The Flatiron NoMad Partnership today announced it will present the New York City debut of Control No Control – a large-scale interactive installation by digital art studio Iregular – on the Flatiron North Plaza at Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street, as the centerpiece of its new Winter Glow holiday programming.
Presented in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program (NYC DOT Art), Control No Control will be on view from November 30, 2023, through January 1, 2024, creating a highly visible landmark in the heart of Manhattan’s vibrant Flatiron and NoMad neighborhoods this winter.
This summer New Yorkers and visitors strolling through the Flatiron District are being asked to respond to the prompt “Art is…” by writing their thoughts and feelings — in words and images — about what art in chalk on a public art installation. The response has been overwhelming, with passersby filling the installation’s two boxes with chalk messages every Thursday evening.
Image courtesy Miriam German and Flatiron NoMad Partnership
This Memorial Day weekend, the Flatiron NoMad Partnership will host a free Memorial Day-themed historic walking tour on Sunday, May 28. The tour, “From Decoration Day to Memorial Day,” led by historian and author Miriam Berman, will give visitors an insight into the history of Memorial Day in the Flatiron NoMad District.
It appears that the winning bidder is yet to be determined. On March 22nd, on the steps of the Manhattan County Courthouse, the historic Flatiron Building, located at 175 Fifth Avenue, went up for auction. The highest bidder, Jacob Garlick of Abraham Trust, appeared to have won the building with his winning bid of $190 million.
Next Auction, May 23, 2023 at 7:30pm on the steps of the New York County Courthouse. And the winner is…..Jeffrey Gural. According to 1010Wins, Gural, chairman of GFP Real Estate, had the winning bid of $161 million. More in The Commercial Observer.
“We accomplished our goal, which is to end our relationship with Nathan Silverstein and own the building 100%,” Gural said. “It’s a relief because for the last 30 years I’ve needed his consent on everything. Sometimes we agreed. Sometimes we didn’t.”
Image Courtesy Hirmer Publishers and Grey Art Gallery, New York University
Join Lynn Gumpert, director of New York University’s Grey Art Gallery, and Debra Bricker Balken, independent curator, on March 2nd for a conversation about Americans in Paris: Artists Working in Postwar France, 1946–1962, published by Hirmer Publishers and Grey Art Gallery, NYU.
Jovan C. Speller, Deeply Rooted, 2017, Van Dyke brown print, 8.5 x 8.5 inches
Pen + Brush is pleased to present its first exhibition of 2023, The Ripening curated by Parker Daley Garcia with Birdie Piccininni, opening February 16th and open to the public through May20th. Loosely based on Édouard Glissant’s book of the same name, The Ripening puts forth a shared process, where trauma, fluidity, and choice intersect, as a way of exploring the state of identity, specifically, gendered (or lack thereof) identity today. Artists here explore various states of ‘otherhood’, pain, desire, and power as ways of self-actualizing identity. Much like the process of ripening, this exhibition blurs the realms of dream and reality as it explores the capacity and fluidity of gender to become and, indeed, unbecome. Works put forth here document and envision complexities of differences in our shared world. Multitudes are put forth, as are universal truths, while hedging toward a dynamic and unpredictable future.
Opening January 2023, Havah…to breathe, air, life Merges Sikander’s Explorations into Sculpture and Video in an Exhibition That Reconsiders Traditional Representations of Power
Significant new works on the theme of justice by artist Shahzia Sikander are featured in a major multimedia exhibition at Madison Square Park. Presented simultaneously in the park and at the adjacent Courthouse of the Appellate Division, First Department of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the exhibition Havah…to breathe, air, life features two new large-scale sculptures—one within the park that can be transformed through augmented reality and another atop the Courthouse rooftop, the first female figure to adorn one of its ten plinths. Additionally, a recent video animation by Sikander will be on view in the park, visually intertwining the distinct elements. The exhibition is a culmination of Sikander’s exploration of female representation in monuments and marks her first major, site-specific outdoor exhibition in sculptural form. Havah…to breathe, air, lifeis co-commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy and Public Art of the University of Houston System (Public Art UHS). The exhibition will be on view in New York from January 17 through June 4, 2023, before traveling to Houston.
As the exhibition opens, we must congratulate the artist on being awarded the Pollock Prize for Creativity. “The Pollock-Krasner Foundation announced it has awarded the Pollock Prize for Creativity to artistShahzia Sikander. The $50,000 award honors Sikander’s exhibition Havah…to breathe, air, life, opening today, January 17, at Madison Square Park and the neighboring Courthouse of the Appellate Division, First Department of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.” (continued at the end of this post).
