Established in the summer of 2005 by German curator and art critic Anke Kempkes, BROADWAY 1602 was first located on Broadway between 28th and 29th Street in New York City, situated on the top floor of a 16-flight 1920’s building in the Flat Iron District.
In 2010 the gallery moved to the 3rd Floor of the “Baudouine Building” from the 1860s at 1181 Broadway between 27th and 28th Street.
The gallery represents an international pool of emerging artists - from New York, Warsaw, Berlin and London, who work in the media of performance, painting, photography, film, video art and installation. The activities of the gallery include external curated projects, co-operations with other galleries and institutions and publication activities since its creation.
Since 2006 - as an extension of the historical spectrum - the gallery represents the 1970s archive of New York-based French photographer and filmmaker Babette Mangolte. As an outcome of gallery founder Anke Kempkes’ curatorial background, the gallery represents the estate of Polish sculptor Alina Szapocznikow since 2007 and the estate of Belgium Pop Artists Evelyne Axell since 2009. As part of the focus on women artists from the 60s and 70s the gallery started to represent the work of Croatian conceptual artist Sanja Ivekovic.
In 2010 the gallery started to work with the estate of first generation Bauhaus artist Xanti Schawinsky, a project initiated in collaboration with independent curator Larry List.
ANKE KEMPKES previously worked as an art critic for international art magazines and publications, and as independent curator in Berlin. In 2003 she organized and directed the Martin Kippenberger Estate at Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. In 2004 she held the position of Curator at Kunsthalle Basel where she realized the exhibition "Flesh at War with Enigma".
