By DIANE CARDWELL

At the end of a dark passageway at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, almost 50 artworks have suddenly parked in a bright, spare gallery. On a grim stretch of the Flatbush Avenue Extension in Brooklyn, pastel portraits and interactive sculptures are squeezed between a McDonald’s and an Applebee’s restaurant. In the window of a former dentist’s office in Queens, a clutch of faceless mannequins cradle various forms of roadkill.

The art may vary in style and shock value, but the settings are essentially the same - spaces donated or leased cheaply by building owners unable to rent or develop them.

As the recession drags on and storefronts across New York remain empty, commercial landlords are turning to an unlikely new class of tenants: artists, who in flusher times tend to get pushed out rather than lured in.

On terms that are cut-rate and usually temporary - a few weeks or months - the artist gets a gallery or studio, and the landlord gets a vibrant attraction that may deter crime and draw future paying tenants.

“Any sort of activity is better than no activity,” said Jed Walentas, a Brooklyn developer whose company routinely lends space for art projects. “As long as it’s short enough and it’s flexible, then there’s no real cost. ”

These “pop-up galleries,” as they are known in Britain, where the phenomenon is well established, are increasingly taking hold in New York as development advocates and landlords struggle to keep up appearances where commerce and construction have stalled.

The demand among landlords is so high that Chashama, a group that has been working for almost 15 years to find vacant real estate for visual and performing artists, no longer has to go looking. Its founder, Anita Durst, said she got calls every day from landlords asking her to find art projects.

At the Port Authority terminal, where a retail space has gone unrented while a development deal remains in limbo, executives have relied on the Fashion Center Business Improvement District and the Times Square Alliance to bring in pop-up tenants, including fashion designers and artists working in a range of media.

For neighborhoods, windows filled with stencils or weavings rather than brown paper and “for rent” signs have been a marked improvement.

“The lights are always on, the artists come and go late at night, and it’s even had more of an impact in activating the street than we anticipated,” said Andrew M. Manshel of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation.

The locals enjoy the shows. Passersby and workers say they like having something different to look at and a chance to talk with the artists.

On 161st Street in Queens one afternoon, a barber from the block, who gave his name as Junior, said he appreciated how accessible the artists had been. “The first time they were there, they welcomed anybody, it was free and on the way out they gave you a little wine, they had food,” he said.

“It’s great.”


Kenny Scharf, a psychedelic painter and performance artist, works on his art, which is part of a show in empty storefronts in Brooklyn. / NICOLE BENGIVENO/THE NEW YORK TIMES