Fotografiska New York is pleased to present a new exhibition that traces hip-hop’s origins—starting in the Bronx in 1973, as a social movement by-and-for the local community of African, Latino, and Caribbean Americans—to the worldwide phenomenon it has become 50 years later. Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious amplifies the individual creatives involved in the movement while surveying interwoven focus areas such as the set of women who trail blazed amid hip-hop’s male dominated environment; hip-hop’s regional and stylistic diversification; and the turning point when hip-hop became a billion-dollar industry that continues to mint global household names.
Hip Hop: Conscious, Unconscious is a major new exhibition of over 200 photographs, dated 1972 to 2022, traces the rise and proliferation of hip-hop through five decades of work from the trailblazing image-makers who helped codify hip-hop as the most influential pop culture movement of its generation. Ranging from iconic staples of visual culture (presented with new context) to rare and intimate portraits of hip-hop’s biggest stars, the works on view traverse intersecting themes such as the role of women in hip-hop; hip-hop’s regional and stylistic diversification and rivalries; a humanistic lens into the 1970s-Bronx street gangs whose members contributed to the birth of hip-hop; and the mainstream breakthrough that saw a grassroots movement become a global phenomenon.
Opening January 2023, Havah…to breathe, air, life Merges Sikander’s Explorations into Sculpture and Video in an Exhibition That Reconsiders Traditional Representations of Power
Significant new works on the theme of justice by artist Shahzia Sikander are featured in a major multimedia exhibition at Madison Square Park. Presented simultaneously in the park and at the adjacent Courthouse of the Appellate Division, First Department of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the exhibition Havah…to breathe, air, life features two new large-scale sculptures—one within the park that can be transformed through augmented reality and another atop the Courthouse rooftop, the first female figure to adorn one of its ten plinths. Additionally, a recent video animation by Sikander will be on view in the park, visually intertwining the distinct elements. The exhibition is a culmination of Sikander’s exploration of female representation in monuments and marks her first major, site-specific outdoor exhibition in sculptural form. Havah…to breathe, air, lifeis co-commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy and Public Art of the University of Houston System (Public Art UHS). The exhibition will be on view in New York from January 17 through June 4, 2023, before traveling to Houston.
As the exhibition opens, we must congratulate the artist on being awarded the Pollock Prize for Creativity. The Pollock-Krasner Foundation announced it has awarded the Pollock Prize for Creativity to artistShahzia Sikander. The $50,000 award honors Sikander’s exhibitionHavah…to breathe, air, life, opening today, January 17, at Madison Square Park and the neighboring Courthouse of the Appellate Division, First Department of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
Charles Mingus. Courtesy of Jazz Workshop, Inc. ~ Jazz at Lincoln Center Celebrates Mingus at 100!
From The Winter Show, this year held at 660 Madison, to The Whitney Biennial ~ From a living wall in Times Square to the much awaited Jean-Michel Basquiat: KingPleasure ~ From Winslow’s Homer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Mingus at 100 ~ From the Fifth Avenue Easter Parade to the New York Landmarks Conservancy 2022 Lucy G. Moses Awards and ~ ahhhh, Coffee in the NUDE at Fotografiska ~ April is back on track. Here are a few suggestions.
Let us not forget January 6th ~ and ‘The Daily Show’ added to that sentiment with a tong-in-cheek installation entitled ‘Heroes of the Freedomsurrection’ on view on the anniversary of January 6th. We were sorry to miss this one-day installation, but did capture some images from The Daily Show on Instagram, below.
30 female-identifying artists from 20 different countries diversely explore the female gaze in this exhibition centered on the naked body in contemporary photography.
NUDE is a collection of images that portray the body through beautiful, disruptive, and experimental lenses, seeking to subvert the historically predominant male gaze and celebrate the human form.
What do you think would happen if you dropped a self-described media artist/creative technologist into a free and open environment to consider technology as a canvas. Meet Barak Chamo – current Artist-in-Residence at Materials for the Arts. In his new exhibition, Everything and Nothing at All, presented by Materials for the Arts at ChaShama 14th Street, the artist attempts to embody the challenges of living in an invisibly despotic digital age.
Credit: Martin Beck, Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership
The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership and Van Alen Institute will unveil the winner of the eighth annual Flatiron Public Plaza Holiday Design Competition: Interwoven, an interactive installation by design firm Atelier Cho Thompson. Interwoven will be on view November 22, 2021–January 2, 2022 in the Flatiron North Public Plaza on Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street, creating a highly visible landmark in the heart of Manhattan throughout the holidays.
