Downtown Riverhead, New York • 9 October–14 November 2010
Established during Jeffrey Allen Price’s Artist-in-Residence program with the East End Arts Council, the TPI Riverhead Temporary Headquarters transformed a vacant storefront in downtown Riverhead into a temporary public home for the growing Think Potato Institute.
Occupying one of several vacant commercial spaces made available through a downtown revitalization initiative, the project marked the first time the Think Potato Institute operated from a dedicated public headquarters. Visitors were able to explore selections from Price’s expanding collection alongside artworks, publications, research materials, historical artifacts, and educational displays.
Unlike a traditional exhibition, the Temporary Headquarters functioned as an active public space where collecting, research, exhibition-making, education, and community engagement occurred simultaneously. Lectures, informal conversations, and ongoing interaction with visitors helped demonstrate the broader institutional potential of the project.
Looking back, the TPI Riverhead Temporary Headquarters represented an important milestone in the development of the Think Potato Institute. By giving physical form to what had previously existed primarily as a conceptual and artistic framework, the project demonstrated how TPI could operate as a public-facing cultural institution and foreshadowed many of the directions it would continue to pursue in the years that followed.
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 Projects:
→ The Potato Revolution Café (Full exhibition)
→ Unpacking My Potato Collection (Full exhibition)
Related Timeline Entry:
→ The Potato Revolution Café (2011)
→ Unpacking My Potato Collection (2012)