A scene from “Tear of the Cloud” by Tony Oursler, coming in October.

By Alex Israel

One new art installation is live with two more set to open in October driven by various public art programs in partnership with NYC Parks.

“Viewfinding,” an installation from Brooklyn-based artist Sarah E. Brook, opened earlier this month in Riverside Park South at 66th Street. Featuring five large-scale sculptural pieces as well as poetry from 26 queer-identified artists, the work aims to explore the relationship between expansive external and internal space.

Sarah Brook’s sculpture in Riverside Park.

In celebration of the opening, NYC Parks is hosting a free Art in the Park Potluck Artist Talk with Brook and some of the featured poets this Saturday, September 22, between 2 and 5 p.m.

The installation will be on view until September 2019.

Next month, a three-week-long exhibition by multimedia artist Tony Oursler will open two blocks away in Riverside Park South between 68th and 70th Streets. Commissioned by Public Art Fund in partnership with NYC Parks and the Riverside Park Conservancy, “Tear of the Cloud” will feature a multi-part video and sound work projected directly onto the river, the historic 69th Street Transfer Bridge, and the surrounding landscape.

Each of the five projections will feature a different, looped piece of content ranging between seven and twenty minutes, showcasing newly created footage inspired by various characters, iconography, and imagery associated with the history of the Hudson River and New York. Oursler’s work references the area’s history and its landscape, touching on everything from the Headless Horseman, to the Hudson River School art movement to hip hop to the utopian society of Oneida. Yeah, you might want to bring a chair.

The exhibition is “not meant to be a history lesson,” but rather a more exploratory experience that relies on “weaving together historical references,” explained Kellie Honeycutt, director of institutional advancement at Public Art Fund, at a recent Community Board 7 Parks & Environment Committee meeting.

The work will be presented between 7 and 10 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, between October 10 – 31, 2018, for maximum visibility.

This season’s new public art isn’t limited to Riverside Park.

The Lincoln Square BID has partnered with the American Folk Art Museum to design a series of seven public works along the Broadway Mall between 60th and 70th Streets.

Two designs—one inspired by a quilt and another by a bedcover in the museum’s permanent collection—will be hand-painted onto the inside of the median’s barriers during the first week of October, according to Ralph Memoli, Executive Vice President of the Lincoln Square BID.

“It’s a little low-tech and low-budget,” said Memoli, expressing gratitude for the volunteers coming out to paint the murals, and hopes to have the paint supplies donated. “But we’ve always wanted to come up with a way to beautify [the barriers].”

The installation will be up through September 2019.