PS1 - World Class Modern Art In Long Island City

Long Island City / Fall 2008. PS1 Contemporary Art Center is the brain child of Alanna Heiss who continues to manage the artistic direction of the museum. In the early seventies, she founded an organization dedicated to identifying unused urban spaces in New York city to use for art exhibitions. At the time the city was suffering from the ravages of urban unrest, poverty, drugs and violence. It was during the seventies that the city government nearly collapsed financially, so there were a lot of unutilized buildings / space.

In 1971 when it was founded, PS1 was called the Institute For Art and Urban Resources, Inc. Today it is widely known as PS1, which is a name it received after moving into an abandoned public school building [Public School One = PS1] in the mid seventies, and which continues to this day to be the current home of the institution.

The museum has long been active as an exhibition museum versus a ‘collecting’ museum. Hence artists from all around the world proffer their work as candidates for exhibitions conceived by the museum. Many of the projects started at PS1 frequently travel around the nation to other contemporary art museums.

In the mid / late nineties, the museum underwent a huge renovation project, which essentially modernized the structure of the old building and reformatted the space to provide a more enabling venue, while still preserving its architectural beauty, history and roots.

In the year 2000 MOMA and PS1 struck a deal, the particulars of which I am not familiar, such that PS1 became a MOMA Art Affiliate. At the time MOMA had closed its own museum for renovations and had temporarily ‘moved’ its public exhibits out to Long Island city in a fairly small space just off Queens Blvd, near the subway.

I went to the final MOMA exhibition in a rather non-descript windowless warehouse in Queens in 2004. Based on that visit, I conjecture that MOMA must have been dying to exit their Queens space [note it was NOT at PS1] to return home to Manhattan. I can imagine and hypothesize that MOMA’s temporary venture out to LIC facilitated MOMA becoming more familiar with PS1, which then facilitated the evolution of a friendship that grew into their current affiliation.

Today the museum sponsors many opportunities for new and emerging artists to gain significant exposure via exhibitions at PS1. They regularly feature many new artists from around the world in new and interesting installations, many of which will be covered in this web magazine in the future.

As of this writing, there is a related story on PS1, covering its most recent exhibits which opened on October 19th. We have also reported on one of their famous summer Warm Up parties, the story of which is posted on the site. The Warm Up parties are held outside during the summer months, generally in the midst of some art installations, and they include rock bands and frequently large groups of visitors, ranging in age from the twenties on up. People come to visit PS1 from all around the world and food and beverages are available.

PS1 Art Museum Long Island City NY - Related Links
Click this link to read / view a story about the PS1 Fall 2008 Art Exhibits in Long Island City, or to read about the PS1 Warm Up Parties in Long Island City. Click this link to view a map of the PS1 Art Museum in Long Island City. Click on this link to obtain info, including the url and link to the PS1 Art Museum, which was the sponsor of this event. Click this link to go to the Long Island City Neighborhood News / Long Island City Neighborhood Guide and Map / Long Island City Restaurants Guide & Map / Long Island City Shops Guide & Map / Queens & Long Island City Events / Long Island City Business Directory / Long Island City Shop Announcements.