Arty Party: Collective Hardware

When opening the heavy steel door to Collective Hardware, you never know what kind of craziness you'll find on the other side. One thing is for sure, though -- there will be craziness. One night there are white chaise longues and shag carpets heaped with filmmakers watching the Manhattan Short Film Festival entries. Another night there's a fashion show, and on yet another an Armory after-party with 30 cases of vodka, 2,000 people and art-world good-time guys Paul Sevigny, Brian DeGraw and Leo Fitzpatrick at the turntables. "It was epic," says artist Erik Foss of the event, held last winter. Collective Hardware also happens to be where Foss has his studio. Writer Daniel Pinchbeck has an office there as well, and on any given night there are folks producing records or editing Pixar films in the many spaces throughout the five-story former theater (where Al Jolson once performed) on the Bowery -- hence the "Collective" part. CH is the brainchild of artist Stuart Braunstein and Rony Rivellini, who opened the space last year to, as Braunstein says, "give back to the art community, and help people who need space to work."

Most nights, the creativity coincides with a party, albeit not always as "epic" as the Armory event. Everyone from budding artists to Paris Hilton has sipped a cocktail in the first-floor gallery and performance space, at parties thrown by the likes of Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and ThreeAsFour. "People will be downstairs partying and they'll come up here to the studios and look around and be like, 'What the fuck is this, man? This is crazy.' Then I'll explain to those people what Collective Hardware is in, like, the simplest way," says Foss. "I don't want to fuck up their buzz with too much info."

Collective Hardware, 169 Bowery.

ARTY PARTY: KENNY SCHARF | RYAN McGINLEY | COLLECTIVE HARDWARE