About

Founded by visual and performance artist Josh Berkowitz, The Lab on Santa Fe is an independent contemporary art space in Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe — one of the city’s most active corridors, drawing thousands during monthly First Friday Art Walks. 
The Lab was built to be more than a gallery. It is a space for bold exhibitions, ambitious open calls, and live performance — a place where artists can take real risks and audiences can feel it.
Internationally acclaimed performance artist and NEA 4 member Tim Miller has described The Lab as “one of the juiciest spaces in the US.”
Since opening in August 2022, The Lab has mounted nationally recognized exhibitions inspired by the cinematic worlds of David Lynch and the Coen Brothers, alongside large-scale group shows exploring belief, doubt, culture, and identity. Its most recent exhibition, The Ten Thousand Things, zeroed in on political satire and became the defining attraction of January and February’s First Friday Art Walks.
The Lab also hosts intimate stream-of-consciousness writing intensives, bringing artists and writers together to push language past polish and into something immediate, surprising, and alive.
Emerging and established artists share the same walls. The work ranges in tone and medium, but it shares a common thread: urgency, clarity, and a willingness to go there.
The Lab on Santa Fe exists to present art that feels alive — direct, adventurous, and unafraid.

Josh Berkowitz

Josh Berkowitz is a visual and performance artist and the Creative Director and Founder of The Lab on Santa Fe in Denver’s Art District.
Originally trained as an actor at the University of Michigan, Berkowitz found his voice early, earning a scholarship for his performance in the world premiere of Jonesin’ at the Arthur Miller Theatre. Soon after, his focus shifted toward visual art and experimental performance.
A decisive turning point came during a two-year apprenticeship with abstract artist John M. White. Berkowitz lived and worked in White’s studio — sleeping on the floor to absorb everything he could. The experience grounded him in abstraction, material exploration, and the understanding that art is a daily practice.
From 2016–2018, Berkowitz served as Co-Artistic Director of the Electric Lodge in Los Angeles, helping shape programming across performance, dance, clown, and experimental theater.
In 2024 and 2025, he returned to the Electric Lodge as a resident artist, presenting two consecutive solo performance works. Both pieces later evolved into large-scale installation environments at The Lab on Santa Fe — transforming the gallery into monumental tennis and basketball courts that expanded the performances into immersive spatial experiences.
His performance lineage includes mentorship and collaboration with NEA 4 solo performers Holly Hughes and Tim Miller.
As Tim Miller writes:
“I have known Josh Berkowitz for almost 15 years and have been amazed to see what a wild, fearless and funny performer he has become. His work is a high wire act and no holds barred disclosure of all the complexities of being human.”
Drawing from years immersed in performance communities in Los Angeles and New York, Berkowitz now plays an active role in shaping Denver’s evolving performance art landscape.
His work moves between visual art, live performance, writing, and curatorial projects — always returning to work that risks something real and invites audiences into that edge.