Press Launch: The Photography Triennial: After Dark

Media Contact: Chris Gorman, [email protected] | 917.492.3482 

NEW YORK, NY (July 28, 2026) — The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) is happy to announce the artists who will take part in its upcoming triennial exhibition, The Photography Triennial: After Dark. The triennial, which started in 2023, is devoted to showcasing the very best of up to date images, partaking with themes and problems with New York City by means of the photographic medium, whereas additionally reflecting on the town’s previous and future. 

Scheduled to open to the general public on November 20, 2026, The Photography Triennial: After Dark will discover the colourful and multifaceted nightlife of New York City by means of the lens of up to date images. The exhibition is co-curated by Marina Chao and Sean Corcoran, the Museum’s Senior Curator of Prints and Photography. 

The Photography Triennial: After Dark will delve into what dusk means to New Yorkers. Once the solar goes down on the 5 boroughs, the town transforms right into a realm of chance, thriller, and freedom, the place inhibitions wane and ambitions develop. For some, the evening is a time for work and commerce, whereas for others, it gives an opportunity for leisure, leisure, and social gatherings. These contrasting worlds collide in a novel, electrical power that defines New York City after darkish. 

In collaboration with Corcoran, Chao has curated a dynamic exhibition that captures the essence of New York’s nightlife and its complicated layers. The exhibition brings collectively each established and rising artists, together with Adam Pape, Anh Nguyen, Ashley Gilbertson, Avion Pearce, Charles Hamilton James, D’Angelo Lovell Williams, Darryl DeAngelo Terrell, David Johnson, Destiny Mata, Dina Litovsky, DRIFT, Elle Peréz, Guarionex Rodriguez, Jr., Hiroyuki Ito, Janette Beckman, Kate Vitali, Ken Schles, Kia LaBeija, Landon Nordeman, Liz Deschenes, Luis Carle, Lynn Saville, Mahka Eslami, Matthew Pillsbury, Melanie Einzig, Michael McWeeney, Reuben Radding, Saint Piñero, Susannah Ray, Theo Wenner, Todd Heisler, Tomiko Jones, and Tommy Kha, amongst others, providing a nuanced visible narrative of New York’s nocturnal panorama.  

Marina Chao is presently curator at CPW in Kingston, New York and brings a wealth of expertise and experience to the position, having beforehand held curatorial positions on the International Center of Photography and the Museum of Modern Art. As Assistant Curator at ICP, she organized the exhibition Multiply, Identify, Her (2018) and contributed to the publication Public, Private, Secret: On Photography and the Configuration of Self (Aperture and ICP, 2018). She was additionally awarded a 2019 Curatorial Research Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for a mission exploring the intersections of photos, language, and expertise. Her background in up to date images has been an important asset in shaping the exhibition. 

“We are excited to present this remarkable group of artists in The Photography Triennial: After Dark,” mentioned Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York. “Together, their work captures the ever-evolving spirit of New York after dark—its energy, diversity, and complexity—and offers a compelling portrait of the city at night.” 

“New York City’s nights are charged with emotional and social electricity that photography can uniquely express,” mentioned Marina Chao. “The artists in this exhibition engage deeply with the city’s nocturnal spaces and the people who inhabit them, revealing a wide range of perspectives on what the night makes possible.” 

Sean Corcoran added, “This group of artists brings an extraordinary range of approaches to photographing New York after dark. Their work reflects the intersections of culture, technology, and lived expertise that shape the city at night, and together they create a vivid and multifaceted exploration of its nightlife.” 

The Photography Triennial: After Dark is the second installment of the Photography Triennial, which started with New York Now: Home in 2023. The inaugural present featured the lens-based work of 33 artists, together with Xyza Cruz Bacani, Roy Baizan, Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Cinthya Santos Briones, Alan Chin, Jamel Shabazz, Laila Annemarie Stevens, Nolan Ryan Trowe, Elias Williams, and lots of others. 

The Photography Triennial: After Dark is made attainable by our advocates, Elizabeth Ok. Belfer and the William Talbott Hillman Foundation. Thank you to our buddies, David Dechman and Michel Mercure. Additional assist offered by the Anne Levy Charitable Trust, the Abbott Circle, based by Trustee Jennifer Marrus, and different beneficiant donors. 

Curatorial assist is offered by the Grace Mayer Conservation Fund.

About the Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York explores the folks, locations, and concepts that form New York’s iconic character. We invite New Yorkers and guests alike to find their place within the metropolis’s evolving story.

The Museum is situated at 1220 Fifth Avenue. Public hours are Monday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. MCNY is pay-what-you want for New Yorkers, and free to these underneath 18. The Museum is free to all guests on Wednesdays. 

Image: Golden Festival, Reuben Radding, 2020