If you can make New York your gym, you can also make it your art museum. Now that the NYC Parks Department has released a map pointing out over 1,000 public art sites and monuments across NYC, it’ll be easier than ever to curate your own Brooklyn museum.
On the map, you can search for sites around your apartment or your office by entering a zip code or address. On the Parks website, you can scan the catalog of the city’s permanent and temporary collections by entering the name of a specific artwork, or browsing by key words like “abstract,” “bas relief,” and “9-11.” Hitting all 1,000 would take forever, so we chose five of the best you can see in Brooklyn—hop on a bike or hoof around this weekend on your own public art scavenger hunt.
________
—OSS#2 Brooklyn, Juanli Carrion. Temporary. A 230 square foot garden built in the shape of Brooklyn contains 36 plants selected by 36 Brooklyn immigrants, with the criteria that they are found both in Brooklyn and their country of origin. The plants are planted in the soil at locations that represent where each immigrant currently lives in Brooklyn. Located at the Myrtle and Washington Avenue entrance to Fort Greene Park.
________
—Equestrian statue of Ulysses S. Grant. Permanent. Located on the median at Bedford Ave. and Dean St. in Crown Heights.
________
—Monumental sculptures at Prospect Park, Carole Eisner. Temporary. Four massive, abstract metal sculptures have turned Prospect Park into a mini Storm King. You can find them on the Peninsula in front of the lake, on the lawn at the 5th St. Litchfield Villa, at the “grassy triangle entrance” facing Grand Army Plaza, and at the park entrance near Bartel-Pritchard Square.
________
—Lenape Variations, Ruth Hofheimer. Temporary. At Washington Park in Gowanus, peep this mural using imagery inspired by the Lenape Indian Tribe, which once inhabited Brooklyn.
________
—Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese monument, Permanent. A bronze and granite statue commemorates the moment in May, 1947, when Brooklyn Dodgers Captain Reese put his arm around Robinson in solidarity against racist taunts from the crowd at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. Located in Coney Island, in front of MCU Stadium.