Queens Museum

Exciting things are happening this weekend at the Queens Museum! 🌐

Check out this weekend's lineup of events:

🍵 "To Know One Another": Tea in the Gallery with Nsenga Knight
09.13.24, 3:00pm-4:00pm

🎨 ArtAccess: Open Studios
09.14.24 & 09.15.24, 11:30am-4:00pm

🗣️ Lyle Ashton Harris in Conversation with Nana Adusei-Poku
09.14.24, 2:00pm-3:30pm (RSVP Required)

🎥 “Blue Eyes of Yonta”: Free screening in collaboration with the New York African Film Festival (RSVP Required)
09.14.24, 2:00pm-3:30pm

RSVP & learn more about these events on our website!

Tonight, the Queens Museum will join the citywide commemoration of 9/11, "Tribute in Lights." Beginning at dusk, we will light our facade blue in honor and in memory of the lives lost, shining a light on all who responded, who continue to mourn, and who will never forget.

In conjunction with this annual tribute, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum will also light the Museum and Survivor Tree in “Memorial Blue”, echoing the clear blue sky on that September morning nearly 23 years ago.

Virgos, we see you and your hyper-organized selves ♍

has us reminiscing about a World's Fair innovation that mesmerized visitors back in 1964-65: The Bell System Pavilion's Automatic Call Distributor ☎️

The first of its kind that didn't rely on a switchboard, this advance in telecommunication is a perfect match for the structure and efficiency-loving Earth sign.

🎥 Join us on Sunday 09/15 for a special screening of the critically acclaimed film "The Blue Eyes of Yonta" / "Udju azul de Yonta" (1992), directed by Flora Gomes and presented in partnership with African Film Festival.

Yonta is a beautiful young woman growing up in the city of Bissau a generation after her nation has gained independence. She develops a secret crush on Vincente, a good friend of her family and a hero of their country’s struggle, beginning a story of unrequited love in the developing city. Meanwhile, Yonta herself has a secret admirer, a shy young man names Zé, who sends her love letters copied from a Scandinavian book. It is from one such letter that the film gets its title. A lovely, delicate work about youthful illusions, both personal and national, that powerfully demonstrates director Flora Gomes’s marvelous talent for eliciting wonderfully nuanced performances. Only the second film from Guinea Bissau and Gomes, "The Blue Eyes of Yonta" shows us how alike we all are when it comes to matters of the heart.

The film is in Creole and Portuguese with English subtitles.

"The Blue Eyes of Yonta" will be preceded by a screening of the experimental short "Last Joint" (2024) by Devin Powell.

Book your ticket: https://bit.ly/4dMOxO5

On 09/08, visitors who are blind or have low vision are invited to join Cameron A. Granger, Nsenga Knight, and Catalina Schliebener Muñoz in a virtual verbal description tour of their respective exhibitions, "9999", "Close to Home", and "Buenos Vecinos."

Using various media and approaches across sculpture, printmaking, painting, collage, and video, these three artists engage with archives and history to reframe and consider new perspectives.

Join these three artists as they each verbally describe an artwork from their solo exhibitions and discuss their practice with participants.

RSVP required via Zoom: https://queensmuseum.org/event/online-9999-buenos-vecinos-and-close-to-home-verbal-description-tours-with-cameron-a-granger-nsenga-knight-and-catalina-schliebener-munoz/

We're eating a Belgian Waffle today in honor of ! 🧇

At the 1964-65 World's Fair, the Belgian Village served the Belgian Waffle and attendees fell in love with its sweet taste.

Belgian Waffles would go on to become the classic breakfast dish that we know and love.

Listen to the Gesso World's Fair Collection audio tour to learn more about the Belgian Village and their delicious waffles: https://l.gesso.fm/cYGK35WumSxx3k2G6

Image: Women eating Belgian Waffles at the 1964-65 World's Fair. Queens Museum Collection.

POV: You're enjoying Cas Holman's "Prototyping Play" 🎨

Experience the interactive installation on your next visit!

📸: Kuo-Heng Huang

📸 On this , we're sharing personal snapshots of visitors from the 1964-65 !

Explore our World's Fair Collection on your next visit to view ephemera from the pavilions, attractions, and more that brought the world to 🌐

Tag us using to share your photos!

