Governors Island Has a New Arts Overseer
The burgeoning arts program on Governors Island has a new visionary-in-chief: Lauren Haynes, late of the Queens Museum, has been named the new Head Curator and Vice President for Arts and Culture, the Trust for Governors Island announced Tuesday.
Ms. Haynes, who says she aims to “develop programming and working with artists to create projects and exhibitions for New Yorkers and everyone who visits our City,” also serves on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, to which she was appointed by President Biden. At the Queens Museum, she oversaw programs as the Director of Curatorial Affairs and Programs. Prior to that, she held senior posts at Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art and the Studio Museum in Harlem.
Governors Island Arts, the program that Ms. Haynes will oversee, produces cultural initiatives including public art commissions (both long-term and temporary works from multidisciplinary artists that are sited throughout the island’s landscapes); organizations in residence (an annual open call inviting cultural organizations to present seasonal exhibitions); and public programs, including free events presented in partnership with New York cultural organizations.
An illustrative case in point is “Moving Chains,” a 2022 sculptural installation by Charles Gaines, which offered a haunting evocation of the history of slavery, provocatively fused with an invocation of New York’s legacy as an economic engine for the nation. The 110-foot-long piece, described by the artist as a “kinetic sculpture,” was fashioned from steel and African mahogany. Visitors were invited to walk through the structure, beneath nine custom-made chains, each weighing over 1,600 pounds, which were in constant motion.
