Between one appointment for work and another, I always try to leave some room for one of my undying passions: contemporary art. New York is a very active hub with such museums of international stature as the Guggenheim, the MOMA, the Metropolitan including its extensions such as the Met Breuer, and entire neighborhoods that – in the unique dynamism of this metropolis – have dozens of fascinating modern and contemporary art galleries.
The news this November is the reopening of Moma after three months of expansion and reorganization. A job that is a great example of the idea New York has of renovations because while the character and ‘tradition’ of the structure has been preserved, everything else has changed. The exhibition routes, the layout of the spaces and their functions, the size and height of the rooms are all different but more than anything else, visitors’ experience of art has become more intense and contemporary. One of the main new features, besides a larger space for performing arts and rooms for meeting artists and holding conferences on the first floor, is the series of galleries at street level. These are free and are themselves contemporary performances in their ‘display window’ approach to everyone passing by.
But besides these large, well-known ‘monuments’ to today’s art, metropolitan ferment is also visible in its iconic neighborhoods. Just outside Manhattan in Chelsea, for example. In only a few years, boosted by the presence of the beautiful elevated park, The High Line, built on a formerly-abandoned railway line now splendidly restored, Chelsea has become home to dozens of galleries fleeing the exorbitant prices of traditional yet ever surprising Soho. Thus, also Chelsea’s old warehouses, typical red-brick buildings and other disused spaces - even roadside walls – are now bursting with high-level art demonstrating that contemporary art is certainly not limited to big names and monumental exhibitions and celebrations. Amazing, exciting, street-wise contemporary art befitting and involving a whole neighborhood, with a continuous stream of exhibitions and the uninterrupted hustle and bustle of little parties and inaugurations.
by Ilenia Girolami
