EAST VILLAGE — The Guggenheim Museum unveiled its pop-up arts and cultural space on East First Street during a preview Tuesday, kicking off a six-year tour that will see the temporary structure travel to cities across the globe.
The combination think tank and community center — housed on a formerly vacant and rat-ridden lot on East First Street — will feature a range of more than 100 programs at the site during its 10-week stay in New York.
The centerpiece of the BMW-sponsored space is a raised, carbon-fiber structure hovering over the lot near Second Avenue that will host a series of events including lectures, workshops, group games and experiments.
Also included in the endeavor is a pop-up café run by Bushwick-based restaurant Roberta’s that will be open to the public during the project’s run.
The goal of the space, designed by Tokyo architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow, is to provide a forum for the public to discuss issues related to urban life and changing cities. The project will next head to Berlin and then Mumbai, concluding the first of three “cycles” of travel by 2013.
“New York City has long been an urban laboratory for new ideas and innovative enterprises, so we are pleased to host the inaugural BMW Guggenheim Lab experiment,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.
“This creative project provides an important opportunity for New Yorkers to connect and share ideas, and we look forward to the conversations that will take place when the Lab travels around the world.”
The project touts an advisory committee made up of global mayors, artists, economists and architects, and its organizers explained that the space will allow for a broad debate about city planning and public space, as well as raise issues of gentrification and urban development.
The site opens officially to the public on Wednesday, with hours of operation from 1 to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 1 to 10 p.m. on Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Information about the project and its programming calendar are available online at bmwguggenheimlab.org.
