Red Grooms, Mimi Gross, and The Ruckus Construction Co.: Excerpts from “Ruckus Manhattan”

For the first time in more than 30 years—and on the city’s 400th birthday—experience a fantastical and hilarious tribute to New York. Ruckus Manhattan opened at Marlborough Gallery in 1976 as a sprawling, 6,400-square-foot “sculptural comic book” of urban life. Created by artists Red Grooms and Mimi Gross with their collaborators in The Ruckus Construction Co., the vibrant installation satirized the city with a dynamic mix of painting, sculpture, performance, and puppetry. From a high-heeled Statue of Liberty to a Financial District in flames, Ruckus Manhattan’s visual metaphors captured the chaos, corruption, sexuality, and creativity of 1970s NYC.