The first work of art commissioned for Federal Hall was the statue of George Washington on its grand staircase. One of the most iconic—and photographed—statues in New York City, it is the most famous extra on the global nightly business news standing opposite the New York Stock Exchange. It was commissioned by the illustrious citizens of the city 1881 to commemorate the inauguration of America’s First President on the very spot where he stood.

As the journey of democracy continues in America, the arts are a powerful way for individuals to tell their stories. In collaboration with the National Park Service, we have now presented “visiting” exhibitions, inside and outside of Federal Hall, leaving no one behind to probe their own interpretations of the past, the present, and the future of American democracy.

For Freedoms

Artists Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman along with photographer Emily Shur, designed this first art installation on Federal Hall’s facade. The images on the banners were a re-imagining of a 1943 series of Rockwell paintings, inspired by FDR’s articulated Four Freedoms.

Women in the Face of History

Curated by NYU’s Dr. Deb Willis and Ellyn Toscano, this installation on the facade was part of the 100 Years/100 Women project organized by the Park Avenue Armory with NYU and other NYC cultural partners. In 2021, six of the 100 commissioned artists, invited to interrogate the complex legacy of women’s suffrage, presented these works at Federal Hall. They included: Renee Cox, Jennifer Lin Datchuk, Rose DeSiano, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Yelaine Rodriguez and Deb Willis.

Shall Make, Shall Be: The Bill of Rights at Play

This exhibition at Federal Hall is the presentation of a curatorial project which invited 10 independent artists and game designers to create playable artworks themed around the individual amendments in the Bill of Rights, drawing on their effects, interpretations, and legal meanings in U.S. culture.