David Hammons: Day's End

On view in Hudson River Park, across from the Whitney Museum, this permanent public art project by David Hammons (b. 1943) has been developed in collaboration with Hudson River Park. Entitled Day's End (2014–21), the monumental installation is located along the southern edge of Gansevoort Peninsula, directly across from the Museum.

Proposed to the Whitney by Hammons, Day's End takes inspiration from an artwork of the same name by Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–78). In 1975, Matta-Clark cut five openings into the Pier 52 shed that formerly occupied the site. Hammons's Day's End is an open structure that precisely follows the outlines, dimensions, and location of the original shed—and, like Matta-Clark's intervention, it offers an extraordinary place to experience the waterfront.

In tandem with the project's realization, the Whitney presented Around Day's End: Downtown New York, 1970–1986, an exhibition featuring works from the collection that relate to Matta-Clark's seminal project. The Whitney has also created interpretive materials including the Museum's first podcast series, Artists Among Us, as well as videos and neighborhood walking tours. This supporting media takes both Day's Ends, as envisaged by Hammons and Matta-Clark, as jumping-off points for exploring local history—of the waterfront and the Meatpacking District, the role of artists in the neighborhood, its LGBTQ history, and the ecology of the estuary. New research, archival materials, and oral history interviews are all incorporated.