5 Pointz

5 Pointz: The Institute of Higher Burnin' or 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc., mainly referred to as simply 5 Pointz or 5Pointz, was an American mural space at 45–46 Davis Street in Long Island City, Queens, New York City, whose murals were exhibited mainly on the exterior walls of the building, drawn by artists from the world over. As of August 2014^[update], 5 Pointz was in the process of being torn down and by November 2014 the building had been fully demolished, to be replaced by a condominium complex.

Highly visible from the New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line (7 <7> trains), it was considered to be "the world's premier graffiti ", where aerosol artists from around the globe painted colorful pieces on the walls of a 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m²) factory building. While 5 Pointz was across Jackson Avenue from MoMA PS1, it was not associated with the Museum of Modern Art; instead, it was private property, owned by Long Island developer Jerry Wolkoff.

It had housed the Crane Street Studios, in which 200 artists paid below-market rents for studio space. A 450-square-foot (42 m²) studio was listed as renting for $600 per month in 2009. 5 Pointz was described by an About.com contributor in 2008 as "a living collage of graffiti art covering a converted warehouse full of artist studios".

The name "5 Pointz" signifies the five boroughs coming together as one, but, because of its reputation as an epicenter of the graffiti scene, the industrial complex has united aerosol artists from across the world as well. Writers, including Stay High 149, Tracy 168, Cope2, Part, SPE, Dan Plasma and TATS CRU, have come from Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and all over the United States to paint on the building's walls. 5 Pointz had also been the subject of articles in newspapers such as The Christian Science Monitor,The Boston Globe,The New York Times, and the International Herald Tribune.

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