Connected Spaces

Inspired by Public Art Fund’s citywide exhibition Ai Weiwei: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

What connects us? Join Public Art Fund and the Children’s Museum of the Arts to create a collaborative sculpture that all participants can sit inside! Using string and other textiles, visitors to the park will work together to create their own inclusive space for sitting, thinking, and engaging with one another. Participants will also be asked to write “messages of hope” to connect to the sculpture, creating a visual message of resilience and inclusion, while also considering temporary housing structures. The program relates to Public Art Fund’s citywide exhibition, Ai Weiwei: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, the artist’s passionate response to the global migration crisis and a reflection on the profound social and political impulse to divide people from each other. Among the largest works in the show is Gilded Cage, on view at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park (60th & 5th) Oct 12, 2017 – Feb 11, 2018.

This program is presented as part of “It’s Happening! Celebrating 50 Years of Public Art in NYC Parks”.

This year NYC Parks is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Art in the Parks program. Since its creation in 1967, Art in the Parks has featured over 2,000 works of art. On Saturday, October 21, NYC Parks is transforming Central Park into a stage, museum, and art studio for a free day of public art to celebrate this milestone. Art lovers, families, and park-goers will be delighted by free art exhibits, performances, and hands-on art workshops in Central Park’s beautiful East Pinetum field.

As NYC Parks’ public art program took shape in the 1960s, artistic events called “happenings” popped up in parks across the city. Blurring the line between art and everyday life, these fleeting performances combined sculpture, music, theater, dance, and poetry. They varied in size and sophistication, but always relied on audience participation.

NYC Parks’ 50th anniversary celebration “It’s Happening!” captures the same creative spirit with dynamic public artworks, hands-on workshops, and performances.

For more information about NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program, please visit http://nyc.gov/parks/art

Image: Liz Ligon