Gordon Matta Clark's Home Sweet Home

The bar Home Sweet Home on Chrystie Street in the Lower East Side occupies a cozy, taxidermy-filled space with a chandelier overhead — but the more interesting story belongs to the upstairs. That space was once home to Gordon Matta-Clark, one of the most conceptually daring artists New York produced.

Clark lived at 131 Chrystie, reportedly with his brother, who allegedly died by suicide in the apartment. It was here that Clark began his long-running experiments with agar agar — the gelatinous substance derived from boiled algae.

Famous for his architectural interventions involving saws and sledgehammers, Matta-Clark also worked at the opposite scale, mixing agar agar with chicken bouillon, mold, trash, vegetable juice, and other organic matter to create self-drying sculptures. The resulting twisted sheets were hung from ropes for exhibition.

Location: 131 Chrystie Street, New York, NY (current bar: Home Sweet Home)