
Experience the newest reinvention of Rockefeller Center’s founding vision
Rockefeller Center was an idea.
An idea to push steel further into the sky than ever before. A belief in sharing inspirational art with all who passed through. A desire to reveal the aerial corridors of the horizon.
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller created the artistic aesthetic of Rockefeller Center, to seek the future from the present. “New Frontiers” was the name of the founding cultural program at Rockefeller Center, and today, we invite you to experience a cultural offering of classic and contemporary New York in her spirit, a dynamic exhibition representing innovative kinetic sculpture and interactive art.
Every visitor reinvents this exhibition and pushes the horizon further. You are the new frontiers. You are the makers, the shapers, the dreamers, the observers, the thinkers, the travelers. You honor Rockefeller Center’s original purpose to redefine form and promote beauty.
There is no better place to gaze out and imagine new frontiers than Top of the Rock.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Diana Sinclair ‘Reflections’
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Andrew Giugno and Ray Kunimoto ‘Conduit No. 5’
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BREAKFAST Studio ‘Time Capsule Over Manhattan’
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Progressive Perspectives
Visitors are treated to a regularly changing exhibit of emerging New York digital artists, whose works both react to Rockefeller Center and seek to expand its breadth and scope. These are digital interpretations of New Frontiers, allowing viewers to experience the intimacy, pace, and reach of this important medium, as it depicts new frontiers in novel ways.
Capsules
[Polar and Desert Selections]
Featured Artist: Marissa Sher
This exhibit was created by Marissa Sher, a video artist whose work blurs the lines between micro and macro. Her Capsules series documents landscapes affected by climate change, drawing parallels between celestial bodies and miniature sculptures made from nature, trash, and ice. Her work has been exhibited by Infinite Objects, Change Gallery, Artpoint, Studio As We Are, National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. Sound design by Zosha Warpeha, a Brooklyn-based composer-performer working in a meditative space at the intersection of contemporary improvisation and folk traditions.
History
Over 100 years ago, John D. Rockefeller Jr. had a vision to create a “city within a city,” and the story of how Rockefeller Center came to be is a fascinating one.
Oct. 1, 1928
John D. Rockefeller leases land from Columbia University for the future site of Rockefeller Center. The land covered nearly all of the area in the three square blocks bordered by Fifth Avenue, the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), and 48th and 51st Streets.
Dec. 1931
The first Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. During the Great Depression, workers at Rockefeller Center pooled their money to purchase the original Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, a 20-foot balsam fir, adorned it with home-made garlands, and stood it at the Rockefeller Center construction site as a symbol of hope and optimism. Two years later, in 1933, Rockefeller Center made the tree an annual tradition.
Mar. 1932
Construction begins at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Construction on Radio City Music Hall was also underway.