ArtSeen
Alternative Living Spaces that Subvert New York Real Estate Rent Oligopoly
1. Rent an elevated parking space in a prime location such as SoHo, buy a ladder (mountain climbing gear) to climb into a cargo van-camouflaged 100 sq ft live/work studio. Most memorable studio visit a L.E.S. gallerist will ever have.
2. Restore a decommissioned houseboat near Rossville, Staten Island and dock it on the Newtown Creek. Install solar, gray water systems, and a garden to remain largely off grid.
3. Take a cue from Occupy Wall Street set up your tent in any privately owned public space. Or tent on the rooftop of a friend’s apartment building—ideal for summer sun showers.
4. A decent sized storage unit with 24-Hour access where you can store your belongings and create a crash pad co-op, the kind that the airline industry’s rookie pilots have resorted to.
5. Transform an unused crane in the Ikea parking lot on the Red Hook waterfront into an elevated two-bedroom apartment.
6. Abandoned shipping containers: they are at every peripheral site.
7. Convert a janitors’ closet into a studio compartment (Flight of the Conchords), and order the Chinese food you are now in range of delivery for (Seinfeld).
8. Rent out a plywood-boxed terrace of an apartment in South Williamsburg, just tell them you just need a place to store your fixed-gear bike. Or squat a construction-stalled luxury apartment on Williamsburg’s waterfront.
9. Rent a truck on trash day at Crozier and assemble a home out of art shipping crates in Greenpoint, it will blend in.
10. Or simply find an illegal loft and just stop paying your rent.