MoMA PS1 invites evening visits and courtyard exhibits

An installation from Rashid Johnson is front and center of PS1’s courtyard exhibitions this season. Photo courtesy of PS1

By Rachel Vick

MoMA PS1 is gearing up for summer with extended hours and new courtyard exhibitions at the Long Island City space.

“PS1 COURTYARD: an experiment in creative ecologies” features work from three artists with Brooklyn-based Rashid Johnson’s “Stage” at the center.

“Courtyards are, by their nature, meeting places between built environments,” said MoMA PS1 Director Kate Fowle. “Through these initiatives, we are metaphorically breaking down the concrete walls and transforming the courtyard into a year-round laboratory for exploring the potential of equitable, sustainable, and creative interaction that can test out future thinking for new models of how and why we gather, and whose voices and narratives are amplified.”

The interactive installation examines the power of voice and potential functions of public space, including as a platform for ideas, art and advocacy.

Messages read into the exhibit’s microphones will be saved and rebroadcast throughout the courtyard, and the stage can function as a platform for outdoor programming.

Also on view are Niki de Saint Phalle’s “La femme et L’oiseau fontaine” and a new site-specific installation from Raul de Nieves.

Nieves’ “The Stories of the Past Rejoice through Children’s Skies” adorn the courtyard walls behind the fountain with stained glass-like windows inspired by Mexican tradition and the fantasy of Saint Phalle’s pieces.

PS1 will be open until 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays. Guests are still required to reserve timed tickets.