Some things change: Gritty neighborhoods get hip, rents go through the roof, and pioneers have to move on. That’s what’s happened to Galapagos, the club-cum-arts-venue that for a decade epitomized Williamsburg’s reputation as a haven for artists. A search for cheaper rent has now brought Galapagos to DUMBO, where it is leasing a former horse stable on Main Street from Two Trees Management.

Some things stay the same: In Williamsburg, Galapagos was known not only for the performances it presented, by artists such as Cynthia Hopkins and the choreographer Sarah Mitchelson, but for its iconic space in a former mayonnaise warehouse, which included a 300-square-foot pool of water right inside the front door. In DUMBO, Galapagos will again have an iconic space, and a pool. This one’s just a lot bigger. It’s 1,600 square feet, and, along with the stage, it occupies almost the entire ground floor of the new Galapagos. The audience will sit on steel “islands” and on a mezzanine level above.

Yesterday afternoon, a few hours before the opening of the first New York Photo Festival, which is being produced by two of Galapagos’s new neighbors, powerHouse Books and VII Photo Agency, Galapagos’s director, Robert Elmes, switched on the pump and filled the new pool for the first time. As it filled, the pool, which Mr. Elmes refers to as “the lake,” while calling the one in Williamsburg “the pond,” turned into a dark mirror. Even in daytime, the reflections — of lights, and the sparks thrown off by workers still welding the railings on the islands — were mesmerizing.

The lake is dug 5 feet into the ground, below the building’s original foundation. The water comes out of a 50-foot well, which emerges just behind the stage; when drained, it goes into the sewer system. Mr. Elmes said he will probably drain and refill the lake about once a month. (The new venue is designed to be “green”: It has a geothermal heating and cooling system, uses electricity from wind and water sources, and will have a green roof.)

As it has done with several cultural tenants, Two Trees offered Mr. Elmes below-market rent: $6.82 a square foot, according to the New York Times. “In 2022, we will be paying less rent in DUMBO than we’re paying in Williamsburg today.”

Mr. Elmes said he loves DUMBO, but he is also planning an ambitious international expansion. Before he found the Two Trees space, he was planning to move Galapagos to Berlin, and he still wants to open a space there in the next two years. In the next decade, he wants to also open venues in Beijing and Bombay. The idea is to give New York artists the opportunity to tour abroad, and artists in those cities the chance to come to New York.

Mr. Elmes plans to have a soft opening of the new Galapagos in two or three weeks. This weekend, Galapagos will host one of the satellite exhibitions of the photo festival, a multimedia installation of recent work by members of VII Photo Agency.

As real estate values in DUMBO have risen, Two Trees has changed its method of supporting arts in the neighborhood from giving away space to individual artists to attracting cultural nonprofits, as well as cultural businesses. Recently, Two Trees’s cultural affairs director, Zannah Mass, has focused on turning DUMBO into a “photo district,” attracting several photo galleries, as well as businesses like Umbrage Editions, which produces visual books, exhibitions, and Web sites. In 2006, powerHouse, a publisher of photography books, opened a bookstore and event venue kitty-corner from Galapagos’s space, on Water and Main streets.

The managing director of VII, Frank Evers, said that in his first discussions with Daniel Power, the founder of powerHouse, about moving to DUMBO, he mentioned that he wanted to start a photo festival in New York City, comparable to the Rencontres d’Arles festival, or “Visa pour l’image” in Perpignan, France, or FotoFest, in Houston. Mr. Power said he had been thinking about the same thing, so the two decided to join forces.

They took the idea to Two Trees, which immediately supported it, Mr. Evers said, offering space, financial support, and its “political clout.” Most of the exhibitions are taking place in Two Trees-owned space, but two are taking place in the Tobacco Warehouse, which is owned by the state.

The four main exhibitions were curated by the photographer Martin Parr; the photo editor of the New York Times Magazine, Kathy Ryan; the photographer, and former photo editor of Vice Magazine, Tim Barber; and the director of Aperture’s book program, Lesley Martin. There are also satellite exhibitions presented by VII, Getty Images, and Foam Magazine, among others; talks, and the presentation, on Friday, of the inaugural New York Photo Awards.

The festival is not a fair, and none of the work being exhibited is for sale. “It’s purely about looking,” Mr. Evers said.