THE DESTINATION
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s roof garden
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street

THE JOURNEY
I don’t need to tell anyone here how to get to the Met, but for what it’s worth, I like to take the C to 81st/Natural History Museum and walk through the park. Or the 2/3 to 96th, and bike through on the 86th Street Transverse.

THE EXHIBIT
The museum’s newest Roof Garden Commission is on view through October 19, is the sculptures of Jennie C. Jones (born 1968, Cincinnati, Ohio). “Ensemble” is composed of three large sculptural forms based on string instruments — a trapezoidal zither, a tall Aeolian harp, and a doubled, leaning one-string — plus a floor piece that serves as both a “conductor” of the ensemble and a boundary-marker of the “stage.”

THE REASON TO GO
The roof, which never disappoints IMO, is about to close for the next five years — it will reopen in 2030 when the newly designed Tang Wing at the museum also opens. The new wing will stay within the footprint and be no higher than the current 1880 wing, but it will increase the current gallery space by 50 percent. it will be called the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing and has been designed by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo — the first woman to design a new wing in the Museum’s 154-year history. See more here.

THE BACKGROUND
I didn’t realize that this is only the 12th commission on the roof. (I guess before they just placed pieces from the permanent collection?) Since 2013, the series has featured work by contemporary artists.

See other Field Trips here.