In the works

Hear from the New Yorkers who experienced Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s magical transformation of Central Park for The Gates in 2005. The exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City marks the 20th anniversary of the artists’ monumental work of temporary public art.

Last fall The Shed presented Kenneth Branagh in King Lear by William Shakespeare, a production that brought the Bard into the 21st century with direction by Rob Ashford, Branagh, and Lucy Skilbeck. Learn more about what it took to bring a classic play about Ancient Britain to New York City.

In summer 2024, eight artists presented new performance works that concluded the third edition of our Open Call program. A cornerstone of The Shed’s programming, Open Call supports emerging, NYC-based artists in growing their careers. These eight artists made new works with urgency, in community, and with great care. Get to know them and more about their performances that ignited curiosity and optimism.

Get to know the artists who presented work in the Open Call 2023 Group Exhibition, which ran from November 4, 2023, to January 21, 2024. Each of their projects takes on history as a means of understanding the present, following circular paths and doubling back on memories—both individual and collective—to make sense of the world we live in today. In this video series, the artists introduce themselves where they live and work.

In June 2023, audiences discovered new ways to experience music at The Shed. Sonic Sphere, a vast, 65-foot-diameter spherical concert hall suspended in air in The Shed’s soaring, 115-foot-tall McCourt, featured immersive, 3-D sound and light explorations of music. KAGAMI, created by the late, legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum, offered a new kind of concert, fusing dimensional moving photography with the real world to create a never-before-experienced mixed reality presentation. Go behind the scenes of the making of these two programs.

In December 2022, the Fire Ensemble, led by composer Troy Anthony, presented a developmental concert sharing of To Feel A Thing: A Ritual For Emergence, written by adrienne maree brown in collaboration with Fire Ensemble artistic director Troy Anthony and directed by Charlotte Brathwaite. The Fire Ensemble is an intergenerational choir community centering BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folx that is in residence at The Shed. Hear from Anthony and some of the choir’s members on building community around To Feel A Thing.

Brazilian artist Maxwell Alexandre’s paintings depict collective portraits celebrating the empowerment, self-esteem, and prosperity of Black people. Get to know the artist in two videos exploring his exhibition, which was on view from October 2022 to January 2023.

In fall 2022, Ralph Fiennes returned to the New York stage at The Shed as Robert Moses in David Hare’s Straight Line Crazy, directed by Nicholas Hytner and Jamie Armitage. Hear from the creative team in two recorded conversations.

Open Call is our large-scale commissioning program for emerging NYC artists. In summer 2022, eight artists presented new performances. Get to know more about them and their work with these videos and conversations.

To learn more about all the artists in the program, visit the Open Call page.

Tomás Saraceno’s exhibition, Particular Matter(s), called us to renew relationships with Earth, the air, and the cosmos in the Capitalocene, a name for the era of Earth’s existence that we’re living in, characterized by the destructive effects of capitalism on the environment. Though the exhibition is now closed, continue learning about the interwoven threads of Saraceno’s work.

Dive into the creative team’s thoughts behind the silent film adaptation MOBY DICK; or, The Whale, directed by Wu Tsang, performed with live orchestral accompaniment by Members of the New York Philharmonic at The Shed.

Claudia Rankine’s play, Help, continued the celebrated poet and essayist’s deep inquiry into white dominance in our society. Learn more about the production from its creative team and join the ongoing, urgent conversation opened by the play.

Hear from Cecily Strong, Jane Wagner, and Lily Tomlin about Wagner’s The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which returned to a New York stage for the first time in two decades in The Shed’s Griffin Theater in December 2021.