Art in the Parks

Pedestrian Observations: Mapping Manhattan Chinatown’s Public Realm is a collaboration by artist and architectural historian Myles Zhang and architect/designer Stephan Fan. This project explores the blurred boundaries between Chinatown’s public and private spaces in a graphic installation formulated and executed through various community-engagement efforts over the past two years. It is a horizontal map that presents iconic elements of Chinatown’s streetscapes. The streetscape draws familiar, if not legendary, scenes woven together in segments to suggest the many layers of human activation and experience of these vibrant congested historic streets.

This exhibition is presented by CALL / City as Living Laboratory.

Van der Stokker presents Thank You Darling, a monumental, site-specific mural. The light blue background is dotted with multi-colored, simple flowers in a decorative all-over pattern that appear to float across the facade. Superimposed over this, read the words “THANK YOU DARLiNG,” spelled out in a juvenile, arbitrary blend of lower and upper-case lettering. Van der Stokker’s puffy bubble-letters are a classic example of playful adolescent penmanship, seemingly lifted right out of a teenager’s diary. Thank You Darling actively engages with its audience, expressing gratitude to all those who pass, while reclaiming, at massive scale, intimate language that is often mocked or disparaged as being feminine and unserious.

This exhibition is presented by Friends of the High Line.

Davis creates a larger-than-life bronze portrait of a ballerina taking her final bow after a performance. Using a combination of 3D scanning technology and traditional sculpting techniques, the bronze figure was derived from Davis’ life-size plaster cast sculpture of ballerina Jasmine Perry. Curtain Call draws on the artist’s experience growing up on stage and behind the scenes of the dance and theater world, seeing firsthand the incredible mental and physical toll taken to create a flawless performance. The work is part of a new series, Beauty Must Suffer, which examines the life and labor of Black dancers in the historically European tradition of ballet.

This exhibition is presented by Friends of the High Line.

For Cannupa Hanska Luger, the bison is a symbol of Indigenous resilience and sovereignty. The mass slaughter of North American bison from 1845 to 1895 by settlers of European descent took place for profit, dominion over land and westward expansion. The strategic removal of this vital source of food, clothing, shelter and spiritual reverence for the Great Plains Native American populations forced their assimilation into western culture. It was also an ecological disaster with long lasting effects.

Luger, an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold from the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota cultures, is a descendant of buffalo people. Attrition is a 10-foot long, larger-than-life skeletal sculpture made from steel with an ash black patina. The arresting form emerges from the soil beneath, visible through grasses indigenous to this region. The work highlights the profound interdependence between animals, humans and the land. It draws attention to the loss, trauma, and violence that can result from a single disruption in an ecosystem. Placed on the pathway to City Hall, Attrition symbolically engages with New York City’s heart of policy-making, bringing to light the history of the bison’s survival.

This exhibition is presented by Public Art Fund.

The sculptural installation features three interlocked wooden structures, assembled from colored plywood, that spell out ‘LOV.’ As an interactive public art site, Love-Ego=LOV is inspired by the notions of egoless love, unity and the interdependence of human lives placed within the context of contemporary volatile social and ecological conditions. Its timing and content aim to counterbalance the divisive rhetoric of the presidential election campaigns by sharing some thought-provoking alternatives and unexpected observations.

Love-Ego=LOV is an interactive public art site composed of an outdoor sculpture, experimental garden initiative and a series of activation performances.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Union Square Partnership.

“Sankofa” derives from Akan African folklore, symbolizing remembrance of things forgotten, and “in order to know our future we must look to our past.” The installation is simultaneously futuristic and ancestral, and draws upon intersectional cultures including African, Afro-Caribbean and Indigenous craft traditions as well as the everyday histories and contemporary life of the park.

The design concept for the pavilion comes out of working in community with members of the Marcus Garvey Park. The 32-foot circular structure incorporates a gathering space below a printed fabric mesh canopy depicting both archival images and AI generated “mythology” of Marcus Garvey Park and other motifs.

This exhibition is sponsored by Harlem Grown's Culture Creativity & Care Initiative.

Analogue Sites, by artist and preservation architect Jorge Otero-Pailos, is a public art exhibition that explores the intersection of art, architecture, and cultural diplomacy. Comprising three monumental steel sculptures wrought from fencing that surrounded the former U.S. Embassy in Oslo and inspired by the historical significance of Cold War-era embassies as places of cultural exchange, Analogue Sites highlights the role of American modern art and architecture in cultural diplomacy and advocates for the preservation of these modernist masterpieces at this critical moment of their decommissioning. Analogue Sites responds to and engage with iconic modernist landmarks including the Seagram Building, the Lever House, and the historic Park Avenue Armory.

This exhibition is presented by The Fund for Park Avenue, the Onera Foundation, the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, the AECID, and the Consulate General of Spain in New York.