Museums, galleries and other cultural institutions in New York City have announced closures and postponements out of caution amid smoke billowing into the city from wildfires raging across Canada. Early Thursday morning, New York and other North American cities had the worst air quality levels in the world, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index (AQI). environment.
City officials warned residents to stay indoors, wear masks and avoid long-term exposure to outdoor air.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has closed its famous seasonal exhibition roof garden on Thursday, June 8, as well as its Met Cloisters gardens, although indoor museum spaces remained open as usual. The Noguchi Museum closed on Thursday “due to poor air quality” in the city. The museum, dedicated to the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, has a large sculpture garden. Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens had a delayed opening before admitting the public on Thursday afternoon. The public work of Charles Gaines on Governors Island, Mobile chainswas closed Wednesday (June 7) and Thursday, and may remain closed over the weekend if conditions do not improve.
The Upper East Side LGDR gallery has postponed the opening scheduled for Wednesday for its new show, Gego: lines in space due to “poor air quality in the city and out of concern for the safety of our visitors and staff”. The exhibition opened to the public on June 8. Crossing Art Gallery has also postponed a panel with artist Moyosore Martins until Thursday.
The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum closed early Wednesday and the outdoor 9/11 Memorial closed Thursday, although the nearby museum remains open. The Chelsea High Line, a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above some of the city’s most important art galleries, delayed its opening on Thursday.
One art event that went on schedule this week was New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s annual Party In The Garden benefit gala on Tuesday, June 6. around 15 protesters picketed the event as the city filled with smog to demand MoMA distance itself from Board Chair Marie-Josée Kravis over fossil fuel investments by her and her husband Henry Kravis.
