Most people hear “Long Island” and shy away not knowing that Long Island City actually has means of public transportation besides the Long Island Railroad and doesn’t take the Southern State Parkway to reach. In fact, if you’re  looking to stay close to the city, but not in it, there’s no better place to look other than Long Island City. Serviced by the Astoria N and Q trains, Flushing 7 train,  Crosstown G train, the underground 63rd St Street F train, as well as the Queens Blvd E, M, and R trains.
Not only is it the the westernmost neighborhood in Queens, it’s well known for it’s waterfront parks that give you breathtaking views of Manhattan. Aside from outdoor activities, Long Island City has the highest concentration of art galleries, art institutions, and studio space than anywhere else in the city. With Greenpoint, Brooklyn being the surrounding neighborhood, there’s plenty more to explore as your on the cusp of two boroughs with tons of culture. While Long Island City is home to studios like SilverCup, there’s plenty of action taking place right in your backyard. MoMA PS1 is the second largest nonprofit contemporary art institutions in the United States, and you guessed it, it’s right in Long Island City too. It was named after the public school it is now housed in.
There are other things to see as well, such as the Socrates Sculpture Park that is open 365 days a year from 10 am to sunset. Located on Broadway and Vernon Blvd, what used to be an abandoned landfill, Â has become an internationally recognized outdoor museum giving artists a unique opportunity to create and exhibit large sculptures and multi-media installations in an outdoor environment.
Aside from the great things to explore in Long Island City, the neighborhood has a growing number of luxury residential and condo buildings that you can soon call home. Now is the time to grab the prime real estate that’s becoming available before it’s too late. Feel free to call or stop by our office and we’d be happy to assist you in finding exactly what it is you’re looking for.
Socrates Sculpture Park
PO Box 6259, 32-01 Vernon Boulevard
Long Island City, NY 11106
T 718 956 1819 / F 718 626 1533
Socrates is open 365 days a year from 10am to sunset.
Mission: Socrates Sculpture Park is the only site in the New York Metropolitan area specifically dedicated to providing artists with opportunities to create and exhibit large-scale sculpture and multi-media installations in a unique outdoor environment that encourages strong interaction between artists, artworks and the public. The park’s existence is based on the belief that reclamation, revitalization and creative expression are essential to the survival, humanity and improvement of our urban environment.
History: Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists ?and community members, under the leadership of artist Mark di Suvero, transformed it into an open studio and ?exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents.
Today it is an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program that also serves as a vital New York City park offering a wide variety of free public services.
MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1, located in Long Island City, Queens, is one of the oldest and largest nonprofit contemporary art institutions in the United States. An exhibition space rather than a collecting institution, it devotes its energy and resources to displaying the most experimental art in the world. MoMA PS1 presents over 50 exhibitions each year, including artists’ retrospectives, site-specific installations, historical surveys, arts from across the United States and the world, and a full schedule of music and performance programming.
Founded in 1971 by Alanna Heiss as The Institute of Art and Urban Resources, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the transformation of abandoned and underutilized buildings in New York City into exhibition, performance, and studio spaces for artists, the institution was renamed P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in 1988. P.S.1 became an affiliate of MoMA in 2000, extending the reach of both institutions, combining its contemporary mission with MoMA’s strength as one of the greatest collecting museums of modern art. 2010 marked the completed merger of the two institutions and began P.S.1?s new and exciting chapter as MoMA PS1.
The latest press releases and information on current and upcoming exhibitions at MoMA PS1 can be found here. For high-resolution images for publication, register at Press Access.
Please visit the Press Release Archives for past MoMA PS1 exhibitions.
For more information about MoMA PS1, please visit www.MoMAPS1.org
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