Why Not Art

05/19/2026

Some scenes from our Crashscape Launch during the Atlantic Ave Art Walk. This was the first public showing of the Augmented Reality app developed by artist Michael James Freedman We were thrilled to have 25+ people on the walk, including some design students from Mexico. People were surprised, engaged, and disturbed.

The group witnessed the crashes along Atlantic Ave - every crash is depicted with a 30 ft painterly cube that occupying the entire intersection. Some corners had over 70 crash cubes, so they were stacked high into the air, taller than any of the buildings nearby. Descriptive audio told the devastating stories of lives changed by traffic violence. Crashscape uses NYC public data to bring the reality of these crashes to life in a new way. As one visitor said, it’s both impressive and depressing simultaneously.

We want Crashscape to be a Call to Action - you can find ways to join the advocacy at crashcount.nyc or The app will be available for public download soon. DM us for an invitation to the beta version.

Thanks to Works in Progress for helping us create the limited edition Atlantic Ave Crashscape T-shirt which will also be for sale. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the NY chapter of Families for Safe Streets

05/14/2026

Thank you for this great article on Hurly Whirly! Read all about it

Read more details about the work of artist David Barthold and Beam center youth apprentices, including quotes and new photos.

Special thanks to all our partners in this project: and the Gowanus Neighborhood Art Advisory Committee (GNAAC)

05/14/2026

Thanks Brooklyn Paper for your story!! We love David Barthold's bright new sculpture on 4th Ave, fabricated by Beam Center young people!

We were thrilled to collaborate with Beam Center, Arts Gowanus, Old Stone House of Brooklyn, Forth on Fourth Ave, the Gowanus BID Formation effort and the Gowanus Neighborhood Art Advisory Committee to bring this project to life!

A kinetic burst of color now spins in place on the median of Fourth Avenue and Second Street, where a new public art installation is reshaping a familiar stretch of road bordering Park Slope and Gowanus.

05/07/2026

Join our first Crashscape Walking Tour on Sunday May 17 at 12 noon. Meet at Hoyt St and Atlantic Ave. Part of the Please RSVP - space is limited

A visual art project by Michael J. Freedman. Experience the unseen landscape of traffic violence across our city in a new way. Join this guided Augmented Reality (AR) Walking Tour of Crashcount.nyc

04/28/2026

Installed today!! We are thrilled to announce Hurly-Whirly lands on 4th Ave in Brooklyn! Enjoy these pics of the Beam Center team, including 2 youth apprentices, installing this large-scale work that they fabricated. It stands 11ft tall in the median at 4th Ave and 2nd St in Brooklyn. The artist David Barthold and some of our partners were able to stop by to celebrate. Special thanks to for their support of this project!

Hurlu Whirly, designed by Gowanus-based artist David Barthold and fabricated by Beam Center teen apprentices and staff is a colorful whimsical sculpture that will be on view for several months as part of the NYC DOT Art program. Get in touch for more details or click

This new public artwork is a collaboration of many community partners and we hope it will kick-off many more public art projects on 4th Ave and nearby Gowanus. Partners include: Arts Gowanus Beam Center Forth on Fourth Ave (FOFA) the Gowanus BID Formation Committee Gowanus Neighborhood Arts Advisory Committee (GNAAC), Old Stone House and Why Not Art . Funding sponsorship is from Why Not Art and supporters of Beam Center, including the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, Altman Foundation, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York Community Trust.

Thank you for photos! 📸

04/24/2026

What an incredible night in Gowanus!! Thanks to Johnny and Emily of for putting on such an amazing community event!! So proud of WNA’s and and so happy to see the hundreds of variations on the classic Gowanus tower. Truly a special community event! Works will be on view Sat/Sun until May 17th - all work very affordable at $200 each.

If you are a fan of this arts community- consider buying a ticket to Gala on May 21st. This small but mighty organization does so much for our neighborhood! Ticket link for PATTERNS GALA in their bio.

04/22/2026

Sneak Peek of a new 4th Ave public art work! Hurly-Whirly lands on 4th Ave in Brooklyn next week!

Designed by Gowanus-based artist David Barthold and fabricated by Beam Center teen apprentices and staff, this large-scale, colorful whimsical sculpture will be installed and on view for several months as part of the NYC DOT Art program. Get in touch for more details or click

This new public artwork is a collaboration of many community partners and we hope it will kick-off many more public art projects on 4th Ave and nearby Gowanus. Partners include: Arts Gowanus Beam Center Forth on Fourth Ave (FOFA) the Gowanus BID Formation Committee Gowanus Neighborhood Arts Advisory Committee (GNAAC), Old Stone House and Why Not Art . Funding sponsorship is from Why Not Art and supporters of Beam Center, including the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, Altman Foundation, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York Community Trust.

NYC DOT Art provided support and permitted the project through the Art Partners initiative, which invites organizations to partner with professional artists to permit art on NYC DOT property throughout the five boroughs.

04/21/2026

This Thursday!! It’s Arts Gowanus fifth annual Tower Show! Join us (and 300 other local artists) on April 23rd from 7-9 PM at Union Channel (240 3rd Ave) to see this work person! We’d love to see you there!

Michael will present a tower inspired by his latest Crashcount.nyc project. Sylvie has a new work done in oil pastel.

If you can’t make it to the opening, the exhibition will be on view Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6 PM through May 17th. See our latest email for all the Why Not Art updates or subscribe whynotart.com

03/30/2026

We had a great public launch of Crashcount.nyc last week at The Oculus. Thanks to CUNY PIT Lab for inviting us to present for We were excited to talk with over 40 attendees, having in-depth conversations about devastating traffic violence, the need for safe streets advocacy, and how open-data and art can be visualized for high impact. CrashCount.nyc makes the numbers real and visceral - a true call to action!

You can view crashcount.nyc for yourself and see how safe your neighborhood is - just follow the name which is a website link or . Artist Michael Freedman is developing additional art projects with his technology and visualization skills - be on the lookout for more projects this spring.

Thanks to David Ludwig ( ) Outreach Coordinator who helped presented the work. Why Not Art’s Grace Freedman () is proud to curate and present this project.

We are looking for more places to present CrashCount.nyc. Let us know if you have a community or street safety group that’s interested in learning more. DM for more info.

12/20/2025

Yesterday we de-installed our exhibit (Un)natural Habitats: Gowanus. Here’s a few parting shots of the art, the artists and our walking tour. I was so proud to put this group of artists together to reflect on the past and to connect it to the current Gowanus environment.

I was also thrilled to spotlight positive changes led by advocates and landscape design experts like Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Scape . Thanks to the support of Littlefield for hosting space, Arts Gowanus for always supporting neighborhood artists and community groups like The CIty Sponge and FOFA (Forth on Fourth Ave) who helped capture our intent and help get the word out. This collaboration really made the exhibit and neighborhood walking tour an engaging and exciting community event. Thank you!

The artwork is still on view at whynotart.com for a very limited time. Please reach out if you have any questions or interest in the artworks.

Artists:
Jessica Dalrymple
Miska Draskoczy
Michael James Freedman
Janice McDonnell

Curator: Grace Freedman, Why Not Art