Events We Love: MoMA PS1’s Katharina Gross Installation at Fort Tilden

Earlier in the summer MoMA PS1 organized a new collaboration to celebrate the ongoing recovery of the Rockaway Beach Peninsula following the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The Rockaway! exhibit at the Gateway National Recreation Area at Fort Tilden, New York, came to fruition in partnership with the Rockaway Artists Alliance, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, National Park Service, Central Park Conservancy, NYC Parks & Recreation, and Rockaway Beach Surf Club.

Rockaway!, Grosse’s site-specific installation for MoMA PS1 reflects on “the bold colors of sunset in the Rockaways”, transforming Fort Tilden’s decaying aquatics building into “a monumental and sublime artwork using a specialized technique of spraying brightly colored paint directly onto the structure”. Grosse’s installation is designed to memorialize this iconic building, which was set to be demolished in late 2016 after Hurricane Sandy rendered it structurally unsound in 2012.

Rockaway! is on view now until November 30, 2016. It is free and open to the public during regular park hours.

According to a press release:

“Grosse’s singular approach highlights the potential of painting as a medium, and encapsulates the stark beauty of this manmade structure and its natural surroundings. In her practice, Grosse seeks to extend the scope of her painting beyond the borders of the canvas…[her] installation work seamlessly combines subtle nuances of light and shadow, characteristic of traditional landscape painting, with the weight and spectacle of large-scale sculpture. These sprawling and sculptural landscapes evoke the physicality of action painting and earthworks through their gestures and monumentality.”

Rockaway! 2016 is “a continuation of MoMA PS1’s ongoing collaborative programming alongside the Rockaway Artists Alliance that began with collaborating on rescue efforts immediately following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which was bookended by the VW Dome 2 in 2013 and continued with Rockaway Beach Surf Club’s summer collaboration Rockaway! 2014, which featured contributions from Patti Smith, Adrián Villar Rojas, and Janet Cardiff.

Directions

Fort Tilden (169 State Road) is accessible by the Q22 and Q35 buses, the A train/shuttle to 116th St. and weekend ferry service on the American Princess. Parking is available at adjacent Riis Park. The Rockaway Beach Surf Club (302 Beach 87th Street) is on the A train/shuttle to Beach 90th Street; bus service includes the Q22 and Q52. Parking is limited to on-street.

For more information on how to visit MoMA PS1’s Rockaway! exhibit, visit the installation’s website or go here for site-specific directions.