Oysters, bathing birds and a giant corn cob fill New York's autumn streets
Oysters on Governors Island, bathing birds near City Hall and a 9-foot corn cob on the High Line lead New York City's autumn public art line-up.
The round-up was published on 25 September 2026 by The Art Newspaper, written by Benjamin Sutton. It lists outdoor works across the city, from Governors Island in New York Harbour to City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan, the High Line in Manhattan, Madison Square Park in Manhattan and a teddy bear in Queens.
On the western promenade of Governors Island, Mohawk artist Alan Michelson's The Oyster (2026) was commissioned by the non-profit organisation More Art with the Billion Oyster Project and Governors Island Arts. The installation references Indigenous shell middens, ancient heaps of discarded shells, and the rebounding oyster population in New York Harbour. Earlier project material describes it as part landform, part amphitheatre and notes references to Indigenous geoglyphs, large designs made on the ground. It was on view from 30 July to 30 November 2026.
On the High Line, Peruvian artist Ximena Garrido-Lecca's The Golden Crop (2026) is a 9-foot-tall bronze fountain shaped as a cob of corn. The water is dyed neon yellow to reference glyphosate, a weedkiller that much industrial corn is genetically altered to survive. The work addresses the harmful effects of industrial farming.
The High Line also carries three bronze ARCHETYPES figures by Derek Fordjour depicting a boxer, a waiter and a dancer. Nearby are three 2026 sculptures by Patricia Ayres with long numbered titles that decode to the names of Catholic saints. The Art Newspaper describes the trio as evoking strange bodies wrapped and bound in cloth, elastic and other materials.
In City Hall Park, the Public Art Fund exhibition Heads or Tails by Genesis Belanger centres on a flock of sculptural birds bathing in a fountain. The display also includes three potted fruit trees and two bronze figures.
In Madison Square Park, Roberto Lugo has installed a giant orange fire hydrant and a 20-foot-tall urn paying tribute to Puerto Rican history and heritage.
For anyone visiting, this means a lot can be seen on foot and without a ticket. Governors Island lists free guided tours of The Oyster every Saturday and Sunday at 12PM and 4PM.
