Bemis LOW END

A space that liberates artists to take risks and present avant-garde work

  • Type Cultural
  • Location Omaha, Nebraska
  • Status In progress
  • Date Phase one completed 2019
  • Project Partners

    Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts:
    Chris Cook, Executive Director
    Rachel Adams, Chief Curator and Director of Programs
    Bemis Center staff & interns

    Sean Ward (artistic direction and construction supervisor)

FACT 16

As part of the Bemis Center’s international Artist-in-Residence Program, the Sound Art + Experimental Music Program is a specialized track offering three-month residencies to artists pushing the boundaries of sound, composition, voice, and music of all genres. Open to national and international artists, participants receive the same level of financial, technical, and administrative support as their fellow artists-in-residence at the Bemis, along with dedicated facilities for rehearsing, recording, and performing new works that expand the field of sound art and music. The project is supported in part by a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

FACT students collaborated with prominent musicians, artists, designers, sound engineers, tradespeople, and Bemis staff to design the unique venue and its support facilities. The spatial program includes a performance venue known as LOW END, a pre-event bar, a merchandise store, a green room for artists, a recording studio with live and dead rooms, and storage.

> This page is under construction, check back soon to see photos of the completed phase one LOW END performance space.

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The anamorphic stage with dazzle-camouflage highlights the performer in a permanent "spotlight".

Located in the organization’s 25,000 square-foot basement level, the fully-equipped artist-designed performance space will offer free live shows to the community. Free public access to these performances will not only build greater appreciation and new audiences for sound art and experimental music, it will also liberate the artists on stage to take risks and present avant-garde work. Receiving stipends from the Bemis, artists will not be concerned with attendance numbers and ticket sales—their “take at the door”—as is customary in traditional music venues.

Project overview showing Recording Studio, Green Room, Performance Space, Pre-event Bar, and Merchandise Lounge
The Monolith; a pre-existing mechanical closet: turning a liability into an asset.

Exploring the boundaries of conventional architectural taste and expectations of design precision, the bold interior environment aims both for longevity and the unexpected. Phase-one construction began in the second half of the fall 2018 semester and will continue until October 2019 when Bemis inaugurated LOW END with a first performance by Deerhoof.

Construction progress on the anamorphic dazzle-camo stage.

AIA Nebraska Honor Award jury comments

This project, boldly executed, reveals a conviction that interior architecture, at its best, is a space of exploration. What at first seems to be discrete, funky episodes of radically different approaches to color texture and materiality, are artfully stitched together through subtle gestures creating a unified atmosphere.

Recognition

2020 AIA Nebraska Honor Award for Architectural Interiors

Project Team

students:
Justin DeFields, Maren Elnes, Craig Findlay, Robert Grebl, Seth Hadenfeldt, Qingyuan Han, Andrew Hicks, Monica Hughes, Audrey Lanik, Jiaji Li, Saray Martinez, Rachel Richter, Morgan Ronspies, Andrew Rose, Kristina Schneider

interns and phase 2 students:
Maren Elnes, Robert Grebl, Seth Hadenfeldt, Andrew Hicks, Monica Hughes, Saray Martinez,

consultants and subcontractors:
AO* (Architect of Record – permit phase)
Lund-Ross Constructors (General Contractor)
Andy Lang / Morrissey Engineering (lighting design consultant)
Eyman Plumbing Heating & Air (HVAC and plumbing)
Robert Webber (electrical)
Mahoney Fire Sprinkler, Inc.

project advisors:
Actual Architecture Co.
Robert Peters Company
Raven Chacon
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
Maria Buszek
Dapose
Thor Dickey
additional musicians and sound engineers

Photography By Construction photos courtesy of Bemis Center and FACT. Model photography by Larry Gawel.
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