dachal-choi-and-matthew-suen-for-socrates-sculpture-park-untapped-cities-afinelyneAQ625: Site on the Move by artists Dachal Choi and Mathew Suen. Image via Socrates Sculpture Park

October is filled with fantasy, from outdoor installations in Socrates Sculpture Park to a miniature Redwood forest growing in Brooklyn. As we fantasize about how we would change our landscape in a growing city, our imaginations take us far away to a Fancy Animal Carnival. In our artistic travels, which will take us from the Bronx, through Manhattan, to Brooklyn, we will stop at a historic chess club for a photographic view of life in Uganda, and finally step onto a restored 131 year old ship returning to the South Street Seaport. Here are 12 installations and exhibits not to miss this October.

12. Christopher Walken and More in The Socrates Sculpture Garden

bryan-zanisnik-for-socrates-sculpture-garden-untapped-cities-afinelyneMonument to Walken by artist Bryan Zanisnik

Did you know that the actor Christopher Walken was born in Astoria, Queens? The artist Bryan Zanisnik did, and created an entire installation entitled Monument to Walken, featuring 10 heads of Walken and a comic that chronicles Mr. Walken’s adventures in the park and his history in the neighborhood.

The annual Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition (DAF) at Socrates Sculpture Park has opened.  The fifteen emerging artists were chosen from an open call process that attracted hundreds of candidates, and reviewed by the park’s 2016 curatorial advisors, Larissa Harris (Curator, Queens Museum, and Amanda Hunt, Assistant Curator, Studio Museum in Harlem. They will be exhibiting their work from September 25, 2016 to March 13, 2017.

At the opening of this article the floating Socrates Sculpture Park, high above the city, is part of AQ625:Site on the Move, a web-based project by Dachal Choi and Mathew Suen. The billboard works in conjunction with a working website that hosts a series of six artist projects.

For images of each of the fifteen winning artists see this follow up article.