Images: (1) Visitors posing on the Meadow Lake Bridge, color print. Provenance research in progress. Courtesy Queens Museum, 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair Collection, New York. (2)Visitors posing in front of the Unisphere, 35mm color positive film transparency. Provenance research in progress. Courtesy Queens Museum, 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair Collection, New York. (3) Visitor posing in front of horses, 35mm color positive film transparency. Provenance research in progress. Courtesy Queens Museum, 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair Collection, New York.

Beat the Sunday scaries with this retro to , where trams transported you through the 1964-65 , all while the was at the center of it all.

Visit our World's Fair Collection to experience the past meeting the present through exclusive ephemera and more!

Plan your visit at the 🔗 in our bio 🌐

Image: Unisphere with Greyhound Escorters, c. 1964-1965. Postcard. Gift of Liz Rhoades, 2015. Courtesy Queens Museum, 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair Collection, New York.

"Aves Raras", or “strange birds,” is a pair of large-scale murals on the interior and exterior sides of "Buenos Vecinos. 🦆

In "Los Tres Caballeros", the sequence "Aves Raras" introduces exotic and fanciful birds from different South American countries that are described as “paradise” or faraway lands to be visited through the eyes of a North American.

Catalina Schliebener Muñoz questions how these narratives focused on anthropomorphic birds are a form of othering and caricature. However, the fantastical can also be a metaphor for challenging the binary constructions of gender and sexuality, where "raras" may be alternatively translated to mean rare, weird, eccentric, or queer.

Explore "Aves Raras" and the rest of "Buenos Vecinos" IRL on your next visit!

Image: Catalina Schliebener Muñoz, detail view, "Aves Raras". Vinyl and paint. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Hai Zhang.

It's Season! 🦁

Leo's prideful personality and charisma often shine brightly like a jewel.

Reminds us of the crown jewel of our permanent collection: the , aka the best map of NYC. ✨ 🔥 🌐

Discover The Panorama IRL on your next visit! 💫

“Fitra” is a foundational concept in Islam referring to the innately good spiritual nature possessed by humankind.

In this series of paintings, Nsenga Knight imbues her concept of “home” in an amber-hued abstraction of sensuously fluid brushwork that is teeming with feelings of warmth and comfort. By situating these works in a domestic setting, the artist addresses home as not only a physical, but also a psychological space.

Explore the rest of the "Fitra Paintings" and the rest of "Close to Home" on your next visit!

Image: Nsenga Knight, installation view, Fitra Paintings". Oil on canvas. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Hai Zhang.

The title of Lyle Ashton Harris's exhibition can be traced back to a small slip of paper found in the folds of a fortune cookie, and its two-line phrase: “Our first and last love is ...Self-love.”

In the early 1990s, Harris taped the fortune onto a page in his journal. Later he’d circle and star it, as the text became the basis for a 1993 work installed on New York’s Forty-Second Street, where it shone in red neon script. Thirty years later, the phrase returns in "Our first and last love", exploring Harris’s critical examination of identity and self-portraiture while tracing central themes and formal approaches in his work.

📷 : Installation view, Lyle Ashton Harris: "Our first and last love" (May 19, 2024 - September 22, 2024). Photo credit Hai Zhang.

Cameron Granger crafts a three-act story with poetic clues communicated through crosswords. Across his “movement” series, the artist conceptualizes obfuscation as an intentional act, using dark silvery ink on black paper and guarding words that hold deep personal meaning. Here, the scribbled out answers are keywords that connect the series.

Paired with each crossword is a charm referencing Black spiritual remedies. The
bottle with an insect calls upon a Hoodoo practice of locating the source of harm; the salt vial alludes to the traditional Haitian use of salt to cure zombification; and the root is bound with the artist’s hair as a protection spell.

Granger offers these charms as necessary items for the toolkit in breaking the curse of systemic injustice.

Explore the rest of the "movement" series in "9999" IRL on your next visit!

Image: Cameron A. Granger "7th movement - Invisible Cities", 2024. Screenprint and marker on paper, walnut shelf, vial of salt, and pocket knife. Photo by Hai Zhang.

One thing we miss seeing in are the fountains, they would definitely help with the heat 🥵!

