The Tollbooth Gallery was a site-specific exhibition space and project of the

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

arts organization ArtRod launched in 2003 and located in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. The project featured

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

on view 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The aim of the Tollbooth was to offer dynamic and challenging installation and

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. V ...

in an outdoor urban setting. Tollbooth Gallery was created and curated by

Jared Pappas-Kelley Jared Pappas-Kelley is an American curator, researcher, and visual artist. He studied at The Evergreen State College, Goddard College and the European Graduate School where he served as Graduate Teaching Assistant for both Jean-Luc Nancy and Paul ...

and Michael Lent. Tollbooth gallery

For each

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

an artist or artist team was commissioned and tasked with the realization of their project at the site, while taking advantage of the freestanding concrete structure.

Art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

Regina Hackett characterized the project as “mind-expanding art packed into cramped quarters” and described the approach as: “Art that is eager to wrestle with reality.” Hackett noted: “What it lacks in space, it achieves in time,” and “on top of that, it's fabulous.” The Tollbooth commissioned eight exhibitions per year, focusing on varied approaches and engagement with the site and viewer, with an emphasis on

, time-based work,

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

, and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific art, site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior intervent ...

. The gallery’s stated mission was to bring video and gallery work outside of the traditional

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

setting, challenging artists and audience to approach site in different ways. Participant and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

Fionn Meade described the Tollbooth site as a “challenging space to work with but in a good way,” commenting that “the limitations of a format make you be more decisive.” This decisive approach to exhibiting contemporary art allowed the Tollbooth Gallery to program work that might be considered “edgier,” which was furthered by the temporary nature of the commissions. As the journal Public Art Review noted, the project benefited from the “dynamics” of its temporary exhibitions as they allowed for experimentation and “delivered on a short timeline.” Over the years the Tollbooth Gallery was selected by

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

to be included as part of their curriculum, presented as part of the panel Conduit to Contemporary Art at

Americans for the Arts Americans for the Arts is a nonprofit organization whose primary focus is advancing the arts in the United States with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, and more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to repre ...

National Conference, and Make Your Own: Art in and out of Cologne at

Henry Art Gallery The Henry Art Gallery ("The Henry") is a contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located on the west edge of the university's campus along 15th Avenue N.E. in the Un ...

. A catalogue of the first year of exhibitions at Tollbooth Gallery was subsequently published as Toby Room 10. The Tollbooth Gallery was one of four major projects of the art organization ArtRod, which included Critical Line - an exhibition center, the publication Toby Room, and the film and video series Don’t Bite the Pavement.

Exhibiting artists

Wynne Greenwood Wynne Greenwood (born 1977) is a queer and lesbian feminist performance artist who works in various media such as installation art, photography, filmmaking and music. One of her well known projects include the electropop and video project group, ...

( Tracy and the Plastics) *

* Michael Lent * Bill Daniel * David Lester
Fionn Meade

Bridget Irish
* Denise Smith (Baggett) *

Rankin Renwick Rankin Renwick (born 1961) is an American artist and filmmaker living in Portland, Oregon. Since 1981, they have been working in experimental and documentary forms—writing, producing films, videos, photography, sculpture and installations. In 19 ...

* Josh MacPhee * Justseed's Celebrate People's History Project
Tim Sullivan
*
Alex Schweder

Lauren Steinhardt
* The Danish art collectiv
Femmes Regionales

Kevin Haas

Ido Fluk

External links

ArtRod official website

References

{{coord, 47.25354, -122.44008, display=title Art museums and galleries in Washington (state) Contemporary art galleries in the United States Culture of Tacoma, Washington Tourist attractions in Tacoma, Washington Buildings and structures in Tacoma, Washington