The Museum of Modern Art unveiled the newly reimagined MoMA Design Store, SoHo, on Saturday, September 27, introducing a refreshed approach to how audiences engage with design, culture, and commerce in downtown New York. Long beloved by locals and visited by art and design enthusiasts from around the world, the Spring Street location serves as both a vibrant entry point to MoMA and a destination in its own right.
Debuting within the redesigned store is LOVE NYC by Nina Chanel Abney, a New York-based artist with work in MoMA’s collection. The original work of art marks the first iteration of Modern Mural — a collaboration between the Museum and MoMA Design Store that brings contemporary art into the space through a rotating program of works.
Located at 81 Spring Street, the landmarked 19th-century building has been thoughtfully transformed by Peterson Rich Office. In keeping with MoMA’s mission to connect people to the art of our time, the redesigned space emphasizes accessibility, storytelling, and good design as catalysts for learning and creativity, and serves as a welcoming gathering place downtown.
Visible from Spring Street, Nina Chanel Abney’s LOVE NYC spans the store’s north wall. For this new work of art, she employed her signature paper cut-out technique to create individual elements that she then arranged into a dynamic, site-specific composition. Motifs include cobblestones, street names, and subway lines, which nod to the history and energy of the surrounding Soho neighborhood.
These are interspersed with references to works from the Museum’s collection: Salvador Dalí’s melting clock draped over a tree and Marcel Duchamp’s readymade bicycle wheel, which, unlike the actual bicycle facing it, can no longer be used to ride. In filtering such New York City and modern art icons through her own distinctive visual language, Abney reimagines a set of familiar symbols, synthesizing diverse aspects of contemporary culture.
Source: MoMA
