Downtown Riverhead, New York • 9 October–14 November 2010
The TPI Riverhead Temporary Headquarters was established during Jeffrey Allen Price’s Artist-in-Residence program with the East End Arts Council and represented the first dedicated public headquarters of the Think Potato Institute.
Located in a vacant storefront in downtown Riverhead, New York, the project transformed an unused commercial space into a hybrid exhibition, research center, collection display, lecture venue, and community gathering place devoted entirely to the cultural life of the potato. Large Think Potato Institute graphics installed on the storefront windows announced the presence of the project and invited visitors to enter and explore.
For more than a decade, Price had been developing the ideas, collections, artworks, publications, and research that would eventually form the foundation of TPI. The Temporary Headquarters marked the first opportunity to bring many of these elements together within a single public environment. Artworks, books, archival materials, historical artifacts, educational displays, photographs, and potato-related objects were presented side-by-side, allowing visitors to encounter the project as an interconnected whole rather than as a series of separate activities.
Unlike a conventional gallery exhibition, the space remained active throughout the residency. Local residents, artists, students, collectors, historians, and curious passersby regularly stopped in to view the collection, ask questions, share stories, and contribute their own knowledge of Long Island’s agricultural history and potato heritage. Many visitors initially assumed a new business was opening, only to discover an unusual cultural institution devoted to exploring the potato through art, history, education, humor, collecting, and research.
The headquarters also served as a venue for public lectures and educational programming. These activities helped demonstrate that TPI could function not only as an artistic project, but also as a platform for learning, discussion, and community engagement.
Looking back, the TPI Riverhead Temporary Headquarters stands as a pivotal moment in the development of the Think Potato Institute. More than an exhibition, it served as a working prototype for many of the ideas that would later shape TPI’s exhibitions, collections, educational initiatives, public programs, and long-term institutional vision.
Exhibition Coverage:
2010 — Artist presents mash-up of potato imagery and iconography in Riverhead— The Suffolk Times, Riverhead, New York
2010 — The Eyes Have It at Potato Institute — 27 East, Riverhead, New York
Related Documentation:
→ Institute Chronicle: “Are Ya Learnin’ Something?” — Meyer Segal Visits TPI
Related Exhibitions:
→ The Potato Revolution Café (2011)
→ Unpacking My Potato Collection (2012)
Related Timeline Entry:
→ The Potato Revolution Café (2011)
→ Unpacking My Potato Collection (2012)