EXPO 1: New York, an exploration of ecological challenges in the context of the economic and socio-political instability of the early 21st century opens at MoMA PS1, The Museum of Modern Art, and Rockaway Beach from May 12 to September 2, 2013.

Acting in the guise of a festival-as-institution, EXPO 1: New York imagines a contemporary art museum dedicated to ecological concerns, presenting a simultaneity of modules, interventions, solo projects, and group exhibitions including a school, a colony, a cinema, a geodesic dome, a Rain Room, and more.

The concept of EXPO 1: New York was developed by MoMA PS1 Director and MoMA Chief Curator-at-Large Klaus Biesenbach with Hans Ulrich Obrist and an advisory group including Peter Eleey, Paola Antonelli, Pedro Gadanho, Laura Hoptman, Roxana Marcoci, and Jenny Schlenzka.

EXPO 1: New York occupies the entire building of MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, New York, with large-scale exhibitions and solo projects exploring the theme of dark optimism from May 12 to September 2, 2013:
- Dark Optimism
- Olafur Eliasson, Your waste of time
- Meg Webster, Pool
- Ansel Adams, the politics of contemplation
- ProBio
- School
MoMA PS1 has invited Triple Canopy, a magazine and editorial collective, to organize a daily program of lectures, debates, and discussions during EXPO 1: New York.
- Cinema
A program of moving images from a range of disciplines and genres will be presented in the EXPO Cinema, organized by Kevin McGarry. The Cinema showcases the myriad ways video is experienced today.
- Cologny
The devastating effects of natural disasters and economic volatility have spurred architects to reconsider how to build in a tumultuous world. For EXPO 1: New York, Pedro Gadanho asked the Argentinian architecture firm a77 to create a colony in MoMA PS1’s outdoor courtyard in which artists, thinkers, architects, and other cultural agents are invited to live together.

The final component of EXPO 1: New York is a large-scale environment by Random International entitled Rain Room at MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, from May 12 to July 28 2013.

As part of EXPO 1: New York, MoMA PS1, provided a temporary geodesic dome to serve as a center for culture, education, and community in the Rockaways.
As a flexible space, the VW Dome 2 provides a venue for lectures and conversations, rotating art exhibitions, film and video screenings, performances, and community events on
March 29 until June 30 at Beach 94th Street and Shore front Parkway, Rockaway, New York.

EXPO 1: New York began with an open call for ideas to aid the peninsula’s coastal communities, which are threatened by climate change.
In an effort to foster creative debate on urban recovery after Hurricane Sandy, MoMA PS1 and MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design solicited ideas for more sustainable waterfront planning and construction in the format of a short video.

Artists, architects, designers, and others were invited to present ideas for alternative housing models, creation of social spaces, urban interventions, new uses of public space, the rebuilding of the boardwalk, protection of the shoreline, and actions to engage local communities.