An event celebrating
The Museum of Modern Art's
move from midtown Manhattan
to MoMA QNS in Long Island City

June 23, 2002
9 am - noon

The Modern Procession, organized by artist Francis Alÿs and presented by the Public Art Fund in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art, was modeled after a traditional ritual procession. Beginning in front of MoMA at 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue at 9 am, the procession paraded through midtown Manhattan, crossed the Queensboro Bridge into Long Island City, marched along Queens Boulevard, and ended at the door of MoMA QNS (33rd Street at Queens Boulevard). Both festive and ceremonial, the procession made the museum's historic transition both visible and public, linking the two boroughs in a spectacular and memorable way.

A 12-member Peruvian brass band, Banda de Santa Cecilia, set the pace for the procession. Over 150 uniformed participants carried reproductions of MoMA's most famous works--by artists Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and Alberto Giacometti--on hand-held wooden carriages. The presence of these reproductions, like Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon, paid homage to the history of MoMA while celebrating the new cultural and economic potential of bringing art into the streets. Artist Kiki Smith served as a representative of contemporary art. Carried by fellow participants, Smith lead a spectacle of people who marched holding banners and dogs and scattering rose petals.

Artist Bio
Francis Alÿs was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1959. His artistic practice falls into many genres-drawing, painting, video, film, and photography-but the starting point for each finished object is always performative action. In 1990, he began performing paseos-walks-in which he traveled on foot around Mexico City's central downtown area. He is particularly interested in creating contemporary fables that are witnessed, discussed, rumored, and remembered by many.

Alÿs has participated in the Venice Biennale, the São Paulo International Bienal, and the Lima Iberoamericana Bienial; he has also exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; and Castello di Rivoli, Torino, Italy. He lives in Mexico City.

Sponsorship
The Modern Procession was a project of Francis Alÿs and the Public Art Fund, and presented in conjunction with Projects 76: Francis Alÿs, on view at MoMA QNS, June 29-September 11, 2002.

Location
The procession began at 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue, crossed the Queensboro Bridge, and ended at MoMA QNS at 33rd St. and Queens Blvd.