Empire State Building To Light In Honor Of Whitney Museum's Opening
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A light show atop the Empire State Building will honor the opening of the Whitney Museum of American Art's new home in Manhattan's Meatpacking District.
The museum opens to the public Friday.
From 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., the Empire State Building's LED tower lights will reinterpret 12 works from the museum's collection. They include works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol and others.
Most of the artworks are currently on exhibit at the new museum building.
Visitors will be able to view the light show from the Whitney's four east-facing outdoor terraces.
An online slide show will be synchronized to the lights allowing viewers across the city to look at the Empire State Building and the artworks in real time.
Admission is $22.
First Lady Michelle Obama said she loved the museum when she toured it Thursday.
The new museum doubles the exhibition space of the old, Curator Scott Rothcoff told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond.
Whitney Museum Opens To Public
"There's a different sense of lightness," Rothcoff said.
There are also several outdoor terraces that provide sweeping north and east views, Diamond reported.
"A very dramatic view, and our architect Renzo Piano I think understood very clearly that he wanted this building to engage the city, to bow down to the city," Rothcoff said.
