FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tower Records: Never Can Say Goodbye Curated by: Manon Slome, NLE; Steven Evans, Dia Art Foundation; and Asher Remy-Toledo, NLE Tower Records Broadway and 4th street When Press Preview: January, 10am – Noon General Opening: January 15 | 6pm – 9pm

No Longer Empty Gets Back to the Beat 

NEW YORK- On January 15, 2010, No Longer Empty  (NLE) will re-open the legendary Tower Records store on Broadway and 4th street with a trans-media art exhibition: Never Can Say Goodbye.  Press preview and refreshments on Jan 15 at 10am- 12pm.
    
Spotlighting more than twenty artists working with sound, light, image and installation, Never Can Say Goodbye recreates a fantasy version of the now defunct Tower Records with Never Records- complete with record bins, album covers, cash registers, music posters and a performance stage.  Interactive installations by artists and musicians celebrate the stores historic role as the locus of the community-- the old way to meet people face to face and share music and information.

Works by Meredyth Sparks, simultaneously critique and revere the flat glamour of icons such as David Bowie and half-nude eighties models.   Artists such as Ted Riederer and Siebren Versteeg present custom installations that re-invigorate the space with music memories and the pulse of their contemporary art practice. Ryan Brennan bounces sound through an eight-boom box installation offering an audio tour of Hip Hop’s evolution.

Never Can Say Goodbye illuminates the economic and social changes caused by the emergence of the Internet as the dominant means of music distribution. In its heyday, Tower Records was sales central for indie and contemporary music, as well as a gathering place for musicians and music lovers. Today, in its place is a virtual landscape without architecture, sales staff, and community traffic. Freely downloading selected songs have created an empty space where a music store once thrived.

Each week a variety of music performers capture the fleeting opportunity to perform live in the ex-Tower Records space.  Performances include Broken Mirrors, Cleopatra's, ((audience)), The Metropolis Ensemble, Azita, Sacred Bones Records Showcase among others.  See the full schedule on www.nolongerempty.com

On Tuesday January 26th, a panel discussion will discuss how technology has transformed art, addressing how contemporary gadgets and the Internet have on twenty-first century music production, listening and consumption.

Never Can Say Goodbye  features: Joe Diebes, Luke Dubois, Richard Garret, Nir Hod, Josh Jordan, Kaz Oshiro, Naama Tsabar, Paul Vilinski, Arturo Vega/DeeDee Ramone, Marilyn Minter, Dario Robleto, Olaf Bruening, Brent Birnbaum, Tom Sanford, and Ted O'Sullivan/Rebecca Potts. Additional artists are part of Ted Riederer’s Never Record.

This exhibition is curated by Manon Slome, NLE, Steven Evans, Dia Art Foundation, and Asher Remy-Toledo, NLE.  Never Can Say Goodbye is free and open to the public January 15th to February 13, 2010, Wednesday through Sunday 12pm- 7pm. 

Property donated to No Longer Empty through the generosity of Vornado Realty Trust.

131 West 24th Street | New York NY 10011 | info@nolongerempty.com