About
Free in Queens: Masao Gozu photographed New Yorkers framed in tenement windows for decades, then went back to reshoot the same blocks.
Gozu emigrated from Nagano to New York in 1970 and spent decades photographing strangers framed in tenement windows, treating each opening as a proscenium onto ordinary life. His subjects almost never look back at the camera, which makes the pictures feel overheard rather than posed. He has recently returned to the same Mott Street and Bay Ridge addresses to reshoot them, and the before-and-after pairings are the reason to make the trip.
What to expect
The hang pairs gelatin silver prints from the 1970s with digital photographs of the same buildings today, so you read the city changing block by block. Frames are modest and hung at eye level in PS1's old classroom galleries. It is a focused selection rather than a full retrospective, which makes it an easy hour.
Good to know
- Take the 7 to Courthouse Square or the E/M/G to Court Square.
- MoMA PS1 admission is free for all, so nothing needs booking in advance.
- Pair it with New York Fashion at PS1, 1980–1984, which opens in the same building.
- The converted-school layout involves stairs between wings; an elevator is available.
- Long Island City has good coffee within a block, which makes this an easy morning stop.
Going? Keep it.
Common questions
Is admission free?
Yes — MoMA PS1 lists free admission for all at its Long Island City building.
What is the Windows series?
Photographs of New Yorkers seen through tenement windows, made from the early 1970s until 2004 across neighborhoods from Bay Ridge to Little Italy.
Is this a retrospective?
No — it is a focused selection, and the first US museum exhibition devoted to Gozu.