Branchline Opens in Katonah as Permanent Home for 800-Work Native Art Collection

By Grace Kim

Branchline, the Gochman Family Collection's new permanent gallery and studio space in Katonah, New York, opened to the public on November 6 with an exhibition called Line Break. The Gochman Family Collection (GFC) holds over 800 works by contemporary Native artists, most of which the public has only seen when loaned to museums — until now.

The inaugural show draws primarily from the collection's holdings of contemporary Native American art, including works by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Cara Romero. Writer Petala Ironcloud visited Branchline for Hyperallergic and reported on its strengths as well as where it still needs to improve.

The location carries its own history. In 1680, English colonists bought the land that would become Bedford, New York, from a Munsee Lenape sachem named Katonah — a name meaning "great hill." Today his name belongs to the Westchester village hosting the collection.

What does this change for Native art in New York?

It gives a major privately held collection of contemporary Native American art a fixed, public venue rather than a loan-only existence. That shift matters because works that once circulated only through institutional loans now have a permanent address audiences can visit.

Miles Greenberg on getting "WAR" past the censors

In Hyperallergic's interview, conducted by Associate Editor Phillip Pyle, artist Miles Greenberg discusses his new six-hour performance piece "WAR," a meditation on perpetual cycles of violence. Greenberg said the work was difficult to place amid institutional silence over Gaza.

"There was not a single outlet, institution, or gallery that wanted to get behind this thing," Greenberg told Hyperallergic.

Doris Salcedo on Colombia's refusal to forget

In an interview with Valentina Di Liscia, Doris Salcedo responded to Colombia's far-right president removing works from the National Museum. "Works of art last much longer than their governments," Salcedo said.

Other stories this week

• President Donald Trump proclaimed the White House's Oval Office, Outer Oval Office, and Cabinet Room a joint national monument.
• Duo RojoNegro installed a colossal artwork on the UC San Diego campus bringing Mesoamerican history to the public commons.
• New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani commenced the reconstruction of 70 Mulberry Street, a historic Chinatown building severely damaged in a 2020 fire.
• Actor Eric Rasmussen said he removed his work from a Venice Biennale installation organized by Denniston Hill because the New York residency program signed the Art Not Genocide Alliance's open letter calling for Israel's exclusion from the Biennale. [Jewish Journal]
• Mrs. Gallery marks 10 years in Queens since Sara Maria Salamone and Tyler Lafreniere found their storefront space on Craigslist, celebrating with a rotating anniversary show. [Aaron Short]
• A Los Angeles exhibition surveys queer artist Susan Silton's multi-decade career, including her work on the politics of vocal expression. [David S. Rubin]
• Tesla will discontinue the Cybertruck after years of weak sales, Reuters reports. Hyperallergic Staff Writer Rhea Nayyar: "Turns out that most people don't want to drive a malfunctioning rusty can shaped like a grasshopper made in Minecraft."
• Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal remembered Stanley Zabar, co-owner of Zabar's, who died at 94. "I've often said I represented the Manhattan district stretching from 'the gay bars to Zabar's,'" he wrote.
• James Meek reports from Detroit for the London Review of Books on the political run-up to Abdul El-Sayed's historic win.

Recognition

Hyperallergic co-founder and editor-at-large Hrag Vartanian was honored alongside Mona Chalabi at ArteEast's 23rd anniversary benefit on Monday night.

Whether Branchline can convert an 800-work private collection into a sustained public resource — Ironcloud's review suggests the answer is still forming — will define its first years in Katonah.