbors, families, and friends,
Open Source Gallery and KoKo NYC have had an incredible year! We hosted our first ever performance festival at the KoKo Lot, and our Soap Box workshops were featured on WNYC. We also presented five site-specific art exhibitions and over 50 free public events, from live music and storytelling, to costume-making, performances, and parties. Through our education program, KoKo NYC, we helped 4,000 kids see possibilities, problem solve, create, and explore, experiment, build houses, construct soapbox cars, create art, and more.
Check out some highlights from this year!
Open Source Gallery Highlights:
- We had over 3000 visitors of all ages.
- We hosted our first ever performance festival, featuring an interactive bike wheel sculpture by Armando Guadalupe Cortes, a performance by Anindita Dutta featuring an elaborate dress made of used clothing, shoes, ornaments, animal fur, and horns, and Ed Woodham’s full day sologamist wedding, complete with a parade around the block and a 15-foot puppet.
- The stack of newspapers in Yu Shuk Pui Bobby’s exhibition Future Debt. Return Today invited reflection on the impacts of technological advancement on the nature of identity.
- Kathleen McDermott invited 10 artists to collaborate in the transformation of household objects for her exhibition, Repair Shop, resulting in a toaster for moldy bread, a TV operated by a sink faucet, a chatty sewing machine, and more.
- Lauren Pirie built a Living Soil Sculpture at the KoKo Lot as this year’s artist in residence, and then made a timelapse of it growing and decomposing over the fall.
- Visitors to sTo Len’s Grand Prospect Hallway Express got to take pictures of themselves at the Grand Prospect Hall, on the Prospect Expressway, and in 1940’s Brooklyn in the Future Dreaming Booth.
- The sculptures in Shane Charles’ exhibition Redbird rusted in response to performer Marcelline Mandeng Nken’s breath and sweat during the Opening Reception.
- Community needs were identified and met during Breathing Document by Juan Pablo Plazas’ (and there was a great party at the end).
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In 2025, Open Source Gallery Hosted:
5 Exhibitions
Presenting 5 solo exhibitions per year of conceptually-driven art by artists from around the world, Open Source energizes a diverse and creative community for people of all ages and backgrounds with an emphasis on expression, experimentation, sustainability, and social engagement.
8 Open Sound Concerts
A weekly summer music series featuring a variety of musicians and genres. These free performances welcome people of all ages and backgrounds.
23 Artist Talks, Collaborations, and Performances
In conjunction with our exhibition series, each artist hosted events, including performances, artist talks, parties, and more.
11 How to Build a Fire Storytelling Sessions
A monthly community storytelling series where a diverse group of individuals share real-life, personal narratives centered around a different theme each month. In 2025 we celebrated the 11th season of HTBAF!
8 Open Kitchen Community Meals
Each year in December, Open Kitchen brings together artists, cooks, friends, and neighbors for a month of cooking, eating, sharing and celebrating.
And our first ever Performance Festival!
Curated by Kalia Brooks, The Enduring Power of Play featured three artists, a craft fair, music performances, and workshops, all at the KoKo Lot.
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Upcoming at Open Source
Stay tuned for our 2026 Exhibition series, featuring:
Elvira Clayton: February 7 – March 22, 2026
Albrecht Fersch: April 11 – May 24, 2026
Hidemi Takagi: June 13 – July 26, 2026
Kimberly Fulton Orozco: September 5 – October 11
Roger Ferney-Cortés: October 22 – November 22
2025 South Slope Derby. Photo by Miho Suzuki.
KoKo NYC Highlights:
- The 2025 South Slope Derby was featured in Gothamist + WNYC, and almost 100 kid-built contraptions rode down 17th Street!
- Participants in Teens Building the Future Together brought the tiny house they built to several schools and led community workshops. A second cohort of Teens Building the Future Together also started in the fall and built an outdoor classroom (generously funded by the Pinkerton Foundation)!
- We had another amazing Maiden Voyage and got to see whether the boats that kids built from reclaimed materials would float or sink!
- Kids got to touch real brains, learn about spooky science, and build sustainable Halloween costumes at Wicked Fun in October.
Listen to the WNYC Segment about the South Slope Derby:
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This year at KoKo,
These statistics are representative of data collected between 7/1/24 – 6/30/25.
We provided programming to over 600 more kids than in the same period from the previous year!
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What’s ahead:
- 3 Winter Play Days at the KoKo Lot
- A Midwinter Recess workshop (registration opening soon!)
- Spring after school and school break workshops (registration opening soon!)
- Summer workshops (registration opening soon!)
- And more!
It’s been a delight to share this year with so many of you in so many ways. As we look ahead to 2026, we need your help to meet every exciting opportunity and challenge so that we can continue to create a safe and free space for experimentation, conversation, and play. We can’t wait to see you next year!
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