CAVE is an artist’s collective and organization founded in 1996. It is now one of the longest running experimental art spaces in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY. Our constant goal is to maintain an environment that attracts, provokes and supports exchange, generative confrontation and collaboration among emerging and established artists and audiences from diverse cultures and artistic backgrounds. CAVE strives to provide an explorative arena and support system for the artistic development of its resident artists by hosting studio workspace, educational workshops, exhibition and performance opportunities, and assistance in the realization of projects that support risk taking in the in visual, media and performing arts. CAVE’s intention is based on the idea that people learn and are transformed through direct experiences that potentially awaken new levels of understanding and knowledge. CAVE has presented over 60 art exhibitions, with more than 300 participating artists; gallery openings draw 300-500 enthusiasts . Since 2001, CAVE presented over 170 performances and organized 50 butoh workshops, giving the opportunity to 800 dancers to study with some of the best masters of this dance form. CAVE has also provide the live-work studios for 25 artists from 10 countries. In 2004, CAVE residencies expanded to create a one-year Vietnamese Artist-in-Residence Program funded by the Ford Foundation. In 2003, 2005 and 2007 CAVE presented and produced three editions of the International New York Butoh festival featuring the work of over 80 butoh artists and also presented workshops, films and lectures. Over 6,000 people have joined the different activities presented at the past three editions of the New York Butoh Festival. In 2008 CAVE started the New York Butoh-Kan: a Dance Training Initiative, in order to strengthen resources of the study of butoh dance. CAVE is led by video artist & curator, Shige Moriya, and theater & dance artist, Ximena Garnica. “…In 1996 the CAVE opened, the first recognized art gallery on the South side…which is considered by many to be the foremost avant-garde fine art and performing space” -NY Arts Magazine “There's a less stifling world across the bridge in Brooklyn:…but none of these match the CAVE, a Williamsburg venue that aggressively combines all manner of media...Shige Moriya, along with a group of other artists, also decided to call it home. In such an intimate atmosphere, the vibe has none of Manhattan's cliquishness…free from the worn-out models of conventional galleries and spaces, the Cave proves that different arts and media can not only coexist but enhance each other. — The Village Voice “…you couldn't explain it, perhaps, but the raw experience was undeniable” - The New York Times “Two back-to-back shows in this year's New York Butoh Festival, presented by the intrepid arts organization and studio CAVE, sent me into the street wrung out…” -Village Voice
The world is understood through experience: the world is changed through perception and realized through action.