Pride Month may be over, but you can still bask in the city’s inclusivity, creativity, and rainbow colors by experiencing a lineup of new art installations spread throughout NYC this July. Well-established artists, some based in NYC and some working globally, have contributed a bold take on fashion, fantasy, and digital media this month. Whether there’s an installment hidden in plain sight at your local theater or staring you right in the face in Times Square, you must catch these limited-time installations!
1. The Flowers of Hypnosis at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
A striking new exhibition debuts on July 18 at Brooklyn Botanical Garden! Artist Jean-Michel Othoniel presents his largest installation in the U.S. since 2012. Titled The Flowers of Hypnosis, this art installation consists of six sculptures installed in three of the venue’s best-known gardens. The first three attractions are a part of the Gold Lotus series and will be placed at Japanese Hill and Pond Garden. The stainless steel and gold leaf used to shape the pieces symbolizes spirituality, rebirth, enlightenment, and the sacred. In the Fragrance Garden, the Gold Rose sculpture, made with golden pearls, will bloom at the top of a black steel rod to symbolize delicacy, love, and sensuality in a space that provokes the senses of scent and touch.
Finally, on the Lily Pool Terrace, two larger-than-life mirror bead sculptures will be placed on the surface of the pools, reflecting each other. If there is a line between dream and reality, Othoniel’s garden of golden flowers hypnotizes our senses to look past it. This luxurious take on The Secret Garden is free to public viewing with Garden admission until October 22, 2023.
2. Raindrops @ The Junction at Brooklyn’s Flatbush Junction
Walk under New York’s very own rainbow, inspired by Mary Poppins! Located on the Hillel Plaza, steps from Brooklyn College and Flatbush Junction’s corridors, are 250 multi-colored umbrellas, the first official Umbrella Sky Project in the Tri-State area and New York City. The installation, bound together above a ground mural by artist Humble, is a result of efforts by the Flatbush Nostrand Junction Business Improvement District to reflect the diversity of the Central Brooklyn community.
Its bright, welcoming arrangement encourages residents and visitors of all ages to enjoy a fun, mini-fitness experience. The walkway fosters a sense of belonging and addresses economic and urban development challenges, like the heat vulnerability index among elders. The umbrellas were fashioned with inclusivity and accessibility in mind, creating an outdoor cooling center and shaded walkway for senior residents. The Raindrops street in Flatbush will also feature seasonal programs like the African Pop-up Festival and Humana’s weekly senior fitness classes to stimulate communal socialization and wellness initiatives. The Umbrella Sky Project is a free experience that will be on view until September 30th, so this summer is the perfect time to take your family for a cool summer stroll through Flatbush Junction.
3. Sonic Sphere at The Shed
The phrase “get into the music” has never been more true. Located at The Shed, this grand, 65-foot diameter spherical concert hall floats in mid-air and invites visitors inside for an immersive musical experience. This is the 11th and most advanced sphere installation to date. Artists Ed Cooke, Merijn Royaards, and Nicholas Christie, alongside the sonic sphere team, have assembled the city’s first and very own 3-D sound and light sphere installation. Within the sphere, you’ll be surrounded by more than 100 speakers that allow you to feel sound above, below, and through your body. The experience features a dazzling light display, album listening sessions, and live entertainment and musical collaborations.
Shows, pre-recorded and live, are 45 minutes and can house 250 guests at a time. This multisensory immersion is more than just a unique experience, as its creators intended for it to spark questions about technology, our evolving needs as a society, and the city’s community interests. It represents adaptability, musical community, and a modern and bold take on an art installation that the world has shared in improving for generations.
4. The Door Project at The Green-Wood Cemetery
In collaboration with the Art Students League of New York’s Seeds of the League program, Green-Wood Cemetery has produced its first youth art exhibition, on view until September 4th. Through the program, Brooklyn public school students took part in field trips to the cemetery and weekly classes with Seeds where they considered the meaning of doors, as a word and as a concept. The young artists used 12 doors as the canvases for their final project as well as the inspiration for their designs.
They explored doors as symbols of the boundary between the living and the dead, or metaphors for transitional periods in life. The installation addresses themes like climate change, race and belonging, and love, loss, and community. The students’ hard work and unique view of life itself is free and open to the public at Green-Wood’s Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance.
5. Fabric of Life at Ditmas Park
At 1202 Cortelyou Rd, Ditmas Park, Brooklyn there is a brand new community-inspired mural. The mural celebrates the diversity of the city and the neighborhood through the folk arts of different cultures and ancestries, including the Lenape people native to the land. Courtesy of artist Viktoriya Basina, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Brooklyn Arts Council, the mural hosts a vibrant cultural message: to remind the public about the historical and cultural significance of folk art and equity among different ancestries.
The mural was created to beautify the neighborhood with bright colors and bold shapes, to instill a sense of pride in a local community that has reason to feel unified and represented. Within the mural, there is a plethora of folk art techniques referenced like Polish paper cut, Korean chasu embroidery, Irish Celtic knots, and more!
