MoMA Opens News Exhibition: “Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces”

The Museum of Modern Art will present the new exhibition Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces on view in the Museum’s Edward Steichen Galleries, from October 9th 2022 through February 18th of 2023. Just Above Midtown—or JAM—was an art gallery and self-described laboratory led by Linda Goode Bryant that foregrounded African American artists and artists of color.

Open from 1974 until 1986, JAM was a place where black art flourished and debate was cultivated. The gallery offered early opportunities for artists now recognized as pivotal figures in late-20th-century art. This exhibition presents artists and artworks previously shown at JAM in a wide range of mediums, and archival material and artist interventions contextualize the experimental ethos that defined the gallery.

Animated by Goode Bryant’s belief in trying to “connect us to our innate ability to use what we have to create what we need,” the gallery took what was an expansive view at the time, embracing artists working with abstraction and inexpensive materials, video and performance, as well as self-taught and West Coast artists. This exhibition will include performances, screenings, and public programs, as well as a range of collaborations.