Once a vibrant shipping port, the Hudson River Docks fell into disuse with the advent of air freight and were all but abandoned by the 1970s. The industrial wasteland became a playground for artists and the emerging gay subculture, a place where men would sunbathe, cruise, and engage in sexual acts free from the constraints of society. The Leslie + Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art’s current exhibition, The Piers: Art and Sex along the New York Waterfront, celebrates this culture and the artworks surrounding it, with works from Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, and Gordon Matta-Clark, among others.

Join curator Jonathan Weinberg and photographer Efrain John Gonzalez for a slideshow and talk this Thursday, June 14th to learn more.