This June, The Studio Museum in Harlem will be unveiling a new series of sculptures in Marcus Garvey Park by multidisciplinary artist and Harlem resident Maren Hassinger. Maren Hassinger: Monuments, which was organized by The Studio Museum in partnership with the Marcus Garvey Park Alliance and NYC Parks, will present eight site-specific public sculptures that will be on view for nearly a year.

The eight sculptures will use branches bent and shaped into mounds, rings, cubes, and other shapes that respond to the park landscape and its existing forms.

Not merely installed in Hassinger’s own neighborhood, the sculptures will also be made with the help of her neighbors, including local volunteers and participants from the Studio Museum’s Teen Leadership Council and Expanding the Walls program. Monuments will be a project made in Harlem, for Harlem. This is part of the museum’s broader inHarlem initiative which, since 2016, focuses on collaborations, exhibitions, conversations, workshops, and more offsite in the museum’s neighborhood

As Hallie Ringle, who is the exhibition’s organizer and Assistant Curator at The Studio Museum, explained, “We’re reaching across the generations, and across both indoor and outdoor space, to present these projects…These new inHarlem exhibitions touch on themes of community, creative energy, respect for the earth, and histories both told and untold.”

Hassinger, who is also the Director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art, rose to prominence in the 1970s for sculptures that draw from her background in fiber arts, dance, and performance, and that blend natural and industrial materials and forms. She is also renowned for her performances and videos and many early collaborations with artist Senga Nengudi.

Maren Hassinger: Monuments
Marcus Garvey Park, New York, NY
June 16, 2018–June 10, 2019