Gabion: New York’s Museum of Modern Art goes east. 1/5

(by Hugh Pearman. Published in The Sunday Times, 7th July 2002, as “MoMA in New York has a new, unlikely home. Shame it’s only temporary.”

For New York’s cultured elite, this is one hell of a wrench. The Museum of Modern Art, resident in fairytale midtown Manhattan since forever, has moved a few miles over the East River - but light years perceptually - to the gritty urban realism of the district known as Queen’s. And from its purpose-built, high-modern-architecture gallery to a converted stapler factory of minimal architectural interest. In the circumstances, they are putting a brave face on things.

It is axiomatic that Manhattanites of a certain class are more parochial than any other cityfolk on earth. They move only small distances, and they do that in yellow cabs. The fact that the new MoMA QNS, as it is called, is only about 15 minutes from Times Square on the Number 7 subway train is a grand irrelevance to these people. Only immigrant workers, and visiting critics from Britain, use the 7 train. For quite a few of the New York guests at the somewhat chaotic opening party last week - almost all of whom arrived in cabs and limos - this was the first time they had ever been to Queen’s. Really. And tourists, of course, never go there at all.