MoMA PS1 is holding a free open house in Long Island City on Saturday to introduce new exhibitions and connect them with talks, workshops and performances. The program runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is open to all ages. Most activities are available on a drop-in basis, according to the museum.
The largest new exhibition is Hard Art, a survey of abstraction by Black artists in the United States from 1969 to the present. The Museum of Modern Art says the show contains more than 90 works by over 40 artists and remains on view through March 15, 2027. Painting appears alongside sculpture, video and sound, allowing the exhibition to examine abstraction as both a formal language and a response to political life.
The historical span connects artists who established their practices in the 1970s with younger figures working today. The official roster includes Frank Bowling, Peter Bradley, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Ed Clark, Melvin Edwards, Jennie C. Jones, Joe Overstreet and Raymond Saunders, as well as Aria Dean, Torkwase Dyson, Nikita Gale, Suzanne Jackson, Carolyn Lazard and others. The installation is designed around conversation across generations rather than a single style.
Saturday's events include a discussion with Howardena Pindell and James Little, both of whom participated in PS1's 1980 exhibition Afro-American Abstraction. Their presence gives visitors a direct link between an earlier institutional moment and the new survey. The conversation is led by museum director Connie Butler and focuses on the artists' practices rather than treating the historical exhibition as a closed chapter.
Two other presentations broaden the day. Masao Gozu: Windows and Bars is paired with a family workshop in which participants build small window-like objects based on remembered places. New York Fashion at PS1, 1980–1984 revisits the institution's role in fashion exhibitions, with cultural theorist Marco Pecorari, critic Matthew Linde and assistant curator Kari Rittenbach discussing that history.
A Modern Spotlight presentation devoted to Fred Wilson is also part of the open house. The day's activities extend beyond gallery viewing through yoga, movement and sound sessions, a market featuring artists from The Fortune Society and a sale of PS1 publications marking the institution's fiftieth anniversary. That mix makes the event closer to a campus-wide program than a conventional exhibition opening.
Free admission lowers one barrier, but visitors should still plan around time and capacity. Drop-in status does not guarantee space at every discussion or workshop, and the museum's event page should be checked for the latest schedule. Families may want to prioritize the object-making activity, while visitors focused on Hard Art can build their visit around the artist conversation.
The event also illustrates the difference between access and interpretation. Opening the doors without charge helps visitors enter, while talks and workshops offer tools for asking what an abstract work is doing. Participants do not need a specialized vocabulary to begin. Looking closely at material, scale, rhythm and the relationship between works can provide a stronger starting point than searching for one approved explanation.
The open house offers a useful way to understand how PS1 is presenting its new season: exhibitions provide the core, while public programs give visitors multiple routes into the material. The most lasting measure will be the exhibitions themselves and the interpretations they support through March and beyond. Saturday's free program is the entry point, not a substitute for spending time with the work.
Primary sources: MoMA PS1 official open-house program; Museum of Modern Art press release for Hard Art. Reviewed November 7, 2026. Development: Open house held November 7, 2026.