MoMA PS1 unveils interactive exhibit of moving mirrors for its summer music series

Photo by Pablo Enriquez

In MoMA PS1’s temporary exhibit at its sprawling outdoor courtyard in Long Island City, people become the art. Hide & Seek, created by Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers of Dream The Combine, features moveable mirrors that offer surprising and dislocating perspectives of the courtyard and the crowd looking into them. Newsome and Carruthers were named the winners of the 2018 Young Architects Program, which challenges emerging architects to design a creative, sustainable outdoor installation. Hide & Seek will be on view at MoMA PS1 between June 28 and September 3.

Each of Hide & Seek’s two horizontal structures, or runways, contain two inward-facing mirrors that pivot on a frame. People can move the mirrors themselves, or let the wind move them in whatever direction. To continue the theme of “unpredictable gestures,” the upper steel structure is filled with mist and light, which will randomly disperse. The installation’s “sanctuary” features a massive hammock, laid out between two mirrors and located underneath a sheer, black fabric covering.

“As art can and should move through walls, so too does Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers’s restaging of how and why communities interact with the museum,” Sean Anderson, MoMA’s associate curator for its architecture and design department, said in a statement.

“The materials deployed will not just be its reflected ‘runway,’ illuminated overhead misting networks, or even an expansive hammock for lounging, but a scaled system that addresses multiple publics with the impassioned assertion, ‘You Are Here.'”

Scholars and previous winners nominate 50 firms for the Young Architects Program (YAP), which is currently in its 19th year. Portfolios are reviewed by a panel, who then narrows the group to five finalists. The finalists present a preliminary proposal and a winner is later selected. The design must provide respite with shade, seating and water, as well as address environmental issues.

Kicking off this weekend, the museum’s Warm Up series presents live electronic music across ten Saturdays in the summer. Find out more and buy tickets here.

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All photos by Pablo Enriquez for MoMA