The Whitney Museum of American Art is offering free admission to all visitors on Saturday, April 22, in celebration of both Earth Day and the final weekend of its landmark exhibition no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria.
For one weekend only, the Museum will have three exhibitions on view that, in part, address the environment, climate change, or our relationship to the land.
Free tickets for April 22 are available while supplies last. Advanced tickets are strongly recommended; visit whitney.org/tickets.
They include:
- no existe un mundo poshuracán, the first survey of Puerto Rican art by a major U.S. art museum in 50 years, which closes on April 23.
- Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map, celebrates five decades of artwork by the groundbreaking artist Jaune Quick-To-See Smith. The exhibition offers a new framework to consider contemporary Native American art by exploring pressing issues of land, racism, and cultural preservation. Opens on April 19.
- Josh Kline: Project for a New American Century, the first U.S. museum survey of Josh Kline’s work, spanning 15 years and including the debut of installations and moving image works that address the urgency of the climate crisis. Opens on April 19.
In addition, from 11 AM to 3 PM, a climate-related drop-in art program for kids of all ages will be held in the Hess Family Theater and Hearst Artspace on the Museum’s third floor. The program is led by no existe un mundo poshuracánartist and Manhattan native Gabriela Salazar, whose outdoor installation Reclamation uses coffee—Puerto Rico’s most historically-significant crop—to explore how the islands of Puerto Rico and Manhattan are connected and vulnerable to rising sea levels. Families are invited to join Salazar and experiment with coffee-clay to make artworks inspired by her installation and artistic practice.
Free tickets for April 22 are available while supplies last. Advanced tickets are strongly recommended; visit whitney.org/tickets.
The Whitney’s Activity Guide for kids (in English and Spanish) also gives families the opportunity to explore the themes of no existe un mundo poshuracán independently.
“Art is a powerful way to process complex subjects,” says Cris Scorza, the Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education. “The Whitney is a safe space for thoughtful discussion, debate, and reflection. We encourage as many New Yorkers as possible to visit this Earth Day—for free—to discover the varying ways artists are addressing climate change, the land, and the environment through their work.”
To date, thousands of visitors have already seen no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake Of Hurricane Maria (press release here), which opened on November 23, 2022, and is curated by Whitney DeMartini Family Curator Marcela Guerrero. The exhibition brings together an intergenerational group of twenty artists from Puerto Rico and the diaspora whose work responds to the transformative five years since Hurricane Maria—a high-end category-four storm that hit Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. Through over 50 works, these artists address the larger devastation exacerbated by historic events that preceded and followed this defining moment.
To see the exhibition in its final weeks, visitors can get tickets at whitney.org. In addition to the free day on April 22, kids and teens are always free at the Whitney, and Members enjoy any time admission when they show their membership cards. The Museum also offers a suite of free and discounted ticket offerings, including pay-what-you-wish Friday evenings.
The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at 99 Gansevoort Street in the historic Meat Packing District, NYC.