Celebrating Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds’ Painted Basketball Courts

MoMA PS1 is partnering with Common Practice to celebrate a new public artwork at Murray Park in Long Island City, created by PS1 Artist Board Member Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds. To commemorate this major public commission, MoMA PS1 and Common Practice will host drop-in public programs and activities at Murray Park and Playground, including basketball activities led by Common Practice, an art-making workshop with artist Tecumseh Ceaser, and more. The event commemorates Heap of Birds’ collaboration with the non-profit Project Backboard and Five-Star Basketball, in which the artist renovated two basketball courts, installing two large-scale paintings from his ongoing Neuf series across the playing surface.

Heap of Birds is a multidisciplinary artist, advocate, and educator. His work raises awareness of Native history, controversies, and land acknowledgment, often subverting staples of public signage to honor the land’s first occupants. Heap of Birds is a member of the MoMA PS1 Board of Trustees and will be featured in the upcoming exhibition Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces, opening at The Museum of Modern Art on October 9, 2022.

Project Backboard collaborates with artists to renovate public basketball courts with site-specific works of art that utilize sport-specific color coatings on the surfaces. Their public works invite community members to engage with these spaces and come together through play. Common Practice builds on that impact through additional programs, collaborations, and publications.