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What’s Happening in the Park
Maya Lin Named One of the 100 Most Influential People of 2022 by Time Magazine
Congratulations to artist Maya Lin on being named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2022. Lin's "Ghost Forest" exhibition was on view in the park in 2021.
April 25, 2022
| Art
The Next Steps for Hugh Hayden’s “Brier Patch”
Hugh Hayden's "Brier Patch" will remain on view in the park through May 1, at which time it will travel to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.
March 23, 2022
| Art
Proposal to Park: Iván Navarro
Documenting the journey of Iván Navarro’s proposal for "This Land is Your Land."
March 8, 2022
| Art
Hugh Hayden Artist Statement
Brier PatchJanuary 18 – May 1, 2022Madison Square Park, New YorkRaised In Texas and trained as an architect, my work arises from a deep connection to nature and…
March 3, 2022
| Art
“Brier Patch” Public Programs
Brier Patch, Hugh Hayden’s most ambitious project to date, features 100 elementary school desks that erupt with tree branches. Visually stunning and loaded with…
February 21, 2022
| Art
Proposal to Park: Diana Al-Hadid
Proposal to Park is a new series focused on documenting the progression of project artists’ proposals into exhibitions for Madison Square Park’s public…
100 Wooden School Desks Sprout in Madison Square Park (NY1)
Brier Patch was recently featured in a news segment on NY1, where artist Hugh Hayden and Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Deputy Director and Martin Friedman Chief Curator,…
Hugh Hayden’s Striking New Sculptures Take on the Inequities of Public Education (Artsy)
Throughout the world, there is an inextricable link between education, equity, and economics. It is also widely believed that education is the greatest weapon against…
Trees Burst from 100 Elementary Desks in Hugh Hayden’s Installation Addressing the Disparities of Public Education (Colossal)
Four lawns in New York’s Madison Square Park are now sites of a sprawling and insightful public installation by artist Hugh Hayden. On view through April 24, “Brier…
100 Wooden School Desks Are Sitting in Madison Square Park (Time Out New York)
The work “Brier Patch” by artist Hugh Hayden is an installation on view through April. If you pass by Madison Square Park you’ll notice about 100…
“Landscape and Memory” Will Bring Madison Square Park’s Buried History to the Surface (The Architect’s Newspaper)
With Maya Lin’s tower grove of Atlantic white cedar trees killed by saltwater infiltration now removed from Manhattan’s Madison Square Park and set to begin their…
Hugh Hayden, Surrealist Sculptor, Addresses Education Debate (The New York Times)
“Just watch your eyes,” the sculptor Hugh Hayden warned as he circumnavigated the wooden school desk he had made from cedar logs, their branches still attached. …
December 14, 2021
| Art
Artist Cristina Iglesias unearths forgotten natural histories of Madison Square Park, Opening May 2022
Landscape and Memory Evokes Park’s Buried Topography With Five Large-Scale Bronze Sculptures Set into Landscape and Flowing with Water New York, NY | December 13,…
12 spectacular public artworks that brightened up our cities in 2021 (Time Out New York)
My God, we all needed a bit of cheering up at the start of 2021. Much of the world was in the midst of its worst coronavirus wave, and life was as dull and grey…
Revealed: Time Out New York’s 2021 Best of the City award winners (Time Out New York)
As the saying goes: “New York is back!” While that statement may have become a bit of a cliché over the last 12 months, there’s no denying that a sense of revitalization,…
Best Art Exhibitions of 2021 (The New York Times)
Ambitious museum shows in Tulsa, Richmond, and Louisville left an imprint. Jasper Johns, Maya Lin and Latino artists shone. And the high quality of gallery shows…
Hugh Hayden Explores the Thorny Sides of the American Dream (W Magazine)
At the eccentrically daft dinner parties that Hugh Hayden stages regularly, guests are showered with hospitality and hobbled by irksome constraints. Much thought…
November 29, 2021
| Art
The Flexibility of Public Space
Over the past months of pandemic, protest, and political turmoil, Madison Square Park Conservancy has witnessed the adaptability of public space. Families, neighbors,…
November 23, 2021
| Art
The trees of “Ghost Forest”
As Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest exhibition was coming to a close, we began to think about the Ghost Forest trees and what would happen next. How could we best repurpose…
Wood from Madison Square Park art installation donated to Bronx-based organization working to empower youth (AMNY)
Below a hill in Hunts Point, the Bronx River glistens, offering an escape from the city. Herons and egrets glide above the water and the air is fresh. A 20-foot…
November 9, 2021
| Art
Maya Lin Artist Statement
Ghost ForestMay 10 – November 14, 2021Madison Square Park, New YorkThroughout the world, climate change is causing vast tracts of forested lands to die off. …
Maya Lin Keeps Breaking New Ground (The Wall Street Journal)
“This is the squirrel condo,” Maya Lin says, pointing to an English elm tree pocked with holes, a ring of almond shells tossed like so many used takeout containers…
September 21, 2021
| Art
Inspiring Reflection and Climate Action Through Public Art
With public art, the private act of looking becomes a shared, civic experience. Since Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest opened, parkgoers have gathered under the cedars,…
September 14, 2021
| Art
Plant Trees in NYC Local Parks
In collaboration with Natural Areas Conservancy and accompanying Ghost Forest, Madison Square Park Conservancy and Maya Lin will coordinate the planting of 1,000…
Reconnecting to the Natural World: Maya Lin on How Art Can Lead Us to a Sustainable Future (ARTnews)
So many of us live in cities, and are so removed from nature. I grew up in Athens, Ohio, surrounded by woods. Behind our house were three forested ridges separated…
August 17, 2021
| Art
A Dialogue on the Pine Barrens
Tom Reidy, the Conservancy’s Deputy Director of Finance and Special Projects, had the unique opportunity to speak with both Forester Bob Williams of Pine Creek…
The Conservancy Participates in “NYC Homecoming”
Madison Square Park Conservancy will participate in “NYC Homecoming,” a citywide cultural celebration running from August 14–22. Featuring live concerts, movie…
July 27, 2021
| Art
Hugh Hayden’s “Brier Patch” Opens in January 2022
Artist Hugh Hayden (American, b. 1983) will realize Brier Patch, a newly commissioned public art project, opening on January 18, 2022. One-hundred elementary school-style…
In Maya Lin’s ‘Ghost Forest,’ the Trees Are Talking Back (The New York Times)
The installation in the heart of Madison Square Park is the artist’s memorial to another war — the one against nature.
June 29, 2021
| Art
This Summer, Music on the Green
In collaboration with Carnegie Hall, Music on the Green is a free concert series inspired by Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest that brings artists from the Hall’s Ensemble…
This is Your Park
As an independent non-profit, we rely entirely on the support of our community to keep our park clean and green for everyone to enjoy. Become a Mad. Friend, join our Art Council, or learn about other ways to give to your park today.
