26/2/2000
Greater New York @ PS1
MoMA PS1, New York
PS1 Contemporary Art Center and the Museum of Modern Art showcase new artistic talent in their first collaborative exhibition.
Long Island City, NY (February 7, 2000)-P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and The Museum of Modern Art present their first curatorial collaboration with Greater New York, an unprecedented, joint exhibition enterprise. Working cooperatively since October 1999, curators from P.S.1 and MoMA have produced an exhibition that will showcase more than 140 artists who have emerged as vital, creative voices in their field over the past five years.
Greater New York will open Sunday, February 27 at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, New York.
The Greater New York exhibition embodies the diversity of ideas and creative practices found in the metropolitan area. From the five boroughs and lower Westchester County to New Jersey, the combined staff of MoMA and P.S.1 have scoured the New York metropolitan area in search of young artists who are breaking new ground. The work will span mediums--from painting, sculpture, photography, drawings, and prints, to site-specific installations and video projections. Greater New York presents a range and balance between artists who have become prominent since 1995 and those artists who have yet to gain wide-spread public recognition. The Greater New York exhibition will occupy nearly all of P.S.1's spaces and galleries.
"Greater New York, the first significant curatorial collaboration between P.S.1 and MoMA, embodies our shared interest in contemporary art and artists and reflects the diversity and dynamism of the metropolitan area's artistic community," remarked Glenn D. Lowry, Director of The Museum of Modern Art.
"This exhibition is not necessarily a comprehensive survey of the New York art scene, but an investigation or a report on ideas recently generated by artists," said Alanna Heiss, Director of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center. "Greater New York is a creative laboratory of massive proportions that combines the curatorial talents of two distinct institutions. The artists reveal what it is to be a New Yorker at the beginning of a new era. They anticipate the future while at the same time grant us an opportunity to examine their collective and individual potential."
To organize this exhibition, some 30 curatorial staff members from P.S.1 and MoMA reviewed the work of more than 2000 artists, conducted extensive slide reviews, and visited more than 250 studios in the New York area. Mr. Lowry and Ms. Heiss, with Tom Finkelpearl (Programming Director of P.S.1), led a group of curators who oversaw the organization of the exhibition. They are, from P.S.1: Brian O'Doherty (P.S.1 Associate Director), Klaus Biesenbach (Senior Curator), Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Senior Curator), and Russell Haswell (Adjunct Curator); and from MoMA: Paulo Herkenhoff (Adjunct Curator, Painting and Sculpture), Laura Hoptman (Assistant Curator, Drawings), and Deborah Wye (Chief Curator, Prints and Illustrated Books), among others. Studio visits were undertaken by all members of this core team as well as other staff members of P.S.1 and curators from all departments at MoMA.
In addition, P.S.1 and MoMA have initiated the Greater New York writing project: a collection of essays by writers from New York who have been invited to contribute critical essays for the exhibition. These essays will be featured, interactively, online at www.ps1.org along with images of works in the exhibition. The project will serve as the official documentation of the Greater New York exhibition and will be available on CD-ROM with an accompanying booklet. Several public dialogues between artists and writers will take place each Sunday afternoon in April (times/location TBA).
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center maintains a full program of retrospectives, one-person exhibitions, thematic exhibitions and international group shows that have extended its reach from Japan to Russia. On this occasion, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center pursues its on-going quest for uncharted territory in its immediate surroundings: the artists of the city of New York.
The international nature of the city becomes apparent as native New Yorkers share galleries with artists from around the world who have elected New York as their home.
Greater New York is made possible by Peter Norton, Norton Family Foundation. Generous support provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Inc. Additional funding provided by the Board of Directors of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Robert J. Denison, the Douglas S. Cramer Foundation, The Contemporary Arts Council and The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art, and by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center Background: P.S.1 was founded in 1971 by Alanna Heiss as The Institute of Art and Urban Resources Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the transformation of abandoned and underutilized buildings in New York City into exhibition, performance, and studio spaces for artists. The Center now operates two internationally acclaimed spaces for contemporary art: P.S.1 in Long Island City and The Clocktower Gallery in Tribeca, both of which contain museum-quality galleries and extensive studio facilities for the National and International Studio Program. P.S.1 is one of the largest and oldest arts organization in the United States solely devoted to contemporary art. Recognized as a defining force of the alternative space movement, P.S.1 stands out from major arts institutions in its cutting edge approach to exhibitions and direct involvement of artists within a scholarly framework. P.S.1 acts as an intermediary between the artist and its audience. Functioning as a living and active meeting place for the general public, P.S.1 is a catalyst for ideas, discourses and new trends in contemporary art. With its educational programs, P.S.1 assists the public in understanding art and provides the tools to appreciate contemporary art and its practices.
Funding: P.S.1 receives annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs towards operating costs. Programs of P.S.1 are supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Office of the President of the Borough of Queens, The Council of New York City, the P.S.1 Board of Directors, the New York State Council of the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by foundations, corporate and individual contributions, and membership and admission donations.
Directions: P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center is located just across the Queensboro Bridge from midtown Manhattan, at the intersection of Jackson and 46th Avenues, in Long Island City. It is easily accessible by bus and subway.
Traveling by subway, visitors should take either E or F to 23 Street-Ely Avenue; the 7 to 45 Road-Courthouse Square; or the G to Court Square or 21 Street-Van Alst. They may also take the Q67 bus to Jackson and 46th Avenues or the B61 to Jackson Avenue.
Hours and P.S.1 is open from noon to 6:00 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.
Admission: $5.00 suggested donation, $2.00 for students and senior citizens, members free.
The Museum of Modern Art
Background: MoMA has the foremost collection of twentieth-century art in the world and is visited by some 1.8 million people yearly. From an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing given at its founding in 1929, the Museum's collection has grown to include more than 100,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects. MoMA also owns some 14,000 films and four million film stills, as well as more than 200,000 books, artist books, and periodicals. A still larger public is served by the Museum's ambitious national and international programs of circulating exhibitions, its active publishing program, its library, and its educational activities, including its Web site, www.moma.org. MoMA is located at 11 West 53 Street in Midtown Manhattan.
For more press information contact:
P.S.1
Juliette Cook, P.S.1 Press Officer
T: (718) 784-2084/ F: (718) 482-9454/ juliette@ps1.org http://www.ps1.org
William Murray T:(212) 254-1357 or wilmurray@aol.com
The Museum of Modern Art
Jessica Ferraro, Publicist, Department of Communications
T: (212) 708-9757/F: (212) 708-9691/jessica_ferraro@moma.org http://www.moma.org
Public Reception Sunday, February 27, 12-6pm