Elmgreen & Dragset, Kehinde Wiley and Stan Douglas unveil installations at New York's Moynihan Station

ArtIIby

Elmgreen & Dragset, Kehinde Wiley and Stan Douglas unveil installations at New York's Moynihan Station
Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY

A stained-glass triptych depicting the power of Black bodies, rendered in the style of classical European fresco, crowns SOM’s newly opened Moynihan Train Hall in New York. Meanwhile, another hall has a crowded cityscape hanging from its ceiling.

These are two of a trio of permanent art installations commissioned by Public Art Fund for the long-awaited 45,150 sqm Pennsylvania Station expansion, which opened to the public on 1 January 2021.

Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY

Kehinde Wiley designed his stained-glass installation using a foreshortening technique pioneered in 18th-century Europe to manipulate perception, giving the impression that his figures of Black and Brown people are ascending into heaven, mid-motion.

Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY

Mischievous art duo Elmgreen & Dragset have suspended a 1:1000 architectural model of a surreal international cityscape from the ceiling of the 31st Street Mid-block Entrance hall, with miniature skyscrapers and towers jutting down towards commuters

Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY

Finally, Canadian artist Stan Douglas pays homage to the original Beaux-Arts Penn Station designed by McKim, Mead & White, which was razed to make way for Madison Square Garden in 1963. Nine photographic panels reconstruct little-known moments from the building’s 50-year history, using materials drawn from archives, restaged and photographed with actors in costume.

The works are on permanent display – find out more about their dizzying details.

Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY
Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY
Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY
Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY
Photography: Nicholas Knight, courtesy Empire State Development and Public Art Fund, NY

Daniel Buren and Philippe Parreno conjure neon spectres in their Paris show

Newsletter

Want news delivered to your inbox?

Newsletter

Receive a hand-picked selection of our best articles, delivered to you every week.