Since 2004, Madison Square Park Conservancy has commissioned outdoor work by dynamic artists for all to view in civic space. In 2024, the art program celebrated its twentieth anniversary with four artist projects, a major publication, a symposium with alumni artists, a short documentary, alumni artist audio interviews, and outreach to new communities. For its twentieth anniversary, MSPC partnered with four artists to present four pieces commissioned especially for Madison Square Park.

Ana María Hernando’s To Let the Sky Know/Dejar que el cielo sepa
January 16 – March 17, 2024

Ana María Hernando creates sculpture in an abundance of tulle—the sumptuous fabric netting—inspired by natural forms and transformed through the sewing process. Across the lawns in Madison Square Park, the artist has realized a series of beauteous, atmospheric clouds and a cascading waterfall that float above and alongside viewers

Rose B. Simpson’s Seed
April 11 – September 22, 2024

This newly commissioned public art exhibition by Rose B. Simpson is on view simultaneously in Madison Square Park and Inwood Hill Park. The artist creates sentinels in weathered steel and bronze that lead with angularity and durability; industrial bolts fasten masks forged in bronze to sections cut from ten-foot-long steel sheets. Simpson shapes symbolism in each sculpture, where the Native past is enduring and resonant.

María Magdalena Campos-Pons’s Procession of Angels for Radical Love and Unity
September 7 and September 20, 2024

Procession of Angels for Radical Love and Unity convenes participants to walk together from Harlem Art Park to Madison Square Park, tracing the steps of the past in order to build an inclusive future. Across two mornings, seven stops along the route mark sites that were historically filled with agency, optimism, or trauma. Each stop on the walk will be activated by poetry readings, culminating with an artmaking workshop and music performances.

Nicole Eisenman’s Fixed Crane
October 24, 2024 – March 9, 2025

Nicole Eisenman assembles a monumental public project for Madison Square Park that destabilizes familiar heroic objects associated with human achievement. Fixed Crane features a toppled industrial crane embellished with handmade sculptural objects. The work expands Eisenman’s explorations of the twentieth-century concept of the “readymade,” created in 1916 by Dada artist Marcel Duchamp to elevate everyday, mass-produced objects to the status of an artwork, and pushing the boundaries of her work in figuration.

Madison Square Park Conservancy is responsible for raising 100 percent of the funds necessary to operate the park, including its dynamic public art program, vibrant horticulture, maintenance, sanitation, security, and free cultural programs for park visitors.

See more on our 20th Anniversary in the press:

• • NYC Tourism
  • The Brooklyn Rail
  • The Art Newspaper