Wreck Room functions as a third space centering alternative addiction recovery models and building relationships through game play. First as a couple of community events/happenings at AS220, then as an exhibition at OPEN, Wreck Room has now found a space for ongoing programming at the Unitarian Universalist Church at Bell St. Chapel on Broadway.

The project provides a free and open space for the public to gather, play games, relax, engage with installation work and take reprieve from the capitalist trap of endless productivity. Before open hours, the group convenes for a recovery meeting or talk that reduces barriers for those interested or actively in recovery from addiction. While many regulars of Wreck Room do indeed belong to AA, it is the aim of this project to expand the appeal of healthier lifestyles beyond the boundaries of the 12-step program. This recovery meeting has also expanded to host artist talks and meditation speakers to appeal to the broader public in this portion as well as the open hours, game play aspect of the installation/third-space, which now includes a smattering of board games and knick-knacks to increase accessibility and spur connection.

Wreck Room ultimately seeks to be in conversation with the broader art world as it builds upon personal experience activating and working within relational art exhibitions in the contemporary art context at institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum (This Progress, 2010), Whitney Museum (Root Sequence/Mother Tongue 2017), and Kaldor Public Arts (Absorption, 2019). We are now in the process of securing a studio at Hathaway St. in order to become more sustainable and create a storehouse of installation supplies as well as work on larger grant funding to eventually create a permanent community space for Wreck Room. In the meantime, we are hoping to continue programming at Bell St. to keep the project alive and provide a necessary resource for the community.