MoMA's street-level gallery is one of the few genuinely free things in Midtown, and this show fills it with 30 works of information design, six newly acquired. The argument is that visualizing data has become a defining practice of the 20th and 21st centuries and a pillar of MoMA's design collection. If you have ten minutes between Fifth Avenue errands, this is the highest-quality free art stop nearby.
What to expect
The gallery sits at street level on West 53rd Street, so you walk in off the sidewalk without passing a ticket desk. Thirty pieces mix screen-based and printed work, with the digital examples running live. It is a compact space, which makes it an easy add-on to a walk through Midtown rather than a destination visit in itself.
Good to know
- Take the E/M to Fifth Avenue-53rd Street; the gallery is on West 53rd Street.
- This gallery is free and open to the public, so no ticket or reservation is needed.
- It is small — pair it with the paid galleries upstairs or with a walk to Rockefeller Center.
- Screen-based works run live, so it is worth a second look if a piece is mid-cycle.
- Step-free from the sidewalk, which makes it one of the easiest museum spaces in Midtown.
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Common questions
Do I need a MoMA ticket?
No — the street-level gallery is free and accessible to the public.
How many works are on view?
Thirty works of digital and analog information design, including six newly acquired for the collection.
Who organized the exhibition?
Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator in Architecture and Design, with Jules Bernstein and Forrest Pelsue.
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