NYCEDC Announces ‘In Plain Sight’ Public Art Exhibition in Sunset Park

The Free, Site-Specific Exhibition Features 12 Brooklyn-Based Artists at Brooklyn Army Terminal, Opening June 4

Art Exhibition Builds on NYCEDC Activation of Sunset Park Waterfront Through Public Art and Cultural and Community Driven Programming

Milestone Aligns with NYCEDC’s 40th Anniversary Stewarding Sunset Park’s Historic Brooklyn Army Terminal

View Images of Art Installations

BROOKLYN, NY—The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today announced In Plain Sight, a new public art exhibition featuring a collection of Brooklyn-based artists. The free exhibition, a yearlong public art initiative, will open to the public on June 4 and will be installed throughout Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) and the Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market (BWMM), transforming the campus into a large-scale cultural destination along the Sunset Park waterfront.

In Plain Sight is a site-specific public art exhibition that uses the Brooklyn Army Terminal and its surrounding public spaces as a canvas to explore the layered histories of the Sunset Park waterfront. Through sculpture, murals, and installations, the exhibition reflects the intersection of industry, ecology, labor, and community, bringing forward stories embedded in the site’s past and present while shaping how the space is experienced today.

This announcement builds on NYCEDC’s 40 years of stewardship at BAT and reflects the continued evolution of the campus as both a key component of the working waterfront and a community-centered public space. Built along the New York Harbor during World War I and later used as a base for the United States Army, BAT has been reimagined over decades into a modern center of economic activity, which is now home to more than 100 tenants employing 3,500 New Yorkers.

“In Plain Sight reflects NYCEDC’s commitment to activating our industrial campuses as places not only for economic opportunity, but for cultural engagement and community connection,” said NYCEDC Interim President & CEO Jeanny Pak. “Brooklyn Army Terminal has long been a site of movement, production, and innovation, and this exhibition brings those layers of history to life through the voices of Brooklyn-based artists. By integrating public art into EDC's Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market and Brooklyn Army Terminal, we’re creating more accessible, vibrant environments that invite New Yorkers to experience the waterfront in new ways.”

In Plain Sight is curated by Debra Simon of Debra Simon Art Consulting in partnership with NYCEDC and WXY architecture + urban design (WXY). Each work is integrated throughout the campus and responds directly to its architecture, making each location essential to the meaning of the piece. Several works were fabricated on-site using materials sourced from Brooklyn Army Terminal’s tenants and campus makerspaces, blurring the line between industrial production and artistic creation and reinforcing the campus as a hub of manufacturing and creativity.

The exhibition includes a diverse range of installations placed throughout BAT’s indoor and outdoor spaces, from lobby columns and decommissioned train cars to plazas and waterfront access points. Together, the works examine themes of movement, transformation, and visibility, drawing connections between the site’s origins as a military supply hub and its current role as a center for innovation, manufacturing, and creative production. The works reflect the energy, ingenuity, and diversity of the businesses and makers who call BAT home.

“In Plain Sight is about revealing what is often overlooked, whether that’s the hidden histories of the Brooklyn waterfront, the labor that sustains it, or the subtle forces shaping its future,” said Debra Simon, curator of the exhibit and founder of Debra Simon Art Consulting. “Each artist approached the site with a deeply personal perspective, resulting in works that are distinct in form yet united in their exploration of visibility and concealment. Together, these installations transform the Brooklyn Army Terminal into a living, evolving exhibition that encourages visitors to look more closely at the spaces around them.”

“This collaborative exhibition wouldn't have been possible if BAT and BWMM tenants hadn't lent their shop floors, donated materials, and contributed their time and expertise in order for these site-specific artworks to be realized, and for some to actually be fabricated on-site. The result is a public art program that reflects the spirit of the campuses,” said Olivia Jia planner and designer at WXY architecture + urban design.

The participating Brooklyn-based artists come from across the world, including Japan, China, India, and Korea, reflecting Sunset Park’s identity as one of Brooklyn’s most culturally diverse neighborhoods and a long-standing gateway for immigrant communities.

