The Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park has unveiled the final installation in In Plain Sight, a free, year-long public art exhibition organized by the New York City Economic Development Corporation that opened in June 2026 and remains on view through summer 2027. The show features 12 Brooklyn-based artists whose work is scattered across the terminal's decommissioned train cars, lobby columns, outdoor plazas, and waterfront walkways.
The exhibition was organized by NYCEDC, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, and curated by Debra Simon. NYCEDC's own account of the project describes the effort as a partnership between Debra Simon Art Consulting, the agency, and urban design firm WXY architecture + urban design, with installations spread across both the terminal and the adjacent Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market, a 175,000-square-foot facility in Sunset Park also managed by NYCEDC, according to NYCEDC.
Among the newest additions is Tidal Crossing, an installation by artist Jean Shin located in the terminal's three arches, which reflects on the U.S. military's geographic footprint and the complicated narratives surrounding conflict, per the Brooklyn Eagle's reporting. The full artist roster also includes Nathan Kensinger, DB Lampman, LOT office for architecture, Sheila Pepe, Yuya Saito, Gabrielle Vitollo, Zhidong Zhang, Elana Herzog, Z Behl, Hyesu Lee, and Avani Patel, according to New York YIMBY.
Site-Specific Works Built From the Terminal Itself
Several artists constructed their works on site, and many drew on materials sourced from tenants, spaces, and on-site supplies at the terminal, the Brooklyn Eagle reports. New York YIMBY's coverage similarly notes that participating artists fabricated pieces using materials supplied by campus tenants, effectively turning the working industrial complex into a co-author of the exhibition.
Specific works illustrate the range of approaches. Nathan Kensinger's photographic series Post Industrial Progression documents coastal changes along the waterfront, DB Lampman's harbor-inspired sculpture We Are Swirling and Tethered draws on the site's maritime history, and Hyesu Lee's food-systems mural Shared Rhythms was installed at the meat market, according to NYCEDC. Collectively, the artworks address themes of labor, ecology, industry, migration, and community, the agency says.
Forty Years of NYCEDC Stewardship
NYCEDC timed the exhibition's June 2026 launch to coincide with the agency's 40th anniversary managing the historic terminal, according to NYCEDC. The site itself carries deep institutional weight: designed by Woolworth Building architect Cass Gilbert and completed in 1919 across 95 acres, the Brooklyn Army Terminal served as the nation's largest military supply base and processed more than 3 million troops during World War II before closing as a military facility in 1966, per the Brooklyn Public Library. New York City purchased the reinforced-concrete complex in 1981, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The terminal's past includes an unlikely brush with celebrity: U.S. Army Private Elvis Presley deployed overseas from Pier 4 in September 1958 after holding a press conference on the grounds, departing aboard the troopship USS General George M. Randall, according to Untapped New York.
An Industrial Campus Still at Work
Today the 5-million-square-foot complex operates as an active industrial business park, modernized through more than $500 million in cumulative municipal investment and home to over 100 commercial tenants employing between 3,500 and 4,000 workers, including chocolatiers, biotech labs, precision manufacturers, and design studios, as Hoodline has previously reported. That same reporting detailed BATWorks, a $100 million climate innovation hub announced in April that will convert 200,000 square feet of waterfront space into research labs and prototyping bays, with a permanent facility expected to open in 2028 and create 600 jobs over ten years.
The art exhibition sits alongside that broader push to reposition the working waterfront campus as a clean-technology center, even as it continues to support industrial jobs. Visitors can reach the site via NYC Ferry service directly to the terminal's pier, or via the 59th Street (N/R) and 53rd Street (R) subway stations, according to New York YIMBY. The campus also offers public waterfront views overlooking New York Harbor, making In Plain Sight accessible to Sunset Park residents and visitors alike through next summer.