In the meantime, enjoy this to the 1964-65 'sFair, where the and its surrounding fountains glowed throughout the Fair and beyond. 🌐

Explore the IRL on your way to the Museum as well as in our World's Fair Collection!

Image: Bob Golby (b. 1901), ExteriView of the Unisphere, 35mm color positive film transparency. Donated by Bob Golby, 1987. Courtesy Queens Museum, 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair Collection, New York.

Spend your Saturday at the Museum on 7/27 with "To Know Another", tea and conversation with artist Nsenga Knight in the gallery of her exhibition "Close to Home." For this conversation, Knight will be joined by guest Sibok Shahid Najee-Ullah.

RSVP is encouraged: https://bit.ly/toknowoneanotherjuly

Image: Nsenga Knight, installation view, "Close to Home", 2024. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Hai Zhang.

On Saturday 7/27, experience an opportunity for tea and conversation with artist Nsenga Knight and special guest Sibok Shahid Najee-ullah, Head Instructor at the renowned SWAM Dojo in Jamaica, Queens.

Join Nsenga in conversation with Sibok Shahid about the legacy and tradition he upholds as one of the most honored students of Sijo Abdul Mutakabbir, the Dojo’s founder.

RSVP is encouraged for the 7/27 event.

Learn more and RSVP: https://bit.ly/toknowoneanotherjuly

Image: Installation view, "Nsenga Knight: Close to Home." (May 19, 2024 - January 19, 2025) Photo by Hai Zhang.

On this week's , we're highlighting the Pavilion at the 1939-40 World's Fair. 🇻🇪

According to the official guidebook from the fair, The Venezuela Pavilion was a jewel-like square building with glass walls and no doors. The theme of the exhibit was the modern, progressive life, industry, and art of Venezuela. The displays centered about two main products of the country-orchids and oil.

A huge mural on the ceiling depicted scenic beauties, and products. Another feature was the outdoor orchid gems. This consisted of an exhibit of orchids placed upon trees, executed by the native sculptor, Francesco Narváez. 🌸

The supply of orchids was replenished continually, coming directly from Venezuela by air mail. The mural on the ceiling was intersected by serpentine walls, which were fronted by five large sculpted figures representing Venezuelan products – Coffee, cocoa, fruits, oil, and pearls. Nearby in the tropical garden, native coffee, cocoa and Hallacas (a native dish) were served.

Learn more about the 1939-40 World's Fair by visiting our collection IRL! 🌐

Images: (1) Venezuela Pavilion, vintage silver gelatin print. Donated by Melvin Roland, 1987. Courtesy Queens Museum, 1939–1940 New York World’s Fair Collection, New York.

A close-up of the icon of the World's Borough, the .

Learn more about the Unisphere by visiting our Collection!

Plan your visit at the 🔗 in our bio.

📷: The Unisphere, c. 1964. Color photograph. Gift of Samuel Ziegler, 1988.

Appropriating illustrations from The Flying Gauchito in "Los Tres Caballeros" and its unfinished sequel "The Laughing Gauchito", Catalina Schliebener Muñoz employs mirror symmetry to draw attention to overlooked moments and to disrupt repressive hierarchies in "Aves Raras".

In the story, a young Uruguayan gaucho discovers a flying donkey while hunting Andean condors. He attempts to capture the unusual winged creature in the hopes of becoming rich, but the donkey repeatedly liberates itself from the trap. Later, the pair develop a tender friendship and collaboration, entering and winning a horse race before flying off together.

Schliebener Muñoz renders these two characters in doubles and triples, where the fluid outlines of their interspecies forms are entangled with gauchito’s dangling hunting boleadoras that spill out from the wall.

Disrupting the social norms enforced in the gauchito’s coming-of-age tale, Schliebener Muñoz interrogates the machismo and anti-establishment attitude of gaucho culture to blur the lines between what is considered ethical and subversive, childish and mature, subject and object.

Explore "Aves Raras" and the rest of "Buenos Vecinos" IRL on your next visit!

Image: Catalina Schliebener Muñoz, detail view, "Aves Raras", 2024. Vinyl, paint, leather and stone hunting bolas (boleadoras). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Hai Zhang.