In 1975, artists Red Grooms and Mimi Gross created "Ruckus Manhattan," a monumental multimedia recreation of New York City landmarks from Lower Manhattan to Times Square, built in a vacant lobby at 88 Pine Street with a team of 20 to 30 artists called the Ruckus Construction Co. Half a century later, the Brooklyn Museum is exhibiting excerpts from the project, and for the first time properly credits Gross as co-creator, correcting decades of obscuring her role when the work was shown at Marlborough Gallery, which represented only Grooms.
This matters because it addresses a longstanding gender imbalance in art historical recognition, giving Mimi Gross equal credit for one of the most ambitious public art projects of the 20th century. The exhibition also highlights the collaborative nature of the work and the importance of institutional accountability in acknowledging overlooked contributions, especially as the art world continues to reckon with how women artists have been marginalized.