Recalling 1993, Learn About Manhattan 20 Years Ago From Any Pay Phone in NYC

“NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star” is an exhibit at the New Museum running until May 26th, 2013 that features art made and shown in New York in 1993. As part of the exhibition, the New Museum has launched Recalling 1993, a project that allows anyone to dial 1-855-FOR-1993 from any payphone in New York City to get information on what that particular block was like 20 years ago.

The exhibition is conceived as a time capsule, an experiment in collective memory that attempts to capture a specific moment at the intersection of art, pop culture, and politics. The social and economic landscape of the early ’90s was a cultural turning point both nationally and globally. Conflict in Europe, attempts at peace in the Middle East, the AIDS crisis, national debates on health care, gun control, and gay rights, and caustic partisan politics were both the background and source material for a number of younger artists who first came to prominence in 1993. This exhibition brings together a range of iconic and lesser-known artworks that serve as both artifacts from a pivotal moment in the New York art world and as key markers in the cultural history of the city.

via Charlie Todd