MoMA PS1’s 50th birthday bash saw 8,000 people attend the most joyful block party in NYC
In honor of their 50th anniversary, the city’s largest free museum in Long Island City, Queens, invited the whole city to celebrate — and more than 8,000 people showed up to dance, make art, check out the local food vendors, participate in family workshops, see the documentary “Fly In Power” and wander through the brand new group show that fills two floors, “Greater New York.”
“I’m so thrilled to welcome all of you here today to celebrate MoMA PS1’s 50th anniversary,” museum director Connie Butler said in her opening remarks. “This is our first block party, and I can say it’s a huge success, because all of you are here. So thank you for coming and celebrating. Today, we are also celebrating our ‘Greater New York’ exhibition, which just opened two days ago, so you’re among the first to see it. ‘Greater New York’ is an every-five-years celebration of all the incredible artists and creatives in the five boroughs and beyond.”
“We’ve been working on the block party for about five months,” Chief Curator Ruba Katrib told us later. “It’s really a full staff effort.”
Lady Pink, one of the first wave of notable NYC graffiti artists, was on hand to guide registered participants as they made their marks on extensive walls. Pink, whose work adorns the outside of PS1, had a great time with her role.
“It’s fun to see people exploring their artistic side and having a go at it,” she said. “Spray paint is, get it done quick, instant gratification, and when people try it out they realize how easy it is and how much fun art can be. Some museums make art seem stuffy and boring, but here they’re just having fun, no pressure.”
And what did she think of the results? “It’s a wonderful mess,” she concluded.
R+B/Jazz singer Carmel St. Hilaire stopped spraying for a minute to confirm Pink’s theory.
“I’ve never done it before,” she admitted. “But I understand why people do this – it’s really fun!”
Also having fun were the multitudes of folks, including lots of kids, who grabbed chalk and added to the free-for-all art fest on the chalk wall.
The Teen Art Salon, a non-profit organization “that supports, develops, and promotes adolescent artists, and demystifies the process of starting a career as an artist,” lent their prodigies out to provide free portraits for teens, kids and babies.
Among other community-oriented booths, the people from the City Council’s Participatory Budgeting office were there to gather opinions that would help to decide directly how to spend part of a public budget.
Tunes were provided first by Discolocas NYC Fiesta Club, with DJ’s Linda and Loly rocking a set that featured Funk, Latin House, Salsa, Cumbia, and more. Dancers from the Queens Boro Dance Festival demonstrated their prowess and shared the floor with willing partners of all ages.
Later, the decks were taken over by DJ Chill and DJ Jo Vill from the Brooklyn collective known as Saint James Joy, who inspired a little friendly competition on the dance floor.
Inside the museum, rooms were filled with a diverse crowd admiring the equally diverse group show, a wild, sprawling survey of 53 artists that utilized everything from photography to fish bones. Video, sculpture, installations, the use of sound … you may not like everything, but it’s all worth seeing.
Back outside, the courtyard was packed with a crowd who were either dancing or bopping to the music, and one thing was for sure — there were a whole lot of smiles.
For more info on MoMA PS1, check out momaps1.org.