6. Midnight Moment at Times Square
Times Square Arts is hosting a major “Midnight Moment” the whole summer of 2023. The world’s largest, longest running digital art exhibition will include works by multiple artists, and July features MILAGRO | PAYAPA by Victoria Fard. Every night during the month, from 11:57pm to midnight, 90 electronic billboards throughout Times Square will synchronize, featuring Fard’s digital simulation of a beautifully colored ecosystem. For just three minutes, a sanctuary of wooden kubos, prodigious arowana fish, and pastel skyscrapers amidst pockets of flowering plants, wild creatures and a lush hybrid landscape will light up the city.
Fard’s display creates a fantasy world where nature seamlessly grows and connects with its environment. ‘Milagro’ translates to ‘miracle’ in Filipino and Spanish and ‘Payapa’ means ‘peaceful’ in Filipino. Inspired by her own Filipino and Persian heritage, Fard formed her 3D world as a place of nostalgic peace that invites viewers to connect, explore, imagine, and reflect. Her work employs themes of nature and heritage with the hope of preserving them through immersive forms of storytelling, and since New York will be seeing her work every night for the next month, the message is sure to make an impact.
7. Dog Island Summer at Rafferty Triangle
If you’re a dog owner or a dog lover, Long Island City’s new installation at Rafferty Triangle is the must-see place for you this summer. In early June, Long Island City Partnership and NYC Parks united to create Dog Island Summer, an interactive dog-themed display. The park features various interactive sculptures like a large fire hydrant, a dog biscuit-shaped park bench, a large collar featuring popular local dog names, and two music boxes that are covered in original designs by local artists Ashley Betito and Kerri Boccard.
The installation escalates the dog-affiliated identity of LIC, a neighborhood with one of the city’s highest number of dogs per capita and an already impressive amount of dog-friendly amenities, parks, and experiences. For some pet bonding and access to not only the park, but countless cafes and art institutions nearby that provide canine treats and water bowls to visiting dogs, the experience is available until November 1, 2023, at 44th Dr. &, Hunter St.
8. Africa Fashion at the Brooklyn Museum
Fashion is a lifestyle, an industry, and a statement in New York City. But rarely do we get the chance to understand what influenced our own clothing choices or the trends we follow. The Brooklyn Museum’s Africa Fashion exhibit encompasses a global sense of ingenuity, influence, and liberated creativity that stems from Africa’s won independence. The evolution of fashion within the continent was always present, but after its break from Europe in the 20th century, its clothing-based cultural renaissance reached our own country.
This installation explores that ongoing fashion revolution in the largest-ever presentation of African fashion, a collection of more than 180 artworks, including standout pieces from the Museum’s own collection. The arrangement of haute couture and ready-to-wear garments includes photographs, literature, sketches, music, film and catwalk footage, textiles, and jewelry as well. More than 40 designers and artists from 20 African countries are represented, many of which have never shown their work in the U.S. before. To celebrate African dress and its impact from the 50s to today, as well as the African artists featured in the exhibition – like Kofi Ansah of Ghana and Shade Thomas-Fahm of Nigeria – tickets can be purchased online until October 22nd, 2023.
9. Goddesses at the Palace at The United Palace of Cultural Arts
The United Palace of Cultural Arts and artist Andrea Arroyo have debuted a series of large-scale scrolls in the Grand Foyer of the Palace, inspired by the theater’s history, architecture, and decorative features. On view at 4140 Broadway until July 10th, the piece is an exploration of women’s issues. Detailing images of real and imagined women from history and mythology, Goddesses at the Palace features cut paper scrolls, edited with line drawings. These pieces celebrate the beauty, power, and resilience of women from the past, present, and future. The lyrical style of the art installations comes from Arroyo’s own experience in the arts, specifically contemporary dance. It influenced her depiction of a three-dimensional realm within a non-traditional space, furthering the idea that art has a place in even the most unlikely places.
10. Uptown Triennial 2023 at Wallach Art Gallery
In the 20th century, Harlem was synonymous with urban music culture, inspired by the diverse populations of African Americans with roots from all over the world. Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery’s latest exhibit, the Uptown Triennial 2023, is a visual tribute to the sonic realm, specifically, the music, soundscapes, and spoken word that resonates with the spirit of Harlem. Visual and sonic artistry collide in this collection of sculptures, multimedia artworks, and hybrid sound projects by artists like Lisa Dubois and Jewel Ham. The works feature cultural fusions of jazz and hip-hop mixtapes that detail the changing representation of Black urban society in the city. You can experience Harlem’s myriad of history, cultures, and critical contemporary issues at the gallery until September 17, 2023. For even more immersion, you can mingle with some of the exhibit’s headlining artists while viewing the collection at the Sunday Sermon Afternoon on July 8th!
Next, check out The New and Hidden Art of Grand Central Madison
