These photographs were made in the basement of Prentis Hall on 125th street in Manhattan. The building is used by Columbia MFA students for classes and studios. The basement is full of abandoned equipment from its days as a Heat Transfer research facility and former dairy.

I wanted to produce a small self-contained body of work specifically for the MFA First Years show that was related to my first year, and the basement of Prentis proved to be an ideal subject.

The first two photographs show a hole in Catherine Czackis studio that connects the basement to the studio floors above. Catherine and I decided to work together to produce a 60 page booklet that addressed the rumors and facts about what the building had been used for over the years. We gave away the booklet during the show.