RECOMMENDED:\u00a0The best museum exhibitions in NYC right now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Since the 1980s, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has invited contemporary artists to take over\u00a0its Cantor Roof Garden. In past years, visitors have seen an \u201cAfrofuturist, ancient Egyptian funkified spaceship<\/a>\u201d\u00a0by Lauren Halsey and a poignant sculptural exhibit<\/a> by Petrit Halilaj that served as\u00a0an ode children living in war zones.\u00a0<\/p>\n This year, the museum\u00a0is featuring American artist Jennie C. Jones who has spent three decades deploying sound as a conceptual element in her work. Three maroon-and-red sculptures make up the piece: A trapezoidal zither, modeled on a low frequency-absorbing bass trap; a tall Aeolian harp, activated by the wind; and a doubled, leaning one-string, made as an homage to the twentieth-century improvisers Moses Williams and Louis Dotson.<\/p>\n The instruments sit at attention waiting to be heard and making us wonder about the bodies not present to play them.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe pieces are not always singing, they\u2019re not performing, they\u2019re not always activated.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cWhat I hope for this work is that it ignites the sonic imagination. The pieces are not always singing, they\u2019re not performing, they’re not always activated,\u201d Jones said\u00a0at a media preview of the installation. \u201cI think for me, that\u2019s also a tremendous part of the work is the way to hold space and nuance and not always be full of an outward expression, but to hold a rich interior imagination and to hold a rich sonic imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n Max Hollein, the Met\u2019s CEO, describes the sculptures as \u201cenormously powerful\u201d as they evoke minimalism, modernism, avant garde music and Black culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n In researching the piece, Jones considered the history of the Met\u2019s rooftop installations as well as the instruments in the Met\u2019s collection, associate curator Lauren Rosati explained. She and Jones have been working together to make \u201cEnsemble\u201d a reality for the past five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe tension they hold between dormancy and activation, anticipation and release is where they hold their power.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cWhile these works are mostly silent, their potential for sound and the tension they hold between dormancy and activation, anticipation and release is where they hold their power,\u201d Rosati said.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Installation](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744697534_434_image.webp.webp\")
\nPhotograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by Hyla Skopitz | Installation view of The Roof Garden Commission: Jennie C. Jones, Ensemble , 2025
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\nPhotograph: Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out New York
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