Join the Flatiron 23rd Street Partnership and Van Alen Institute in a preview of its tenth annual “23 Days of Flatiron Cheer” and unveiling of Interwoven on Monday, November 22nd from 5:30 ~ 7:30pm on the Flatiron North Public Plaza, 23rd Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue. The festive event will feature remarks by organizers and Interwoven’s designers; live music from The Jazz Gallery; a raffle to win holiday gifts from local businesses and free hot beverages and small bites from local favorites Shake Shack, Flatiron Plate, and Eataly. Attendees will receive NYC souvenirs gifted by Memories of New Yorkwhile supplies last and can enter a raffle to win prizes from Center for Book Arts, Hole in The Wall, Gotham Glow, Project Gaia, Scampi, and Taïm.
Courtesy the Tin Pan Alley American Popular Music Project
TheTin Pan Alley American Popular Music Project in collaboration with the Flatiron 23rd Street Partnership will present a free, outdoor public concert at the Flatiron North Plaza on 23rd Street/Broadway on Saturday, October 23, 2021 from 12:00 Noon to 4:00 PM. The event will feature more than two dozen leading performers of Tin Pan Alley music and the Great American Songbook. The rain date is Sunday, October 24.
The Stone Age, New York City’s premiere immersive, multi-sensory cannabis experience, will welcome its first ticket holders on October 1st Located at 607 Avenue of the Americas in the Flatiron District. The limited-run pop-up is designed to offer participants a unique, captivating experience dedicated to cultivating awareness on the wellness and lifestyle benefits of cannabis.
Free Historic Walking Tours of NYC’s Flatiron District
Another sign that New York has thrown open its doors to ‘Back to Normal‘ is the news that The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership’s Historic Flatiron Walking Tours will return to an in-person format on Sunday, July 18, 2021, at 11:00 AM for the first time since the COVID pandemic began. Following a year of virtual tours, the Partnership’s professional guides will return to the streets, leading groups on a fascinating stroll through the historic and vibrant Flatiron District. The tours are FREE and will take place every Sunday morning at 11:00 AM, rain or shine, year-round. No advance registration is required.
Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, Fotografiska New York opens its doors to an exciting lineup of new exhibitions ~ and did you know that throughout August, 2021, for every ticket purchased, you may bring a friend for Free!
Image via Maya Lin Studio, image gallery, Madison Square Park Conservancy
At a time when New Yorkers are cherishing outdoor space ~ from pocket-parks to Central Park, the Madison Square Park Conservancy is preparing to unveil a much anticipated (and delayed) commissioned work by sculptor artist/environmental activist, Maya Lin, with her thoughtful and relevant installations entitled Ghost Forest.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 15: A view of the coffeehouse Central Perk on display at the opening of the Flagship FRIENDS Experience on March 15, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
The wildly popular Friends Experience is back and is scheduled to have its grand opening in NYC and re-opening in Chicago on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Created by Superfly X, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Warner Bros. Television Group, fans can explore Friends like never before with set re-creations, original props and costumes, photo ops and more.
Eisenbergs Sandwich Shop, 175 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District
Update September, 2022 ~ Under a new management with the new name S&P (court street grocers) or @Sandplunch, we hear from @vanishingny that the new owners have pretty much kept the integrity of the original Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, and expect to open mid September.
We haven’t been in a while ~ a long while. But then, we haven’t been anywhere in quite a long while because of COVID-19. So it was today, with a heavy heart, that we read that the beloved Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, which opened in the heart of Ladies Mile in 1929, closed its doors (2021).
photo by Nika KramerMural by 1UP Crew, Urban Spree, Berlin 2017
Fotografiska New York will be hosting the NYC screening of Utopia Films ‘Martha: A Picture Story’, a portrait of trailblazing photographer Martha Cooper.
Lola Flash, BLM Demo in Harlem from the series “syzygy, the vision” 2020; Photograph, dye sublimation print on metal; 24 x 36 inches
Pen + Brush will reopen its doors to the timely exhibition entitled, Isolation to Revolution/Rebirth to Dissent, bringing together the work of seven artists with a range of perspectives on reflection in this moment in time.
Fotografiska New York re-opened its doors on August 28th, 2020, and is excited to finally present its new exhibitions, as we approach Fall. The doors will open on specific days and times, and with enhanced COVID-19 safety measures, which you can find at the end of this post.
Manhattan College and the EVAC Project (Experiencing Veterans & Artists Collaboration), with support from the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership and GFP Real Estate, opened a new pop-up gallery of portraits honoring veterans from multiple generations and all branches of service, on the ground-floor of New York City’s famed Flatiron Building (949 Broadway) on Sunday, November 10.
