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AccessibilityArt in the Parks
Through collaborations with a diverse group of arts organizations and artists, Parks brings to the public both experimental and traditional art in many park locations. Please browse our list of current exhibits and our archives of past exhibits below. You can also see past grant opportunities or read more about the Art in the Parks Program.
Public Art Map and Guide
Find out which current exhibits are on display near you, and browse our permanent monument collection.
Search Current and Past Exhibits
2003
Manhattan
Sheryl Oring, Writer's Block
September 30, 2003 to October 12, 2003
Bryant Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Writer's Block, Sheryl Oring's installation of sculptural cages filled with 600 typewriters from the 1920s and 1930s, premiered in 1999 on Berlin's Bebelplatz, scene of the largest of the Nazi book burnings in the 1930s. The work is intended to evoke the coordinated book burnings that took place in cities throughout Germany in May 1933 and to provoke greater examination of contemporary threats to freedom of expression. The installation has also been shown previously at the Jewish Museum, in Berlin; the Hungarian National Library, in Budapest; and the Boston Public Library. Bryant Park was selected as the site for the New York show because of its historical significance; in May 1943, on the tenth anniversary of the German book burnings, New Yorkers gathered here in commemoration and protest.
Marek Sulek, A Piece of Manhattan Sky
September 11, 2003 to September 18, 2003
Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
From the exterior, A Piece of Manhattan Sky appears to be a large white box. But once inside, the viewer experiences a meditative environment. At the center of the sculpture, the viewer sits on a simple white box and looks up through a 14-foot shaft at a framed piece of the sky above. All outside noise is muted by the thick foam walls of the sculpture, creating a uniquely contemplative environment. The project was organized by the Polish Cultural Institute.
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View the interior and exterior of A Piece of Manhattan Sky.
Kathy Creutzburg, The Bird of Imagining
June 2002 to June 2003
12th Street and Avenue B
Joseph C. Sauer Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
The Bird of Imagining is a steel sculpture adorned with colorful wooden feathers. It is based on the poem written by Richard Lewis of the Touchstone Center. Students from The Children's Workshop School painted over 200 of the wood feathers to cover the bird's wings. The kids from the Children's Workshop School provided the inspiration for this sculpture. Their original sketches and writings were on display at the opening event on June 13, 2002.
Kirsten Campbell, Moving Between
May 21, 2003 to June 27, 2003
at 135th Street
St. Nicholas Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Moving Between, a suite of three wood and steel figurative sculptures by Brooklyn-based artist Kirsten Campbell, is the first installation of temporary public art in St. Nicholas Park since the inception of Parks & Recreation's Temporary Public Art Program in 1967. Made of twisted steel and wood, the three pieces appear frozen, as if caught in a slow dance. Drawn to the physical strength of steel, the artist often challenges herself to transform cold, industrial pieces of metal into fluid, organic life-like forms. The project is co-presented by the West Harlem Art Fund.
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Robert Indiana, One Through Zero
February 3, 2003 to May 3, 2003
between 60th & 70th Streets
Park Avenue Malls, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
One Through Zero by Robert Indiana consists of a series of ten brightly colored numbers made of polychromed aluminum. Each sculpture stands six-and-one-half-feet tall. Robert Indiana is best known for his iconic LOVE image and his association with Pop artists of the 60's. His paintings and sculptures are in the collections of museums in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Indiana, who is 74, said, "It is always the fulfillment of an artist's dream to present his work to a greatly varied and diverse audience, and there is no better showcase for sculpture in the City of New York than Park Avenue." One Through Zero is presented in coordination with The Fund for Park Avenue.
Juan Munoz, Conversation Piece
September 26, 2002 to April 16, 2003
Doris C. Freedman Plaza at 60th Street and 5th Avenue
Central Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
The current Public Art Fund presentation at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza is Conversation Piece, a group of five life-size bronze figures by the late Spanish sculptor and installation artist Juan Munoz. Over the past decade, Munoz gained international recognition for his "conversation pieces". These groups of figures, with their mute faces and expressive gestures, depict psychologically-charged human interactions. The five figures of Conversation Piece variously lean together, whisper, and ignore one another, transforming the plaza into a theatrical space where a mysterious drama plays out.
For additional information about the project, visit the Public Art Fund website.
Tom Otterness, Free Money
January 19, 2003 to April 13, 2003
at 57th Street
Park Avenue Malls, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
The exhibition of this monumental bronze sculpture by Tom Otterness is the first presentation of the work in a public venue in New York City. Free Money depicts a couple, sculpted in Otterness' signature whimsical style, dancing atop a sack of money. Considered one of the premiere public artists working in the United States, Tom Otterness has exhibited widely and completed public art commissions in the U.S. and abroad. Inspired by the artistic tradition of cast bronze figurative sculpture and adopting imagery from popular culture, Tom Otterness creates figurative sculptures that explore themes of power and money, fairy tales and myths.
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Leonard Ursachi, Open House
May 2002 to March 2003
West Broadway and Beach Street
Tribeca Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Originally placed at a site in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Leonard Ursachi's sculpture Open House has been re-installed in lower Manhattan. According to the artist, Open House explores the vulnerability of shelter, the mutating nature of identity and the porous nature of borders.
The sculpture, a rectangular structure with walls made from wood strips suspended by hinges, suggests the frame of a house. The walls, perforated and permeable, tremble and sway with even a light breeze. In the interior of the house, the wood strips become mirrored stainless steel. Visitors who step inside the house can experience their own fragmented reflections while viewing the activities of the park through gaps in the wall. On the house's only piece of furniture, a small table gilded in gold, stands a photo of Ursachi as a young man. This photo was taken in 1971 in front of Ursachi's family home in Romania before it was bulldozed by the state.
Andrea Claire, Simultaneous Life
September 24, 2002 to February 1, 2003
Located in five parks along Canal Street, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Installed in small traffic islands and park triangles along Canal Street, Simultaneous Life consists of five windsocks made from silver metallic fabric and mounted on 18-foot poles. Modeled after windsocks used in aviation, the windsocks are intended to provide a visual link between the frenetic street-level activity of Canal Street and the larger cityscape. Viewing the windsocks from street level, pedestrians become aware of the direction of the wind, the sky and the buildings rising above the street. When viewed from above, the windsocks form a silver dashed line down Canal Street, drawing attention to the place of the street in the larger cityscape.
Simultaneous Life is one of six public art projects exhibited along Canal Street as part of Art in General on Canal, a group exhibition of public art celebrating Art in General's twenty years of exhibitions and programs in Lower Manhattan.
For more information about the show, visit Art in General.
Queens
Julita Wojcik, My Garden
April 11, 2003 to June 8, 2003
Court Square Park, Queens
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Polish artist Julita Wojcik seeks to bring the "harmony and beauty" of gardens to urban settings. In the first exhibition of her work outside Europe, the artist has created a small flower garden, entitled My Garden, in Long Island City's Court Square Park. Planted in the shape of the project's flower "logo," My Garden is intended to be a gentle intervention into public space one that draws viewers in with the color and brightness of spring flowers. The artwork is part of Architectures of Gender: Contemporary Women's Art in Poland, an exhibition of contemporary Polish installation art on view at SculptureCenter.
For more information about the show, visit the SculptureCenter website.
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