The City We Imagined/The City We Made: New New York 2001-2010

Over the past ten years, an array of powerful forces has converged to dramatically transform parts of the city. The tragedy of September 11; the policies and priorities of the Bloomberg administration; a volatile economy; advances in material and construction technologies; and a new awareness of leading edge architecture and design in the public consciousness are just some of the factors that combined to reshape the city in ways that will continue to be felt for decades to come. The City We Imagined/The City We Made will document this transformation, making visible the initiatives and mechanisms that helped change the city, and exploring the divergent and conflicting ways in which this most recent chapter of New York's history has been experienced and interpreted. Notable components of the exhibition will include: The City We Imagined/Chronology–A timeline of the major architecture and planning milestones and events of the past decade, documenting a wide selection of the megaprojects, buildings, plans and initiatives proposed for the city since 2001. The City We Made/Photo Mural–Conceived as an homage to Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New York” photo project of the 1930s, the Architectural League’s New New York Photography Corps, organized in collaboration with the architectural photo agency Esto, is a volunteer group of nearly 100 architects and design professionals that spent the past six months fanning out across the city to document what New York looks like after ten years of intense development and change. One thousand of these images have been selected for presentation in the exhibition. Tales of a Changing City–Video interviews with a group of leading New Yorkers who share their perspectives about recent development in New York and speculate on what the city’s priorities for the future should be. Interviewees include Bill Aguado, former Executive Director, Bronx Council on the Arts; Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Greenwich Village Historic Preservation Society; Vishaan Chakrabarti, Director, Real Estate Program, Columbia University GSAPP; Barbara Corcoran, former president, The Cocoran Group; Thelma Golden, Director, Studio Museum in Harlem; Richard Kahan, Executive Director, Urban Assembly; Jerilyn Perine, Executive Director, Citizens Housing and Planning Council; Paul Steely White, Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives; and others. Dates: May 8-June 26, 2010 Location: 250 Hudson Street (Enter on Dominick Street) Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, Noon-7:00 p.m. Subway: 1/Canal Street; ACE/Canal Street Admission: Free Funders The City We Imagined/The City We Made: New New York 2001-2010 has been generously supported by Lead Sponsor F.J. Sciame Construction Co and Associate Sponsor Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Additional support has been provided by the Bernheimer Family; the J. Clawson Mills Fund of the Architectural League; NRI: National Reprographics, Inc.; and Jack Resnick & Sons. League programs are also made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. Exhibition Credits Curator: Gregory Wessner, Exhibitions Director, The Architectural League Photo Advisor: Erica Stoller, Esto Exhibition Designers: Moorhead & Moorhead Graphic Design: PS New York