The Art of Self-Storage

The United States has 2 billion square feet of self-storage space, and the self-storage industry makes more money than Hollywood. Self-storage units have been used as homes, meth labs, and waystations for bomb-making materials — and, in one disturbing case, as a clinic for an unlicensed gynecologist. In Lake Worth,...

By Penn Bullock

November 18, 2010

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The United States has 2 billion square feet of self-storage space, and the self-storage industry makes more money than Hollywood. Self-storage units have been used as homes, meth labs, and waystations for bomb-making materials — and, in one disturbing case, as a clinic for an unlicensed gynecologist. In Lake Worth, at the fourth-annual “10X10” exhibition, self-storage units become art installations. Curated by Kara Walker-Tome, there are 16 in all, but you have to search them out in a sprawling indoor industrial facility with hundreds of units. In one of them, you might come across a man wearing scuba gear, surrounded by cardboard boxes and submerged in a sea of pink foam packing peanuts. In another, you might find a tiled bathroom with white sausages — or are they sea cucumbers? or bleached intestinal tracts? — piled in the sink and erupting from the toilet bowl. The installations are full of absorbing details and eerie ambiance. Admission is only $5. “10X10” is located at Lake Worth Storage (4166 S. Military Trail, Lake Worth). The one-night-only event runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Call 561-670-9658, or visit artsiteprojects.org.
Sat., Nov. 20, 6 p.m., 2010

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