Big Dreams are Small Beans at Powerhouse Arts Inaugural Artists’ Dinner



“They will want to work with institutions and in large-scale projects for artists’ studios,” Ruby Sky Stiler and her partner Daniel Gordon speculate. I am seated in front of the two artists at an S-curved table at Powerhouse Art’s first-ever benefit, an Artist’s Dinner. I turn to Stiler, a painter preparing for her next solo show opening in November 2025 at Alexander Gray, and say: “I hope that you get commissioned to create a public artwork that you can fabricate here.” Earlier in the evening designer-turned-artist Benny Or exclaimed: “This is where my dreams will come true.”

The room is buzzing—everyone is excited about the newly opened PHA’s future, and, the performative dinner which extends a universe of beans Stimulus Interactiva ideated by artist Jasper Udink ten Cate. Yes, literal edible beans, the kidney-shaped vegetables that are seeds, and, as I learned during dinner, one of the few vegetables that nourish the earth they grow in. It is fitting that Eric Shiner, PHA’s president, would support Udink ten Cate’s choice to center beans as their nourishing quality reflects the mission of PHA—to nurture a diverse set of artists.
PHA boast state-of-the-art facilities with a makers’ space and artist residency program. In the ceramic studio, artists who subscribe receive shelf space and can use facilities as well as receive support from technicians. There is also competence to work on larger scale work on a project basis; Udink ten Cate fabricated the 100 different ceramic beans that were on view and the 200+ ceramic beans given to guests after the dinner. The towering print that welcomed guests installed in the cavernous lobby consisted of 4 prints printed in PHA’s printing studio, Udink ten Cate told me that it is the largest printer in New York. The PHA and Ace Hotel residency, which hosted artist Lauren Cohen, one of the evening’s guests, is a new collaboration. Other notable artists who attended included Baseera Khan, Tariku Shiferaw, Hugh Hayden, Pamela Council, Gina Beavers, Rafael Rozendaal, and Charles Gaines.

The 1400 sq-ft art fabrication and studio complex is located in Gowanus in a landmark building, the Turbine Hall, which held 32 steam furnaces as part of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station designed by Thomas Edward Murray erected 117 years ago. It supplied power to Brooklyn’s transit system until it was decommissioned in the 1950s. Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with PBDW Architects designed the historical renovation and kept and enhanced many of Murray’s original Romanesque Revival style features like the arched windows, steel lattice columns, and exposed brick walls as well as graffiti art from the early aughts. According to Untapped Cities, the building, nicknamed ‘the Batcave,’ was in 2000 a quiet squat that with time became more boisterous until it was shut down by the police in 2006. I look forward to seeing PHA artists unearth the archive of people who passed through the place, from power plant workers to youth and graffiti artists to make new sense out of this powerhouse which went from one of Brooklyn’s most important driving forces to sanctuary to mayhem, and perhaps all the way back again.

Although, Shiner met Udink ten Cate at a dinner party the collaboration seems years in the making. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the Dutch arrival to New York and the Cultural Attaché to the Netherlands Pauline Genee said in her speech that is it a year that “allows us to reflect on our history: its beauty and its tragedy.” The Dutch consulate and embassy will be highlighting projects under the banner of Future 400 throughout the year.
Udink ten Cate chose to focus on the bean types that the Dutch brought to the United States. The main course included the mysterious ingredient ‘soil,’ which turned out to be a slightly crunchy, visually pleasing, and delicious gastronomic experience—herbs, seeds, and, perhaps, dirt. Soil became a hot topic of the evening: I was seated across from a member of the construction team who told me about their work to clarify or attempt to detoxify the earth under the building. They went down some 32 feet. Despite the city’s mandates to clean lots that host building projects, the jury is out if it is possible to clean the canal: “Not for swimming, of course,” I say hoping for a positive response.
Udink ten Cate’s vision for this evening to celebrate artists was to make connections—a beautiful vision that is also the mission for artists who join the PHA community, and was certainly achieved during the inventive event.
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Anna Mikaela Ekstrand is editor-in-chief and founder of Cultbytes. She mediates art through writing, curating, and lecturing. Her latest books are Assuming Asymmetries: Conversations on Curating Public Art Projects of the 1980s and 1990s and Curating Beyond the Mainstream. Send your inquiries, tips, and pitches to info@cultbytes.com.