Claudia La Rocco became editorial director of Open Space in February 2016, following founding director Suzanne Stein, serving in this role until the platform’s closure in 2021.

Her books include The Best Most Useless Dress; Quartet; petit cadeau; and, as editor, I Donʼt Poem: An Anthology of Painters and Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets, the catalogue for Danspace Projectʼs PLATFORM 2015, for which she was guest artist curator. She has been a columnist for Artforum, a cultural critic for WNYC New York Public Radio, and from 2005-2015 was a critic and reporter for The New York Times. La Rocco has received grants and residencies from such organizations as the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation, Lukkeskåra/Rådlausjuvet, and Headlands Center for the Arts. With musician/composer Phillip Greenlief and an ongoing roster of collaborators she is animals & giraffes, an experiment in interdisciplinary collaboration.

Photo: Delivering the toast at Open Space’s tenth birthday party, in 2018. Photo credit: Lenny Gonzalez.