TOPIC

Public Art

Tide and Current

Over more than 20 years, an artist ferrying passengers through New York’s waterways in small boats has shared a unique vantage on an always-changing island city.

New City Critics

A Labor of Love

Up a marble staircase, in the attic of City Hall, a trio of civil servants steward an eclectic archive of city objects.

New City Critics

The Plaza Paradox

In the shadow of the Flatiron, a writer spends an hour conducting her own public space audit.

The Artist Is Present

What happens when artists embed within city government? For ten years, New York’s Public Artists in Residence have been building bridges and breaking down walls between the civic and the public.

New City Critics

No Rest for the Whimsy

Multiple spins on an elaborate underwater-themed carousel reveal the importance of wonder in the public realm.

The Tempest

As midsummer nights get hotter and wetter, outdoor performance venues and workers are adapting.

New City Critics

Chisholm Town

A larger than life figure is honored across a growing landscape of commemorative parks, buildings, and place names.

New City Critics

The Invisible Arch

Public art proposals are a highly contested terrain. But the processes for the commissions themselves escape scrutiny.

New City Critics

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?

The Power Issue

A newspaper from the future imagines how New Yorkers defeat fascism, defend public power, electrify everything, and protect each other from flooding.