Hippo Ballerina at Lincoln Center District in 2017 in Dante Park
The Flatiron Partnership just welcomed Hippo Ballerina, by Danish artist Bjørn Okholm Skaarup, to the South Plaza. Inspired by Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Petite danseuse de quatorze ans) and the dancing hippos of Walt Disney’s Fantasia, Hippo Ballerina vividly illustrates the artist’s ability to reinterpret subjects and themes found in ancient myths, art history, modern animation, and contemporary popular culture in playful ways that engage the viewer.
After months of anticipation, Fotografiska New York, the internationally renowned destination for photography based in Stockholm, opened its doors in the historic 281 Park Avenue South building.
Be sure to check the calendar events which include Fotografiska Mindfulness Fridays (January 24th), the Members Only Film Screening ~ The Times of Bill Cunningham, and much more.
Stay tuned (above) for March, 2020 with upcoming exhibition and reception for photographer Julie Blackmon entitled Fever Dreams to be held on March 5th (and on view through May 3, 2020).
Image credit: Suchitra Mattai, Shadow Land, 2019, gouache, watercolor, oil, acrylic, vintage needlepoint, Hindu comic, 30″ x 40″ x 1.50.” Courtesy of the artist and K Contemporary, Denver, CO.
Women’s Work presents five global contemporary artists-activists who continue to expand the definition of women’s work and expose its complexity, nuance, and ever-evolving nature. Through dynamic art practices, they generously lend their intelligence, thoughtfulness, artistry and agency to reimagine women’s work as arts activism in the 21st century.
Artist, Willie Cole ~ Car Free Earth Day in The Garment District
Car Free Earth Day 2019 is an annual car-free event held on the Saturday immediately following Earth Day. The Event opens thirty blocks of Broadway from Times Square to Union Square from 9am to 3pm. Within this area, there are six rest stop that include Times Square (42nd Street & Broadway); The Garment District (38th Street & Broadway); Herald Square(34th Street & Broadway); City Zone (26th Street & Broadway); Flatiron (23rd Street & Broadway); and Union Square (17th Street & Broadway). Programming and activités presented by (AIA New York + NYC Department of Transportation (DOT). Take a walk with us…….
New York State Appellate Division of the Supreme Court located at 27 Madison Avenue, NYC
On a cold winter night a few years ago, we arrived early to an art installation opening at the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership Triangle, and looking for a place to warm up, a volunteer asked if we had ever seen the interior of the Appellate Division Courthouse, just on the other side of Madison Square Park. It was a delightful surprise.
Jorge Palacios ‘Link’ arrived at Flatiron Plaza North, adjacent to Madison Square Park. The installation is a monumental work created from accoya wood, measuring approximately 13 feet high by 10 feet wide, located across from the Flatiron Building,
Now on view on The 8th Floor, Sedimentations: Assemblage as Social Repair ~ an exhibition exploring strategies of reuse in their art making, and incorporating found and repurposed materials, from accumulation and assemblage, to the construction of landscapes and discrete objects, that reference a multitude of timescales and politics.
Terrain Workis bringing Spring to the City for Earth Day, April 21st, with the 36-foot exhibit Broadway Bouquet ~ an installation of monumental scale, placed in parking spaces to inspire and imagine less cars, more green space.
Pen + Brush Inc. will kick-off the New Year with a retrospective of the work of photographer, Lola Flash, spanning more than three decades of her work in the New York City art scene.
On the left, we have Swoon, classically trained (Pratt), well-known street artist specializing in life-size wheatpaste prints and paper cutouts of figures, often politically movitaved. She gained recognition after a solo show at Deitch’s SoHo gallery in 2005, attracting the attention of The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her solo show “Submerged Motherlands” at the Brooklyn Museum in 2014 was the museum’s first exhibition dedicated to a living street artist.
On the right, we have Jeffrey Deitch of Coney Art Walls, Wynwood Walls and Art in theStreets exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art in L.A., not to mention the author of several books on the subject, including a monograph on Keith Haring published by Rizzoli, and a partnershipwith the Goldman Group on The Bowery Art Wall. Deitch Projects produced over 250 projects with artists from thirty-three countries ~ an impressive and lengthy list.
What’s This? Five new bee hives in Madison Square Park
Madison Square Park is now home to five new Bee Hives! The newest members of the Madison Square Park garden don’t yet appear on the website, and most park-goers aren’t yet aware of their presence. But if you look closely along the east and west sides of the park, you will find the open-faced wooden structures. We were fortunate to get a tour of each of the hives by park employee, Marvin Burgos.
