| Edification value |  |
|---|---|
| Entertainment value | |
| Should you go? | |
| Time spent | 21 minutes |
| Best thing I saw or learned | Mark Dion’s “Humboldt Cabinet,” (2013), a beautiful wooden construction containing postcards painted by Colombians with random everyday things: a cat, a bug, a light, a toy airplane, fish hooks… It’s simple and beautiful and speaks wittily and intelligently to the urge to collect and categorize the exotic. |
The Austrian Cultural Forum is housed in a remarkable contemporary building, skinny and super tall. The forum formerly lived in a townhouse on a standard Manhattan lot of 25 feet wide by 100 feet deep. When they decided they’d outgrown that space, like so many Manhattanites before them they tore it down and built up. On a footprint of 25 feet by 81 feet, architect Raimond Abraham designed a 24-story building, including a multilevel exhibit space at and slightly below ground level. The new building opened in 2002.
The gallery space is super. The tower is slightly set back from the rear of the building such that there’s a skylight, and it’s therefore bright and airy. The different levels flow together well, and while the total space isn’t large, it gives them a lot of flexibility for small-scale shows.
The current exhibit is called “Constructing Paradise,” pretty self explanatory. I was surprised and intrigued by the breadth of artists — a handful of young contemporary Austrian and American artists contribute pieces but there’s also a print by Gauguin (perhaps the granddaddy of exotic-paradise-seeking-or-constructing artists). Basquiat and Kara Walker and Oscar Kokoschka are represented too.
The show ends (if you view it from lowest to highest) with a computer-generated tropical, palm-strewn sunset Mathias Kessler, a very timely take on invented paradise.
This is a great space for art, and assuming this show is typical, I really like the way they program it. I’d say absolutely visit if you happen to be in midtown and need an art fix. The Austrian Forum and the Onassis Center are across 52nd Street from one another and make a great double bill.
For Reference:
| Address | 11 E 52nd Street, Manhattan |
|---|---|
| Website | acfny.org |
| Cost | Free |
The National Lighthouse Museum is a museum in its infancy. Located a short stroll from the ferry terminal in St. George, Staten Island, the museum describes the history, technology, and design of lighthouses. 
The building’s stained glass is a treasure of nautical and celestial themes.
The Elevateds were built in the late 1890s and much of the signage was done in beautiful glass with floral decorations. I think of them as just big and hulking, but they must have been rather beautiful as well.
New York’s main Transit Museum is in Brooklyn, and it is very worth visiting. When they restored Grand Central in the early 2000s, they opened a tiny branch (or “gallery annex”) of the museum there. I’m tempted to say skip it — the exhibit space is very small, it’s more gift shop than museum, and there’s so much else to see at Grand Central.
This year, the transit system is celebrating the construction of the new Second Avenue Subway. In a brilliant bit of counter-programming, the current show at the Transit Museum’s GCT branch is about a bit of deconstructing, showing photos of the dismantling of the Third Avenue Elevated in 1955.
The Center for Architecture claims to be “the premier cultural venue for architecture and the built environment in New York City.” I can’t say that I was all that impressed with it.