Gowanus Memorial Artyard

[2] Founded by artists and curators Michael Keene, Frank Shifreen, and George Moore,[3] the shows featured monumental sculpture parks next to the Gowanus Canal.

The participants artists such as Carl Andre, Andy Warhol-sponsored Keith Haring,[5][6] Christo, Linda and Terry Jamison, Vito Acconci, Nancy Holt, John Fekner, the controversial Chris Burden, sculptor Jim Nickel, and Fred Wilson.

The building was right next to the extremely polluted Gowanus Canal, was also just two blocks from a five-acre abandoned dump that had been classified as a city-owned "Public Site".

They enlisted help from the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation and Carroll Gardens Association,[8] also receiving a $1500 grant from the Brooklyn Council on the Arts.

The black-and-white posters were a call for entries, and they received thousands of proposals for live rock music performances and art installations.

The theme of the exhibition was monumental art, which consisted of paintings, sculptures, mixed media, and anything one-and-a-half times normal size.

However, Shifreen's landlord, the police, and then reportedly violent local members of the Jewish Defense League took offense to her exhibit's inclusion of a painting of Hitler.

A few days after the opening, members of the Jewish Defense League entered the exhibit and slashed another painting by Komar and Melamid, the show closing down soon after.

[7] Some of the co-jurors were Marcia Tucker, the director of the New Museum, Henry Geldzahler, the New York City Cultural Commissioner, and Mary Boone, the gallery owner.

[14] The area's seawater canal, open park spaces, and close proximity to Manhattan and public transportation were requested to be incorporated into the proposal designs.