TOPIC
Manhattan
This Is a Rehearsal
With democratic institutions and processes at a nadir, a playwright considers the public meeting's mise-en-scene. How might artists help perform power when we are out of practice?
No Mannequins
The new Telfar store is an event space. The event is we're alive and we did this shit.
A Living Painting
Large-scale public sculptures by Scott Burton have traveled from a corporate lobby to a Queens art center, but they are still in search of a forever home. Can their meanings endure in a new frame?
Feral Monument
Beloved for their innocence and feared as vectors of disease, pigeons are a divisive and constant presence in New York City. A monumental statue atop the High Line urges us to consider how our feral friends (or foes) are in fact just like us.
The Real Counterfeit
A 15-story stack of Louis Vuitton branded suitcases claiming to be scaffolding landed on Fifth Avenue in November. But reading the structure through the lens of the building code raises questions about our grasp on reality and the rule of law.
What Becomes a Legend Most?
A redeveloped Rockefeller Center draws tourists from around the globe as well as locals to a place that feels, surprisingly, authentically New York. How are its owners stewarding the storied complex into a second century?
On the City Stage
A modest, mid-block midtown building repurposed as a municipal arts center, City Center represented a monumental effort to support a program of arts for all. But how much can a building achieve?
Criticism as an Act of Love
Hyperlocal settings frame larger phenomena including stormwater management, the politics of place names, ersatz infrastructure, the tyranny of private property, and other signs of the never-ending change that characterizes the city.