New Museum's 'The Bowery: Devil's Mile' Traces Four Centuries of Street History

On September 24, the New Museum in Manhattan will unveil 'The Bowery: Devil's Mile,' an exhibition that honors the historical significance of its street. This showcase will include a range of archival items, artifacts, and artworks from the past four centuries, featuring an 1830 hand-pump fire engine, remnants of dime museum attractions, Jacob Riis's documentary photography, and pieces by Keith Haring, Lynda Benglis, and June Leaf. The exhibition will coincide with a previously announced survey of Arthur Jafa in the museum's newly expanded facility. It explores the Bowery's transformation from a Lenape path to a Dutch colonial road, a site of the first free Black settlement in Manhattan, and a hub for 19th-century entertainment. Overcrowding and inadequate public health services led to crime and disease, while economic downturns, the Great Depression, and Prohibition contributed to its decline, earning it the title 'Skid Row' by the 1940s. However, mid-century artists like Mark Rothko, William Burroughs, and John Giorno discovered affordable spaces there, and the 1973 opening of CBGB propelled punk and new wave bands such as Blondie, the Ramones, the B-52s, and the Talking Heads. The New Museum, which relocated to the Bowery in 2007, characterizes the exhibition as an 'introduction' to the street's 'richness and complexity.'