54 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • APRIL 15, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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MoMI announces plans to reopen April 30
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Astoria’s Museum of the Moving
Image is set to reopen to the public
aft er shutting down more than a year
ago as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived
in Queens. Th e doors to the building,
galleries and the Redstone Th eater will
reopen April 30, with new procedures
and physical adjustments in place to
ensure the safety of visitors and staff .
While the museum pivoted to online
programming in the past year, it also
prepared the building for a safe reopening,
installing barriers where appropriate,
along with a complete upgrading
of the HVAC air fi lters and adding
a dedicated ionization system that
serves the Redstone Th eater. New protocols
that align with guidelines set by
the Centers for Disease Control include
setting occupancy at 25 percent capacity,
requiring face masks and social distancing,
adding multiple hand-sanitizing
stations, adhering to a strict building
cleaning and maintenance schedule,
and implementing timed ticketing and
contactless entry where possible.
“Though our in-person activity
stopped in March of last year, we
are proud to have spent the past year
shift ing our programs online,” MoMI
Executive Director Carl Goodman said.
“We also served our community as a
free meal distribution point and early
voting poll site, and created the Queens
Drive-In with our partners at Rooft op
Films and New York Hall of Science. We
are grateful to our members and staff
who stuck with us through it all, the
many supporters who donated to our
fundraisers and Kickstarter campaign,
and the new audiences we found across
the country and around the world. We
are excited to welcome everyone back to
the Museum in Astoria, and to continue
our online programming.”
When the building shuttered on
March 13, 2020, MoMI was only two
months into presenting “Envisioning
2001,” an in-depth exploration of
Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece; in
the midst of welcoming international
fi lmmakers and guests to the ninth
annual First Look Festival, the museum’s
showcase devoted to premieres
of innovative international fi lms; and
engaging students throughout the city
in its education programs.
When the building reopens, in addition
to “Envisioning 2001,” “Th e Jim Henson
Exhibition” and “Behind the Screen,” the
museum will also have on view, “D’oh!
Animating America’s Funniest Family,”
an exhibition of original animation cels
from “Th e Simpsons,” which had opened
just a few days before the pandemic
shuttered the museum.
“Having opened it just weeks before
the onset of the pandemic, we are so
pleased to have ‘Envisioning 2001’ and
related programs on view throughout
the summer,” MoMI Deputy Director
of Cultural Aff airs said. “We are equally
excited for audiences to experience a
new installation of movie posters in our
lobby and a program of short fi lms from
Southeast Asia in our Video Screening
Amphitheater, both of which we will
complement with original content on
our website. We have also made changes
to ‘Th e Jim Henson Exhibition,’ including
some works on paper from Th e Jim
Henson Company archive which have
never been exhibited, and a Kermit
puppet from 1963, generously donated
by Heather Henson.”
In tandem with the galleries reopening,
the Redstone Th eater will reopen
with a weekly screening of Kubrick’s
“2001: A Space Odyssey,” to be presented
in conjunction with the “Envisioning
2001” exhibition and as part of the
Kubrick retrospective.
LaGuardia Airport to become new home to Lincoln Center work of art
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A piece of public art, long familiar to
crowds at Lincoln Center, has found a new
home at LaGuardia Airport. Governor
Andrew Cuomo announced that the
world-renowned sculpture, “Orpheus
and Apollo,” will be relocated to the new
LaGuardia Airport’s Central Hall.
Th e work by sculptor Richard Lippold
was installed in 1962 in the Grand
Promenade of Philharmonic Hall and
later Avery Fisher Hall, later known as
David Geff en Hall. Originally a gift from
the Ittleson Foundation, the sculpture is
made up of Muntz metal bars individually
suspended by steel cables.
“Th e new LaGuardia Airport will give
travelers a world-class experience refl ective
of what New York is all about, and
as our state is the premier cultural destination,
we want to make sure our airports
live up to our reputation,” Cuomo
said. “Th is agreement will give ‘Orpheus
and Apollo’ a new and permanent home
where it will be enjoyed by millions of
New Yorkers and travelers each year.”
Last year, Lincoln Center announced
that “Orpheus and Apollo” would not
be returned to David Geff en Hall due
to modifi cations to accommodate an
expanded program of artistic performances,
community programming and
other events. When Paul Goldenberger,
the architecture critic who served as an
adviser to both the Port Authority on its
LaGuardia redevelopment plan and to
Lincoln Center in its planned renovation
of David Geff en Hall, learned that
the plans for the hall would preclude the
reinstallation of the sculpture in its original
location, he suggested moving it to
the airport.
Offi cials agreed that the 5-ton work
of art would be transferred to the
Port Authority for display at the new
LaGuardia Airport’s Central Hal, due to
open in 2022.
“It’s almost unheard-of that a piece of
great public art gets a chance at a second
life in a new location that is so wellsuited
to the piece,” Goldenberger said. “I
believe that ‘Orpheus and Apollo’ will be
as compelling and beautiful a presence in
the Central Hall at LaGuardia as it was at
Lincoln Center. Th e sculpture will be seen
by even more people than before, and it
will be the focal point of the grand public
space of the Central Hall, being developed
as the ‘living room’ of the new LaGuardia.”
Th e sculpture will join a slate of public
artworks commissioned for LaGuardia’s
new Terminal B and unveiled in 2020,
including pieces by Sarah Sze, Laura
Owens, Jeppe Hein and Sabine Hornig,
and the new “Aquatique Show,” a dynamic
water and light sculpture located in
Terminal B’s central shopping district.
“Th e addition of ‘Orpheus and Apollo’ to
the new LaGuardia Airport is an important
part of our eff ort to create a 21st-century
airport with a 21st-century customer experience
across the region,” Port Authority
Chairman Kevin O’Toole said. “Showcasing
Richard Lippold’s masterpiece in the lightfi
lled Central Hall will engage and inspire
the millions of travelers coming through
LaGuardia Airport every year.”
“Orpheus and Apollo” evoke fi gures of
two Greek Gods: Apollo, the god of music;
and Orpheus, the musician and poet who
attempted to summon his wife back from
the underworld with music and song.
“Governor Cuomo’s vision for LaGuardia
has always aspired to include world-class
facilities that incorporate world-class civic
architecture and inspiring art to enhance
the travel experience,” Post Authority
Executive Director Rick Cotton said.”We
are pleased that we can give the renowned
Orpheus and Apollo a new home in a magnifi
cent new public space at LaGuardia,
where it can continue to inspire and entertain
generations to come.”
Courtesy of MoMI
The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is preparing to reopen later this month.
2022
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