Art in the Parks

Sing for Hope places artist-designed pianos throughout NYC’s parks and public spaces for anyone and everyone to play. The pianos bring individuals and communities together in an open festival of art for all. After their time on the streets, Sing for Hope transports the instruments to NYC public schools, where they become hubs for Sing for Hope’s ongoing creative programs and enrich students’ lives for years to come. The pianos can be played at various sites across the city, including four Parks sites. For more information and a list of locations visit Sing for Hope’s Pianos webpage.

This exhibition is present by Sing for Hope.

This mural by Queens-based artist Carla E. Reyes transforms a retaining wall into a sunny landscape lined with leafy trees.

​Led by artist Lady Pink, this mural was designed and painted by students from the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. The mural depicts faux storefronts with various images taking imaginative and fanciful shapes, painted in a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors. The mural can be found on the back wall of the DOT Steinway #2 Municipal Parking Lot, which is the reverse side of the back wall of Sean’s Place.

This exhibition is presented by the Steinway Astoria Partnership, sponsored by the Martin Wong Foundation.

Since 2021, community members, neighbors, kids, parents, grandparents, artists, musicians, seed finders, cooks, gardeners, farmers, bird watchers, writers, poets, thinkers, finders, seekers, and explorers have gathered at Socrates to intentionally build a body of knowledge together as part of the Field Guide program. Teaching artist Aneesa Razek has gathered and woven together a constellation of drawings and observations from Field Guide participants.

This exhibition is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park.

The Socrates Annual exhibition marks the culmination of the 2023 Socrates Annual Fellowship. The central theme of this year’s exhibition revolves around transformation, echoing the Park’s evolution – from an abandoned landfill to a flourishing gathering space. These five projects reflect on diverse stages of growth, change, and renewal while also invoking a keen understanding of how visitors use this space, informed by the artists’ firsthand experience fabricating these works on-site over the summer. Many of these works are constructed with found and recycled materials that have been ingeniously repurposed, breathing new life into objects that were once discarded or considered undesirable. Collectively, these artists compel us to value the histories embedded in materials and the surrounding landscape.

This exhibition includes works by Ashley Harris, Ndivhuho Rasengani, Bat-Ami Rivlin,Kate Rusek, Maryam Turkey, and Stefania Urist.

This exhibition is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park.

The Red String is an art installation inspired by the Chinese knot, a type of Eastern folk art consisting of distinctive patterns that symbolize unity and love. The installation integrates a series of physical banners with short animations using an Augmented Reality (AR) application on mobile devices. Viewers are advised to scan the banners’ QR codes to watch the animations, which reinterpret Chinese folktales or traditional operas to reflect on the modern Asian-American identity. The Red String calls for unity and dialogue across the cultural and ethnic boundaries within the social spectrum.

Presented on PhotoCubes placed at four locations throughout the park, the photographs in this exhibition scrutinize what it is to be both at one and apart from the natural world. Together the works explore the interactions between humanity and ecology, and how they shape each other. This exhibition is spread across a landscape seeded with native vegetation and designed for climate resiliency. As the photographic works examine our relation to nature during a time of ecological change, the park itself gives an ample backdrop to further explore that relationship.

This exhibition includes works by Delaney Allen, Barrett Doherty, Daesha Devón Harris, Elise Kirk, Jennifer Latour, and Denisse Ariana Pérez.

This exhibition is presented by Hunters Point Parks Conservancy and Photoville.

We Are Beautiful represents diversity, celebrates multiculturalism in New York City, especially on Staten Island. It consisted of 4,950 multicolor butterflies attached to the metallic railing by the water at Stapleton Waterfront Park. This installation is part of La Isla Bonita Series and Festival, which intends to beautify public spaces with the collaboration of community members.

This exhibition is presented by La Isla Bonita.