It helps that all this artist-to-artist conversation takes place in a semi-industrial setting, with simple white temporary dividing walls, arranged to create both long views and intimate corners, placed on the original factory concrete floor. There are no architectural distractions, there is no stifling museological feel. There is no natural top-lighting, either, which could easily have been done in such a low building, but the artificial light is good enough for you not to miss it.

Will New Yorkers and visitors flock there? Will the 7 Train become a cultural conduit? If not, then MoMA can return to Manhattan in 2005 with a clear conscience. But if the place is a roaring success, they will have a problem. Because people will expect it to continue as something more than an archive. And that is not part of the plan.