Captivating New Exhibitions in Lincoln Square

As the weather begins to cool, local museums and cultural institutions stand ready to welcome visitors looking for indoor activities. At two new exhibitions in Lincoln Square, you’ll find plenty to learn and enjoy!

Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance, 1900–1955 is the newest exhibition at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Curated by Drs. Ninotchka Bennahum and Bruce Robertson, the exhibition demonstrates the birth of modern dance in the U.S. from a new and more inclusive lens by focusing on artists of color and artists from immigrant or Indigenous communities and how their lived experiences contributed to 20th-century modern dance. The exhibit features photography, costumes, moving images, and archival objects from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, as well as the work of artists such as Si-Lan Chen, Katherine Dunham, Edna Guy, Michio Ito, José Limón, Pearl Primus, Uday Shankar, Anna Sokolow, and groups like the New Dance Group and the American Negro Ballet Company. You can view the exhibition in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery at the Shelby Cullom Davis Museum through March 16, 2024. Click here to learn more about it.

At the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), Shary Boyle: Outside the Palace of Me "explores the forces that create our inner and outer selves, both individual and collective." This multisensory solo exhibition includes sculpted ceramics, life-sized automatons, two-way mirrors, a coin-operated sculpture, and an interactive soundtrack. To create these works, Boyle collaborated with a scenic designer, costume artist, robotics engineer, amusement park innovator, and acrylic nail artist. Visitors to the exhibit will feel like both an observer and the observed as they engage with the pieces. The exhibition opens on September 23, 2023, and runs through February 25, 2024. You can buy tickets for MAD online here, and be sure to visit The Store at MAD for some unique and art-centered home goods, clothing, jewelry, books, games, and more. 

Photo Credit: New York Public Library for the Performing Arts