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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
2004
Manhattan
Various Artists, Freedom of Expression National Monument
August 27, 2004 to November 13, 2004
Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
"You are cordially invited to step up and speak up," reads the plaque adorning Freedom of Expression National Monument, a public artwork by architect Laurie Hawkinson, performer John Malpede, and visual artist Erika Rothenberg, presented by Creative Time and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Nestled between the bustling federal, state, and city courthouses, Freedom will provide a platform for people to speak their minds. The project was originally installed in 1984 for Art on the Beach (1978-1985), Creative Time's annual program that featured collaborations between architects, performers, and visual artists on the Battery Park City Landfill created by the construction of the World Trade Center. The piece captured the imagination and quickly became one of New Yorks most cherished artworks. For more information about the project and events at the site, visit the Creative Time website.
Bernar Venet, Indeterminate Lines
May 2004 to October 2004
between East 52nd Street & East 53rd Street
Park Avenue Malls, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
The first outdoor exhibition of Venet's work in New York City, this exhibition features works from the artist's "Indeterminate Line" series. Venet's sculpture has been exhibited in major cities in the United States, Asia, Europe and South America. The artist first began producing monumental linear improvisations in steel in the early 1980s and these "Indeterminate Lines" are considered by many to be his trademark work. The works to be exhibited on Park Avenue are made of cor-ten steel and stand 9 feet high and range from 12 to 15 feet long. Using a technique that has been described as Action Sculpture in slow motion, Venet carefully balances his vision for the material with the steel's natural responses to the warping effects of pressure and heat. Presented in cooperation with the Sculpture Committee of The Fund for Park Avenue.
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Janet Cardiff, Her Long Black Hair
June 17, 2004 to September 13, 2004
Central Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Public Art Fund presents a new audio walk for Central Park by internationally acclaimed artist Janet Cardiff. Cardiff's first-ever outdoor work in New York, "Her Long Black Hair," a 35-minute journey that begins at Central Park South, transforms an everyday stroll in the park into an enthralling psychological and physical experience. Like Cardiff's previous walks – which she has created for libraries, gardens, forests, museums, and city streets – "Her Long Black Hair" guides listeners on a site-specific walk, weaving Central Park's historic landmarks, from Balto to the Bandshell, into the fabric of its soundtrack of spoken words and sound effects. Additional information is available on the Public Art Fund website.
Franz West, Mercury
June 7, 2004 to August 31, 2004
Doris C. Freedman Plaza
Central Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Public Art Fund presents the first major outdoor survey of sculpture by Austrian artist Franz West at Lincoln Center and at Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park, where two works from the artist's "Mercury" series are on view. The title is a galaxy-themed reference to West's previous work, Moon Project, a group of furniture pieces he exhibited in The Museum of Modern Art's sculpture garden in 1997. With their long, low-lying bodies and irregular bumpy appendages, the works function both as public art and outdoor furniture, providing a variety of seats and perches for passersby. Franz West lives and works in Vienna, where he was born in 1947. He has exhibited internationally for more than three decades in galleries and museums, and at major festivals. Additional information is available on the Public Art Fund website.
Dennis Oppenheim, Entrance to a Garden
May 2004 to August 2004
Second Avenue beween East 59th & East 60th streets
Tramway Plaza, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Fusing architecture and fashion with art, Dennis Oppenheim's monumental "Entrance to a Garden" depicts an abstracted shirt - complete with a tie and lapels - in steel and perforated galvanized mesh. The tunnel bisects the center of the 25-foot sculpture, allowing commuters and passersby to walk through the artwork. After this New York debut, the sculpture will be installed in Genoa, Italy in October 2004, where the tunnel will lead viewers into a lush garden. Previous outdoor installations of Dennis Oppenheim's sculpture in New York include Tar Roses at Bryant Park in 2000 and Engagement at 23rd Street and Broadway in 1988.
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Darrell Petit, Gondwana, for Richard Bellamy
July 29, 2003 to August 31, 2004
91st Street
Riverside Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
In Gondwana, for Richard Bellamy, Darrell Petit has gently manipulated Stony Creek Granite and American Oak into a sculpture that complements the natural landscape of Riverside Park. As the artist-in-residence at the Stony Creek Granite Quarry in Connecticut, Petit embraces the geological processes that created the granite and pushes those processes one step further using heat and splitting dowels. The title Gondwana refers to an ancient geologic time when the landmass that is now Connecticut was attached to the African continent, highlighting the permanence and geologic origins of the stone. Gondwana is a tribute in stone to Richard Bellamy, the art dealer who was instrumental in introducing Petit and now-famous artists such as Mark di Suvero, Donald Judd, and James Rosenquist, early in their artistic careers.
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Zigi Ben-Haim, Splendid Step
November 19, 2003 to August 25, 2004
Second Avenue at East 47th Street
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
"My Splendid Step represents the small steps that eventually make a difference," said Zigi Ben-Haim about his sculpture currently on view at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. According to the artist, the sculpture is a reflection of his own multi-cultural experience, and the variety of materials used are like layers of different cultures, each adapting to the other to survive. The artist was particularly drawn to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on the corner of Second Avenue and East 47th Street for its proximity to the United Nations. The 13-foot sculpture is constructed of painted aluminum, steel mesh and cast stone. Zigi Ben-Haim was born in Baghdad in 1945, and studied art in Israel and the United States. Ben-Haim's work is represented by the Stefan Stux gallery in New York and has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Israel.
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Victor Matthews, Beyond Metamorphosis
June 7, 2004 to June 20, 2004
The Battery, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Spanning across the park's three-acre lawn, Victor Matthews will construct a grid of nearly 3,000 umbrellas, each individually hand-painted with a rendering of a Monarch butterfly. In his studio, the artist painted the butterfly image directly onto cotton canvas umbrellas using black, orange, and yellow water-based colors. Whether viewed from near or afar, the umbrellas will create a stunning and vibrant impression of a migrating flutter of flame-colored butterflies. "The piece explores themes of transformation, migration and regeneration," says Matthews. "Butterflies make an obvious spiritual gesture that's often overlooked: of a life that never ends and a spirit that never dies." The exhibition is fiscally sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC).
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Various Artists, 2004 Whitney Biennial
March 10, 2004 to May 30, 2004
Locations throughout Central Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Public Art Fund and the Whitney Museum of American Art present works by seven artists in Central Park in conjunction with the 2004 Whitney Biennial. The exhibition includes nine installations by seven artists throughout the entire length of Central Park, from 60th Street to 110th Street. Building upon the outdoor presentation of Biennial works in 2002, this year's show includes artists' site-specific reactions to the park as well as several sculptural projects that were conceived independently of location.
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George Segal, Street Crossing
October 2003 to February 2004
Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Fifth Avenue & 60th Street
Central Park, Manhattan
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Street Crossing, presented by Public Art Fund, was made by George Segal in 1992. The sculpture consists of seven figures in the act of moving through a fictional crossroads. The scattered figures seem blind to one another and to their surroundings. Segal had a particular ability to elevate mundane day-to-day activities into a lyrical or elegiac display, depicting his subjects with their guard down and in a naturalistic stance. In the early 1960s, he became known for making works in plaster, which he created by covering his subjects entirely in dry plaster bandages. He began working in bronze in the 1970's, and his works in this medium, including Street Crossing, retain the rough-hewn texture of his familiar plaster cast technique. In addition to this temporary presentation of Street Crossing, there are two sculptures by George Segal in New York's public spaces, both of which are on permanent view: Gay Liberation (1980) at Sheridan Square and The Commuters, Next Departure (1981) at Port Authority Terminal.
Visit Public Art Fund for more information.
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