Arts

As New York reckons with a pandemic and police violence, truth can seem stranger than fiction. But a new work of urban fantasy bends the uncanny contours of crisis towards a vision of the city transformed through solidarity.

In 2016, a Brooklyn artist was commissioned to design Highland Park’s first public sculpture. Four years later, much of her work — and life — now orbits around the site and its community of residents and stewards.

An artist and an architect collaborate to visualize the landscapes along New York City’s perimeter, depicting a city rarely seen or heard.

28 pounds, 450,000 words, 800 photographs, 200 maps. 50 years on, what can NYC’s only comprehensive plan teach us about envisioning a collective urban future?

Following the trail of New York City’s municipal solid waste from curbside pickup to sites far beyond its borders, two artists document a system that benefits from low visibility as it dramatically extends the city’s footprint.

An artist acquires a collection of unclaimed rings gathered from New York City's subway system, instigating an unconventional search for their origins and values.

From Manhattan to the banks of the Yangtze River, photographers index both the ordinary and uncanny effects of urbanization.

An artist and an artificial intelligence, trained on the data of 1,000 anonymous New Yorkers, follow a path forged by no one in particular.

From small and ubiquitous markers to massive bespoke steel numerals, this longstanding Greenpoint signage company helps New Yorkers navigate the city.

For activists, scientists, and designers, images from the river's past hold the key to imagining its future.