Scenes from the City Exhibition

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IMG 3191 MCNY

A new gallery installation in the Museum of the City of New York’s core exhibition, Scenes from the City surveys the rise of film location shooting in the five boroughs from the late 1940s to today—and its relationship to the shape and meaning of the city.

…a gritty, stylish celebration of the city.
National Public Radio
#Interpreting the City
West Side Story 1961 71
West Side Story

Using large-scale, dramatically lighted photomurals, the gallery highlights more than forty “behind-the-scenes” production stills of movies being filmed on location in the city since the 1940s, including the original 1961 West Side Story (above, left) and the film's 2021 remake (above, right). These striking images reveal how advancing technology, the creative aspirations of filmmakers and performers, innovative governmental agencies, and the abiding worldwide appeal of New York as a filmic setting have combined to produce a dynamic, ever-evolving portrait of the city’s physical landscape, cultural richness, and social complexity.

Credits
  • Client:
    Museum of the City of New York
    Sarah Henry, Chief Curator and Interim Director
  • Exhibition Concept, Curation, and Layout:
    James Sanders Studio
    James Sanders, FAIA, Principal
    Linnea Soli, Production Associate
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