Lawrence Weiner
A bit of matter and a little bit more
1976
Location: Front door, stenciled on glass
Originally part of exhibition Rooms in 1976, Lawrence Weiner wrote the title phrase on the inside of the front entrance as well as on the outside of the back door of P.S.1. The original doors, made of wood and metal, were removed during the renovation in 1997. After the renovation was completed, the artist was invited back to recreate the piece on both sides of the glass windows of the front doors.


Pipilotti Rist
Selbstlos im Lavabad (Selfless in the Bath of Lava)
1994
Location: Lobby, single-channel video installation
Selbstlos im Lavabad is comprised of a small video embedded in a hole on the floor. In the video the artist swims nude in an incandescent lava bath and cries out "I am a worm and you are a flower!" This video was first exhibited at Basel, Switzerland in 1994. In a later exhibition in Zurich, Switzerland, the video was placed at the foot of a Madonna and Child sculpture emphasizing the religious notion of damnation suggested by the video.


Third floor

James Turrell
Meeting
1986
Location: Third floor
One of the highlights of P.S.1, this site-specific installation has been at P.S.1 since the fall of 1986. It was initially part of a series commissioned by Alanna Heiss focusing on light and perception. Meeting is composed of a square room with a rectangular opening cut directly into the ceiling. Carefully calculated artificial lights produce an orange glow on the white walls of the room, permitting the viewer to appreciate the intensity of the sky's color. As Turrell described it: "There's this four-square seating that's inside, seating toward each other, having a space that created some silence, allowing something to develop slowly over time, particularly at sunset. Also, this Meeting has to do with the meeting of space that you're in with the meeting of the space of the sky." Meeting is one of Turrell's series of "skyspaces," all involving enclosed spaces with rectangular or rounded holes cut into the ceiling exposing the open sky. Meeting is open to the public one hour before dusk, weather permitting. Dusk occurs during museum hours beginning October 11 through March 8. Please visit the front desk for a daily opening schedule. Click here for press release and exhibition schedule.