Unless you are Allie Riggs or Anne Wu (intern at Sculpture Center and natural inhabitant, respectively), Queens exists in a far, far off land: an uncharted region of unnumbered streets, where tiny buildings create an outer-borough labyrinth of wonder, waiting to be explored. As a result, 95% of Jeff Gibson’s theory class arrived late to their 3:15 appointment at MoMA PS 1 Center for Contemporary Art.
“Map Quest took us on a crazy route.”
…and the day was full of discovery. Students meandered the halls of PS 1: a classic NYC public school, refurbished by MoMA donations into a museum, turning Cornell students into elementary school boys and girls at each steel-caged staircase and pastel-green hallway.
Above: Dan Rosen basks in the first sunlight of 2011. In the “James Turrell Room,” a well-kept secret waiting for accidental discovery, visitors of the museum sprawl all about the floor, gazing up through the gaping hole in the ceiling that marks the wonder of Turrell room. Natural light, soft breezes, and ambient city sounds flood the room as visitors sit and gaze up at a framed canvas of vibrant atmosphere and passing clouds. So worth the train ride out.
Students later followed Allie to Queens’ non-profit installation gallery, Sculpture Center—the top floor, a gorgeous unbroken Chelsea space with cathedral-high ceilings and exposed brick wall, beneath it: the closest Queens may come to haunting catacombs. Dimly lit caverns that wind through the entire space lent to hours of good outer borough exploration, as Prof. Jeff Gibson ran around wildly photographing us all, surprised we ever made it out.