Featured Artists and Works:

• Z Behl, Ancient Spat – Sculptural forms inspired by oyster shells, blending ecological themes with Brooklyn’s industrial history.
• Elana Herzog, Pillars of Society – Textile-based sculptural works that explore migration, labor, and material culture through layered architectural interventions.
• Nathan Kensinger, Post Industrial Progression – A photographic series documenting the transformation of Brooklyn’s industrial shoreline over time.
• DB Lampman, We Are Swirling and Tethered – A sculptural installation inspired by New York Harbor’s tidal rhythms, using industrial materials to reflect movement, migration, and interconnected ecosystems.
• Hyesu Lee, Shared Rhythms – A mural tracing the journey of food systems and labor, celebrating the communities connected through the Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market.
• LOT office for architecture, In Praise of Shadows – A geometric pavilion that uses light, color, and structure to create an ever-changing spatial experience.
• Avani Patel, Movement in Nature – Reflective, playful sculptural creatures that respond to light and environment, encouraging curiosity and interaction.
• Sheila Pepe, Work and Rest on Land and Sea – A mixed-media installation combining hard and soft materials to evoke maritime labor, rest, and the human narratives tied to the harbor.
• Yuya Saito, Echoes of the Current – Wood-bent sculptural forms that merge organic movement with industrial structure, capturing the evolving energy of the waterfront.
• Jean Shin, Tidal Crossing – Opening in July, this work is a suspended installation referencing military passage and migration through layered materials that shift with light and wind.
• Gabrielle Vitollo, Undercurrents – Stainless steel forms that emerge from architectural columns, highlighting the labor and material processes that shape Brooklyn’s waterfront.
• Zhidong Zhang, Still Lives – Photographs of discarded packing materials that examine value, labor, and the overlooked infrastructure of production.

In Plain Sight builds upon BAT’s history of impactful public art projects and honors its creative tenants, including more recent achievements in the public realm:

• Dana Bell, In Transit (2025) – Colorful figurative mural capturing the rhythms of urban life through movement and gesture, depicting figures in transition whose shifting glances and spacing reflect individuality, connection, and Brooklyn’s collective energy.
• Crys Yin, Full Form (2025) – Layered mural tribute to Sunset Park’s immigrant roots and the unseen labor sustaining Brooklyn Army Terminal, featuring vessel forms filled with luminous blue that evoke memory, identity, and community interdependence.
• Ege Soyuer, BAT Glyphs (2024) – The historic Boiler Building is transformed into a dynamic public artwork that reimagines the terminal’s industrial legacy through playful machine-inspired symbols celebrating innovation, logistics, and climate-forward technologies.

All public art will be accessible throughout the BAT campus and Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market, both key industrial assets with over 100 businesses collectively, further transforming them into vibrant industrial and cultural hubs. NYCEDC’s efforts have supported hundreds of small businesses, expanded access to the waterfront, and introduced dynamic programming for local residents and visitors across the city.

In May, NYCEDC unveiled Summer at the Terminal, the first slate of vibrant slate of community, cultural and waterfront events taking place at BAT throughout the summer, activating the 59-acre, City-owned industrial campus as a lively destination for New Yorkers of all ages, featuring live performances, outdoor film screenings, art displays, food and community markets, and family-friendly programming.

NYCEDC’s Sunset Park District also includes MADE Bush Terminal, where new artwork by neighborhood locals Ji Yong Kim and Yukiko Izumi is displayed on the historic Powerhouse structure on campus. The installation compliments their existing Skybridge mural, adding color, movement, and creative energy inspired by the Sunset Park community to the campus. The reimagined MADE Bush Terminal campus features 140,000 square feet of modern industrial workspace, 30,000 square feet dedicated to cultural and public programming, and five acres of new parkland and open space, integrating industry, creativity, and community engagement.

Through these public art installations and its ongoing cultural programming, NYCEDC continues to celebrate Sunset Park and its dynamic spaces where history, community, and innovation converge—advancing its mission to create inclusive, resilient urban environments that prioritize people and place.

About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity; build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city's future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About WXY architecture + urban design 
Founded in 1998, WXY architecture + urban design is an interdisciplinary design practice based in New York City and Toronto working across architecture, urban design, planning, policy, and strategy. The firm’s work ranges from buildings and public spaces to neighborhood plans, waterfronts, infrastructure, and civic engagement initiatives. WXY approaches design as both a process and a way of thinking, creating projects that strengthen the public realm and support more equitable, resilient, and connected communities.