1989 Billboard Returns To W Village In Honor Of Stonewall Riots

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Felix Gonzalez-Torres' historic 1989 billboard piece is returning to the West Village in June to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn uprising and WorldPride in New York City.

The Public Art Fund first presented Gonzalez-Torres' billboard work in 1989 on the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion — the 1969 uprising following a police raid of the historic gay bar Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street that was a pivotal moment for LGBTQ rights.

The billboard features two lines of white text on a black background invoking the LGBTQ rights movement and the AIDS epidemic. The two lines read: "People With AIDS Coalition 1985 Police Harassment 1969 Oscar Wilde 1895 Supreme Court 1986 Harvey Milk 1977 March on Washington 1987 Stonewall Rebellion 1969."

Now, 30 years after the billboard was first installed and 50 years after the Stonewall rebellion, Gonzalez-Torres' work, "Untitled," will return June 1-30 at Sheridan Square above Village Cigars and across from the historic watering hole.

Gonzalez-Torres described the piece some 30 years ago as "a visual reference, an architectural sign of being, a monument for a community that has been 'historically invisible.'"

The West Village piece was the artist's first in a body of billboard works.

"Felix-Gonzalez Torres stands among the most significant and influential artists of his generation," Public Art Fund's director and chief curator Nicholas Baume said in a statement. "Direct public engagement is fundamental to his artistic practice, which expanded the possibilities for creative expression both within and beyond the museum walls."

The reinstallation of the 1989 billboard piece is presented by the Public Art Fund in collaboration with The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation and Google.

"As a longtime resident of downtown New York, I remember and admire Felix's arresting, provocative work as it appeared around the city," Google's public policy director William Floyd said in a statement. "While 'Untitled' was first shown in 1989, it still has personal meaning and political impact — perhaps even more so now, given that it's the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, arguably the modern day beginning of the LGBTQ civil rights movement."