This Is New York
100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture
May 26, 2023 - July 21, 2024
![Painting of person sitting on M Train going over the Williamsburg Bridge](/sites/default/files/styles/675x450/public/Centennial-Center-0713-M_Train_on_Route.jpeg?h=5715cca2&itok=gCwpRiyq)
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In honor of the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Museum of the City of New York as the city’s storyteller, This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture explores the many ways that the city has inspired storytelling across art forms. It features both famous and lesser-known depictions of New York in film and television, visual and performing arts, music, poetry and literature, and even fashion, painting a collective, moving, and sometimes funny version of a city that has captured the imagination of the world.
The full-floor exhibition is organized around the types of urban spaces where the stories of New York are told. “Tempo of the City” explores the ways in which artists have depicted life in the city’s streets and subways, and the emotions that the experience of joining the public crowd often evoke, whether joy or alienation, fear or pride. The gallery also features “Songs of New York,” an interactive installation that allows visitors to explore the richness and diversity of each borough through songs it has inspired. In the Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery, “At Home in New York” spotlights literature and art works that animate the unique challenges and opportunities of making a home in a city of eight million people. The third gallery, “Destination: NYC," showcases work about the city’s spaces for gathering and spectacle, its dynamic unique nightlife spots, as well as its iconic parks and waterfronts.
A special gallery, “You Are Here,” dedicated to New York on film, provides an immersive 16-screen experience drawn from hundreds of movies about the city made over the past century. The film immersive also includes an introductory installation, “Scenes from the City” which explores how New York has been used as a movie set for the past century.
More About "You Are Here"
“You Are Here” draws on the rich archive of movies set in New York, combining thousands of cinematic moments across 16 screens. Sources include Hollywood blockbusters, independent films, documentaries, and experimental works. By juxtaposing these multiple visions, the dazzling montages of “You Are Here” make connections and contrasts that allow movies to comment on each other across time and space. Together, they shed new light on the varied New Yorks of our collective imagination.
Watch the Official Trailer for 'You Are Here' Below:
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Curatorial Credits
This Is New York was curated by Sarah M. Henry, Monxo López, Frances A. Rosenfeld, and Lilly Tuttle, with support from Naomi Fischer, Centennial Research Fellow.
“You Are Here” was created by RadicalMedia. Curatorial committee: Bruce Goldstein, Jessica Green, Carlos Gutiérrez, Richard Koszarski, Melissa Lyde, Lucy J. Mukerjee, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Jacob Perlin, and JT Takagi.
“Scenes from the City” was curated by James Sanders Studio.
Exhibition Supporters
This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture is made possible with lead support from The Thompson Family Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, Elizabeth R. Miller and James G. Dinan, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Heather and William Vrattos, Todd DeGarmo, Judith Smorto Revocable Trust, and Michael T. Sillerman Revocable Trust. Additional support provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Theodore W. Scull, The David Berg Foundation, New York Life, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Nancy and James Buckman, David Guin and Kym McClain, Gurudatta and Margaret Nadkarni, and other generous donors.
This exhibition is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
Support of our Centennial year exhibitions, programs, and activities provided by:
$1,000,000 and Above:
- An Anonymous Family Foundation
- Charina Endowment Fund
- Elizabeth R. Miller and James G. Dinan
- Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe
- Valerie and John W. Rowe
- The Thompson Family Foundation
- Heather and William Vrattos
$250,000 to $999,999:
- Bloomberg Philanthropies
- Todd DeGarmo
- Diana King Memorial Fund
- Leon Levy Foundation
- Polly and Newton P.S. Merrill
$100,000 to $249,999:
- MacMillan Family Foundation
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- New York Life
- Tracey and Kenneth A. Pontarelli
- The Puffin Foundation, Ltd.
- Michael T. Sillerman Revocable Trust
- Judith Smorto Revocable Trust
- Daryl B. Uber
$50,000 to $99,999:
- Altman Foundation
- Lily Auchincloss Foundation
- Con Edison
- Leslie and Mark Godridge
- Mark Scott
- Theodore W. Scull
- Martha and Alex Wallau
$25,000 to $49,999:
- The David Berg Foundation
- Mrs. William T. Comfort
- John and Patricia Heller
- Rosita Sarnoff and Beth Sapery
$10,000 to $24,999:
- Nancy and James Buckman
- Lorna and Edwin Goodman
- David Guin and Kym McClain
- The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation
- Gurudatta and Margaret Nadkarni
$2,500 to $9,999:
- O’Connell Family Fund
As of 05/01/2023