Roberts & Tilton is pleased to announce its future relocation to Culver City. Located on Washington Boulevard, in the center of Culver City's art district, the new space, double the size of the previous gallery, transforms an old coffee roasting factory into a raw, functional environment ideal for exhibitions, installations, and gallery projects. Conceived as a balancing act between a serene, infinitely flexible gallery space and the dynamic, shifting context which surrounds the building, the design aims to establish a backdrop for art, while furthering the dialogue between art and its presentation in space.
Set back from the street, an industrial corrugated façade acts as the marking boundary between an outdoor area and the main gallery, which are nearly identical in size. Entering the new gallery, the engagement with art is immediate with no intermediary foyer or reception area. The presentation of art is emphasized as tall ceilings and skylights concealed in translucent panels create an almost scale-less environment bathed in soft light. The folded profile of the ceiling yields dynamic views of the gallery, and from certain perspectives, the ceiling seemingly vanishes in its upward slope.
Against typical convention, the reception area is located behind the main gallery space and acts as a hinge to the project room. Angled soffits shape a sculpted skylight well above the main desk, casting a subtle play of light within the space. The modest scale of this area serves as a respite from the pristine gallery space and functions both as a social and information area.
Roberts & Tilton's ambition is to offer artists the greatest ability for their potential to be fully realized. The new location is a cross between a gallery and a kunsthalle, conducive to large scale, installation-based exhibitions. The project room program will continue, which will allow for the creation of experimental projects. The publication division will be expanded to produce six catalogues per year. The next publication, a monograph on the Belgian painter Ellen De Meutter, with text by Terry Myers, will be released in July 2008.
