A portal of poetry, music and art in the heart of Princeton. A once-empty alley displays  curated multi-media art installations. Located near the corner of Nassau and Witherspoon streets, Dohm Alley is the third installment in an award-winning series of artistic spaces that began with Quark Park and Writer’s Block.

NEGATIVE SPACE

Tucked off Nassau Street in Princeton, lay a modest 80'x10' Alley, an abandoned slot running North to South between two buildings, inauspicious like so many across urban America. Strewn with litter, the Alley had uneven paving. Not only was this Alley placed at the center of Nassau street, but it lines up perfectly with the Ashlar and Iron Eastern portal of Mckim Mead and White's Fitzrandolph gate. It's proximity to the town's main intersection, popular stores, and Nassau Hall demanded a design intervention. In this urban void, we created an open and free area in the public realm to delight the senses.

John Keats, an English Romantic poet, had a concept that that inspired Design@Dohm Alley creators to direct the flow of water uphill, against gravity, for the ink of imagination is not bound by reason. "Several things dovetailed in my mind, and at once it struck me, what quality went to form a man of achievement especially in literature – I mean negative capability, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries and doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason." For the artist, not knowing is sometimes the gift that catalyzes creativity.

The Alley has been staged as both a gallery and a theater through events held there. The Alley was landscaped, and artists installed sculptures celebrating the English romantic poets. A video designer and sound designer created a background moodscape to transport the visitors from the ordinary to unexpected thoughts as they wander. The design team imagined a public space of passage and presentation: one for crossing, smiling, art, culture, lingering, and learning. They created a living and undulating environment from the that had existed previously. A physical nervous system was exposed to the strolling passerby, free of charge, always open and capable of evolving in the future as a platform for engagement. At present, the Alley is annually reprogrammed to reflect its position in the Princeton landscape.