The Shed at Hudson Yards Inaugural Year Art Commissions Announced

When open in 2019, The Shed will be a performing arts center at Hudson Yards with a flexible design: its shell can move and extend over the neighboring building’s plaza. Just nearby will be Thomas Heatherwick’s Vessel, also currently under construction. The team behind The Shed just announced its inaugural group of artist commissions – seven programs that cross the spectrum of the creative fields – along with an Open Call commission for earlier stage artists. The commissioned pieces will include a live musical production on African American music, a reinvention of Euripedes’ play Helen, and more.

As described on the press release from The Shed, the commissions are:

Soundtrack of America: A new live production celebrating the unrivaled impact of African American music on art and popular culture over the past 100 years, conceived by acclaimed filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen and developed and produced with music industry legend Quincy Jones, NYU Associate Professor of Music Maureen Mahon, and seminal hip-hop producer Dion ‘No I.D.’ Wilson

Reich Richter Pärt: A live performance/exhibition pairing works by painter Gerhard Richter with a new composition by Steve Reich and extant composition by Arvo Pärt

Norma Jeane Baker of Troy: A reinvention of Euripides’ Helen by poet Anne Carson, starring Ben Whishaw and Renée Fleming

Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise (working title): An original live production co-conceived by Chen Shi-Zheng and Kung Fu Panda screenwriters Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, with songs by Sia and choreography by Akram Khan

Expansive exhibitions devoted to extant and newly commissioned work by trailblazing artists Trisha Donnelly and Agnes Denes

In the same news release, The Shed has also announced that the event venue, formed when the Shed extends, has been officially named The McCourt, “in recognition of a $45 million gift by long-time board member Frank McCourt, Jr., and his family.” The rendering of the space by Diller Scofidio + Renfro is seen above.

Next, see more renderings and photographs of The Shed and see The Shed in motion.