From the earliest conversations about recreating The Newsstand at The Museum of Modern Art in Ocean of Images: New Photography 2015, artist Lele Saveri was insistent that the physical work alone was not enough.
The community around The Newsstand—the artists, publishers, performers, illustrators, and photographers that produced work, staffed the booth, bought work, and participated in the events—was the real center of the space.

Installation view of The Newsstand in Ocean of Images: New Photography 2015. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 7, 2015–March 20, 2016. © 2016 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Thomas Griesel

But, of course, MoMA is not a subway station, and not everything could be exactly replicated. Instead, we developed a system that tried to represent the original community as closely as possible, while acknowledging the differences. One way was by including this Newsstand community: over the course of the exhibition, a cohort of volunteers who “staffed” The Newsstand became an integral part of the exhibition for our visitors. Four days a week, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., they answered questions, explained the space, described its original location and their own experience with it, and guided visitors through hundreds of zines and objects.

Another way was by putting on five “events” from the dozens of events the original Newsstand hosted. Once a month over the duration of the exhibition, these events completely changed the space of The Newsstand, harkening back to its original existence as a continually evolving community. The MoMA presentation is an archive of the original stand, and that includes events that engaged both a local artistic community and hordes of straphangers on their daily commute.

Kray DioBelly DJing from The Newsstand on November 3, 2015. Photo: Lele Saveri

The opening event was a DJ set by Chances with Wolves, a music project by Kray DioBelly and Kenan Juska. The pair has made over 300 radio shows since 2008, basing their creations on obscure, strange, lost, or forgotten sounds and music. For two hours on a Friday afternoon, Chances with Wolves spun records in the MoMA galleries, bringing their sounds to UNIQLO Free Friday Night visitors.

Left: Pau Wau Publications’ mini-zine and cardboard sleeve. Photo: Kristen Gaylord; Right: Lele Saveri and Brian Paul Lamotte speak to a MoMA group about The Newsstand and Zine Time. December 8, 2015. Photo: Pau Wau Publications

Then in December, Pau Wau Publication, an independent press founded by photographer Andreas Laszlo Konrath and designer Brian Paul Lamotte, presented Zine Time, a one-day exhibition that featured artwork by 20 artists on the exterior of The Newsstand, and a vending machine that dispensed a limited-edition zine with sample spreads by those same artists.

MoMA visitors operated the heavy metal vending machine, and walked away with their very own piece of readable art.

MoMA visitors look at their new mini zines. December 8, 2015. Photos: Pau Wau Publications

In January, Nathaniel Matthews installed his one-day exhibition Me with Cops, filling The Newsstand with photographs and zines that feature exactly what the title implies: Matthews posing with various members of the NYPD. He covered all the regular objects and zines in the stand, creating a claustrophobic and immersive environment of portraits.

Nathaniel Matthews with Me with Cops installation. January 13, 2016. Photo: Lele Saveri

Just last month, India Menuez hosted BOOKLUB 10, a day of performance at The Newsstand. Participants—some who planned ahead of time, some Museum visitors who were inspired to join in—read, danced, performed, sang, and recited the whole day, drawing large crowds. This was the 10th edition of the BOOKLUB participatory performance series.

Four Fours perform a piece by Hannah Gross, Timothy Scott, and Nicolas Norena, February 18, 2016. Photo: Olimpia Dior

The final Newsstand event is happening on Monday, March 14. Lele Saveri will take over the stand for the entire day with his installation Commuters, a series of hundreds of portraits of passersby taken during the 10-month duration of The Newsstand in Brooklyn’s Lorimer Street/Metropolitan Avenue subway station. The pictures form a collective portrait of that time and place, and were exhibited at the end of the original stand’s existence; Saveri allowed any commuters who recognized themselves to take their portrait home. Commuters is also a fitting way to celebrate the work in its last week of existence at MoMA, before the exhibition closes on March 20.