Extension - new architectural gallery - debuts Friday night

Architect Michael Wilkinson has forwarded news of the opening of a new gallery, which its organizers say will be "an experimental forum for testing new thought and practice in architecture and is a platform for dialog between national and international practices." It opens its doors tonight, Friday, November 10th, at 6:00 P.M.

Called Extension, it's situated at 1835 S. Halsted and will be open on weekends, Friday through Sunday, from 12 to 5:00 P.M, with extended hours on the second Friday of each month from noon to 10:00 P.M. Its director is Paula Palumbo, and the board includes such luminairies as Martin Felsen, Sarah Dunn, Ellen Grimes and Clare Lyster.

Extension's first exhibition features the installation and work of Plasma Studio . . .

"an innovative architecture and design practice based in London and Northern Italy. Partners Eva Castro and Holger Kehne’s work challenges uniform repetition, standardization and strict determination of space. As a result each project responds as a unique holistic solution, appealing to all the senses, by framing and incorporating the dynamics of daily life such as peoples’ activities, light and weather. Plasma studio’s installation in the Extension Gallery is intended to intensify the spatial experience of the gallery by challenging its Cartesian system."

Pictured above is a stainless steel corridor the firm designed for the Hotel Puerta America in Madrid.

On the Thursday before the opening, Kehne gave a lecture, Elastic Realities, at UIC's School of Architecture. The exhibition at Extension will run through January 14th.