MCNY Announces 2026 Exhibitions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2026 at the Museum of the City of New York: Exhibitions Championing the City that Shapes the Nation
New York, New York [January 7, 2026]—The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) is pleased to announce its 2026 exhibitions, underscoring the Museum’s central role in the nationwide America250 commemoration. Together, these exhibitions offer an expansive portrait of New York as a dynamic and driving force in the American story—a story shaped by conflict and creativity, resilience and reinvention, and the experiences of individuals and communities whose contributions helped define the nation.
“Our 2026 exhibitions focus on New York City as a living, evolving metropolis at the heart of American culture and identity. As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, our program illuminates how New York’s communities, layered histories, and acts of transformation helped build and advance the country we know today,” said Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, Ronay Menschel Director and President of MCNY.
“Highlighting values that have defined our city and our country—the ongoing pursuit of intellectual and social freedom, the human need for creativity even in times of struggle, and the convergence of people from many different backgrounds—MCNY’s 2026 exhibition program explores the crucial role New York City continues to play in times of national significance,” said Elisabeth Sherman, Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Chief Curator and Deputy Director.
Please find a list of the Museum’s 2026 exhibitions below. For more information and to request high-resolution images or to schedule interviews, please contact the Press Office at PressOffice@mcny.org.
He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model
Press Preview: Monday, February 9, 2026
Public Opening: Thursday, February 12, 2026
He Built This City celebrates Queens-born Joe Macken’s remarkable 21-year effort to handcraft a 50-by-30-foot architectural model of New York City—displayed for the first time in the city that inspired it. Composed of 350 sections made from balsa wood, cardboard, and glue, Macken’s sweeping model offers a tactile, artistic interpretation of New York’s built environment—bringing the city’s past and present into a shared space.
The Occupied City: New York and the American Revolution
Press Preview: Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Public Opening: Friday, May 1, 2026
As a signature contribution to America250, the Museum of the City of New York—together with the Gotham Center for New York City History—presents The Occupied City, a sweeping 7,000-square-foot exhibition spanning the Museum’s entire third floor. Centering New York City in the story of the founding of the United States, the exhibition immerses visitors in the Revolutionary era, when the city became the strategic heart of the conflict and faced the greatest crisis in its history. Through original artifacts, artworks, manuscripts, and interactive experiences, The Occupied City tells the story of the Revolution through the eyes and stories of the New Yorkers who lived through it.
Another Wonderland: Abram Champanier’s Alice Mural
Press Preview: Tuesday, June 2
Public Opening: Saturday, June 6
Another Wonderland celebrates the rescue and decades-long restoration of Alice Of Wonderland Visiting New York, a major New Deal–era mural cycle created by Abram Champanier for the children’s ward at Gouverneur Hospital between 1936 and 1938. Commissioned through the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, the sixteen-panels series reimagines Lewis Carroll’s beloved characters exploring 1930s New York City—from the subway and Brooklyn Bridge to Coney Island and Central Park—bringing color, fantasy, and joy to a space dedicated to healing.
Halumii Ktapihna: Lenape Legacies and Futures
Press Preview: Tuesday, September 22
Public Opening: Friday, September 25
Created in collaboration with the Éenda-Lŭnaapeewáhkiing Collective—a group of Lenape/Lunáapeew leaders from the U.S. and Canada—Halumii Ktapihna explores Lenape/Lunáapeew history by bringing together the work of more than 30 contemporary artists with historical objects and archival materials. The exhibition illuminates the living culture of the Lenape/Lunáapeew people and their ancestral homeland, Lenapehoking/Lunaapeewáhkiing—which includes present-day New York City. Highlights include wampum belts, tools, and textiles; historic documents and maps; and new works by Lenape/Lunáapeew artists that speak to identity, sovereignty, and belonging.
Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off
Press Preview: Monday, November 2
Public Opening: Friday, November 6
A beloved MCNY holiday tradition, Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off returns in 2026 with an all-new celebration of the city’s boundless creativity. Showcasing gingerbread structures crafted by leading bakers and designers from across all five boroughs, the exhibition highlights New York as the creative capital of the United States.
New York Now: After Dark
Press Preview: Tuesday, November 17
Public Opening: Friday, November 20
The Museum’s triennial of contemporary photography returns with a focus on New York City after sunset—where work, leisure, ambition, community, and escape converge in a nighttime landscape that has made New York the cultural engine of the United States. Through the lenses of emerging and established photographers, the exhibition examines how nightfall transforms the city and the people who inhabit it, reflecting the creativity, energy, and dynamism that have long fueled American cultural life.
On view now at the Museum, major exhibitions include the critically-acclaimed Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World (through April 19), which explores the artist’s deep engagement with the city as both subject and source; Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor (through February 22), an immersive look at dance floors as spaces of creativity, resistance, and community; Activist New York (ongoing), an exhibition examining the city’s long history as a center for social movements and civic action; New York at Its Core (ongoing), where New York City’s history and future come alive through the stories and the vision of generations of immigrants, politicians, tycoons, dreamers, master builders, and ordinary New Yorkers; Timescapes (ongoing), which traces New York City’s evolution—from a small settlement of Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans to the global metropolis it is today; the immensely popular Gingerbread NYC (through January 19), The Stettheimer Dollhouse in a New Light (through January 19), which captures the essence of New York in the vibrant post-World War I era; You Are Here (through January 19), which draws on the rich archive of movies set in New York, combining thousands of cinematic moments across 16 screens; and Song of New York (through August 2), which explores a century of music from and about New York City, from the 1920s to the 2020s.
About the Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York celebrates and interprets the city’s history, art, popular culture, and civic life, highlighting how New York has shaped—and been shaped by—broader currents in American life. Founded in 1923 as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum serves hundreds of thousands of visitors annually from around the world through exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections.
Visitor Information
The Museum is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue. Public hours are Monday–Friday, 10:00 am–5:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 am–6:00 p.m. Learn more at mcny.org.
The Museum is grateful to the supporters of its exhibition program.
He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model is made possible by Todd DeGarmo | STUDIOS Architecture, and Amazon. Curatorial support for this project is provided by Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe.
The Occupied City: New York and the American Revolution is made possible with support from our presenting partners, an Anonymous Family Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Kenneth C. Griffin | Griffin Catalyst. Special thanks to our benefactors, The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom and The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. Additional support provided by advocates, The Achelis and Bodman Foundation, Elizabeth Belfer, Chris Brown, Marisa and Matthew Brown, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Heather and William Vrattos, Daryl B. Uber, and other generous donors. Support for curatorial and collections work on this exhibition is provided by the Laura and Ray Johnson Fund and by Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe.
Another Wonderland is made possible with leading support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, with additional support from advocates Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Knapp Family Foundation, as well as other generous donors.
Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor is made possible with generous support from the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Todd DeGarmo | STUDIOS Architecture, the National Endowment for the Arts, an Anonymous Family Foundation, Harlem Community Development Corporation, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. Support for curatorial and collections work on this exhibition is provided by the Laura and Ray Johnson Fund and by Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe.
Lead funding for Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World has been provided by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, with additional support provided by Marisa and Matthew Brown, Ronay and Richard Menschel, Jill and Peter Kraus, Elizabeth Belfer, and Gillian and Robert Steel. This exhibition is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Activist New York and its associated programs are made possible by The Puffin Foundation, Ltd.
New York at Its Core is made possible through major support from James G. Dinan and Elizabeth R. Miller, Pierre De Menasce, The Thompson Family Foundation, Jerome L. Greene Foundation, Heather and William Vrattos, Charina Endowment Fund, The National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
