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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
2021
Queens
Shervone Neckles and BEAM Center, BEACON
March 27, 2021 to August 15, 2021
Lewis H Latimer House, Queens
Map/Directions (in Google Maps)
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
BEACON is inspired by African American inventor Lewis H. Latimer and his 1881 patent for the electric lamp and 1882 patent for processing carbon filament in the incandescent light bulb. This installation is a replication of Latimer's mechanical drawing of the incandescent light bulb and carbon filament. The fabrication process is designed to align the Beam Center’s mission of bridging the humanities and STEAM disciplines to improve the conditions of our society with the living legacy of a local and historical pioneer. The work is also a metaphor for the tension that exists between our interior and exterior worlds. We are constantly negotiating the outside worlds perception of who we are and our potential, versus the way we actually view ourselves. BEACON is a collaborative project between artist Shervone Neckles, Beam Center and Lewis H. Latimer House Museum.
Kris Perry, Mother Earth
August 12, 2020 to August 11, 2021
Beach 98 St. at Rockaway Boardwalk, Queens
Map/Directions (in Google Maps)
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Mother Earth draws on an array of architectural elements, from temples, mosques, and churches to the open columned spaces of Classical Greek buildings. The spire directs the viewer’s gaze skyward while its reflected shape points back down towards the Earth. Visitors are encouraged to occupy the sculpture’s central space where one can look outward upon the landscape in a moment of introspection. The 35-foot-tall sculpture is made of Corten steel, a material that will evolve with the seasons and site.
Sari Nordman, Tower
July 1, 2021 to August 7, 2021
Rufus King Park, Queens
Map/Directions (in Google Maps)
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Tower is an interdisciplinary installation work utilizing sculpture, video projection, archiving and community participation. The project reflects on climate change and the biblical story of The Tower of Babel—a story of greed and value of cultural differences. The artwork will be illuminated with projections at select times.
This project is part of Jamaica Flux: Workspaces & Windows 2021 organized by the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning.
Nancy Baker Cahill, Liberty Bell
July 4, 2020 to July 3, 2021
Beach 108 St. at Rockaway Boardwalk and the Rockaway Ferry Landing, Queens
Map/Directions (in Google Maps)
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Liberty Bell is an animated, monumental, and richly sonorous augmented reality (AR) drawing in 360 degrees. The public artwork will be geolocated at a series of sites and experienced on smartphones and tablets through Baker Cahill’s free 4th Wall app. This project, which is two years in the making, lives at the vibrant intersection of public art, social consciousness, and tech. It is being presented simultaneously in six cities in the United States: Boston, MA, Charleston, SC, Philadelphia, PA, Rockaway, NY, Selma, AL, and Washington, DC.
In this polarized and tumultuous election year, many concerns persist around the founding principles of American freedom and democracy. Inequality, structural racism, injustice, and the ability to vote are chief among them. Inspired by the original cracked Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, the drawing hovers beyond viewers, swaying with the rich and layered sound of bells tolling. The Liberty Bell soundscape morphs from the rhythmic lulling of a tolling bell, into a harmonious and dissonant sequence of ringing as it becomes increasingly unpredictable and arrhythmic. The richly textured brushstrokes and bell sounds resemble loosely knitted threads that unravel and come together in an uncomfortable, but cohesive moment. They reflect the evolution and transformation of liberty over time into the complex reality we face today. This exhibition is presented by Art Production Fund, in partnership with 7G Foundation and the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, a project of the Fund for the City of New York.
Various Artists, MONUMENTS NOW
July 10, 2020 to March 31, 2021
Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens
Map/Directions (in Google Maps)
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
In this turbulent moment when we find ourselves reevaluating American identity and values, the MONUMENTS NOW exhibition seeks to address the role of monuments in society and commemorate underrepresented narratives such as diasporic, Indigenous, and queer histories.
The exhibit evolves over three cumulative parts. Part I opens summer 2020 with major new commissions for contemporary monuments by acclaimed artists Jeffrey Gibson, Paul Ramírez Jonas, and Xaviera Simmons. Then Part II and Part III of the exhibition open together on October 10, 2020. Part II encompasses ten monument sculptures by the Park’s 2020 Artist Fellows and Part III features a multi-faceted monument project collectively realized by high school students. The park’s Broadway Billboard will also feature a monuments-related artwork by artist Nona Faustine. Furthermore, in acknowledgment of how monuments are shaped by society as well as by artists, the public is invited to share their reactions on-site and online over the course of the exhibition. All three parts of the exhibition remain on view through March 2021. This exhibition is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park.
Staten Island
Lina Montoya and Jodi Dareal, Together We Are New York
October 9, 2021 to October 8, 2022
Skyline Playground, Staten Island
Map/Directions (in Google Maps)
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
Sundog Theatre partnered with Association for a Better New York on their 5-borough project celebrating what it means to be a New Yorker, "Together We Are New York." Influenced by the thoughts of prominent Island community members, this mural also depicts what it means to be a Staten Islander. Artists Lina Montoya and Jodi Dareal incorporated themes of compassion, vibrancy, family, caring for others, and resiliency.
This exhibition is presented by Sundog Theatre and Association for a Better New York.
Tony DiBernardo, Open Stage
May 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021
Alice Austen Park, Staten Island
Map/Directions (in Google Maps)
Please note: This is a past exhibit that is no longer installed in the park.
?This interactive sculpture showcases the value of theatre artists and performers in New York, many of whom have struggled to find work amidst the pandemic. The Plywood Protection Project is an initiative to collect the plywood used by NYC businesses to board up their windows during the protests of 2020 and redistribute it to artists, extending and repurposing the life of this material. Arts not-for-profit worthless studios collected over 200 boards of plywood and initiated an open call for artists, eventually selecting five local makers to participate in a unifying public art project across all five boroughs of New York. This piece is one of the five created by the project, each installed in a different borough of New York City.
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