Hundreds of thousands of tennis fans descend on the US Open tennis tournament this week, but a certain New York museum on the tournament’s doorstep won’t benefit by the influx.
The tournament takes place at Arthur Ashe Stadium, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, in Queens. Some 700,000 flocked to see the action in 2014.
But the Queens Museum, which draws 150,000 annually, is for the first time forced to close until September 11 (the run of the Open) due to security measures for the sports event.
Tickets to see stars like Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Venus and Serena Williams can run you up to upward of $700. Meanwhile, suggested admission at the museum is just $8 for adults and $4 for seniors, and it’s free for kids.
Currently on view at the museum are “Nonstop Metropolis,” a multifaceted project with writer and activist Rebecca Solnit that involves commissions from Mariam Ghani and Duke Riley; a show of drawings by American artist William Groper; and an exhibition of Tiffany lamps.
The museum’s upcoming survey of Mierle Laderman Ukeles earned a spot on artnet News’s Fall Art Preview: 14 New York Museum Exhibitions Not to Miss.
The museum occupies an edifice that was constructed for the New York World’s Fair, 1939–40, and is the sole building left standing from the event. It later housed the United Nations General Assembly in its early years (1946–50) and served as the central structure of the 1964–65 World’s Fair before being handed over to the Queens Museum (then known as the Queens Center for Art and Culture) in 1972.