Jennie C. Jones: Ensemble

Documenting Jennie C. Jones’s multisensory site-specific artwork, this volume highlights her inspirations—from Minimalism and Modernism to avant-garde music
 
Best known as a painter, Jennie C. Jones draws on the aesthetics and conceptual underpinnings of Minimalism and the improvisational qualities of avant-garde music to explore the sonic potential of abstraction. This volume, the latest installment in The Met’s Roof Garden Commission series, documents Jones’s first multiwork outdoor installation, titled Ensemble. The installation features a trio of sculptural forms that emphasize the geometry of different musical instruments, including a zither, a one-string, and an Aeolian harp; a fourth, floor-based work acts as the conductor of this ensemble. At once static and dynamic, the sculptures sit quietly until they are played—whether by the movement of the wind or invited performers. The publication features a keynote essay examining the artist’s practice and touchstones for her multisensory abstractions. An interview with Jones by the artist Glenn Ligon charts the development of the new commission and discusses the tension between sound and silence as a unique response to its installation on a Manhattan rooftop overlooking Central Park.
 
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
 
Exhibition Schedule:
 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(April 14–October 19, 2025)