There are four square tables around the reflecting pool in Madison Square Park, each 36 inches across. They're made of wood, paint and resin, and each is painted with a portrait: the artist Roberto Lugo, Roberto Clemente, Celia Cruz, and Lugo's grandfather. According to the exhibition catalogue, anyone can sit down and play at them, provided they bring their own dominoes.
The tables belong to Lugo's "Alfarero del Barrio (Village Potter)," which the Madison Square Park Conservancy lists as on view May 20 through December 6, 2026. The commission was built to be used: one piece is a doorway, one is a hydrant that invites tags, and the tables are for playing. From today, that leaves about a month, and the month comes with its own calendar.
Four tables, one rule
The tables are where Lugo's idea is easiest to see. They sit around the reflecting pool, away from the big sculptures, and they ask only for a set of tiles and a second player. The bring-your-own rule is the one practical detail that decides whether a walk past turns into a game, so keep a set in a coat pocket for the next few weeks.
The rest of the installation runs on the same idea, just at a much larger scale.
The two big pieces keep lawn hours
The two monumental works stand on lawns, which matters this time of year. The Conservancy posts lawn hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, weather permitting. Lawns close on parade days, during wet conditions, and for maintenance.
| Piece | Where it stands | How it asks to be used |
|---|---|---|
| Capicú de Cariño (I Heard It Both Ways), a 20-foot urn of foam, paint and steel | Redbud Lawn, north end, near 25th Street and Fifth Avenue | A passageway runs through it. Visitors can walk in and pose, and "215," Philadelphia's area code, is painted on the ceiling |
| Para Los Días Caliente (This Is For The Hot Ones), a 15-foot orange fire hydrant | Sparrow Lawn, near 25th Street and Madison Avenue | Lugo tagged it "se vende," and the public added tags and stickers within a day |
| Hand-painted tire planters with plants native to Puerto Rico | Throughout the park | Planted and tended as part of the park |
The urn's painted panels include Bad Bunny, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Roberto Clemente. Two of the portraits are less famous: Gilberto and Maribel Lugo, the artist's parents, as The Art Newspaper reported. The catalogue says the vase shape draws on a 19th-century Herend vessel. In Hyperallergic, Lugo called the urn "egalitarian," representing "a wide variety of the immigrant and American experience."
The hydrant comes out of Lugo's childhood in Philadelphia's Puerto Rican community. The Art Newspaper reported that his father had the only wrench on the block that could open the hydrants on hot summer days. The catalogue also links it to his first ceramic piece, a hydrant-shaped soap dispenser. One detail sticks with anyone who lives on the east side of the park. Observer reported that Lugo originally wanted the hydrant in the dog run. It ended up on the grass near 25th Street. The Art Newspaper also reported that he looks forward to local residents photographing their dogs in front of it.
Lawn hours set a practical limit. Stepping inside the urn means getting to Redbud Lawn during lawn hours on a dry day. A rainy week in November cuts into that.
What the doorway and the tables are for
Lugo has said plainly why he made the pieces something to step into and sit at. In the exhibition catalogue, he invites visitors to walk through the urn and play dominoes, and he describes the project as a visual record of
"our resilience, creativity, and courage."
In the same passage, he asks visitors to "see that to be Puerto Rican is to be American." At the May opening, The Art Newspaper quoted him: "For me, art is a celebration, and it is for the viewer to interpret and engage with, and take what they can from it."
Denise Markonish, the Conservancy's chief curator, tied the exhibition's title to the park itself. In the same Art Newspaper report, she said "Madison Square Park functions as its own kind of community and neighbourhood." A village potter makes things for the village to use, and the tables apply that idea to a park the size of a few city blocks.
The November calendar, then the closing week
Because the installation is meant to be used, its last weeks are worth planning. These are the Conservancy dates between now and closing:
- Friday, November 13, 9 a.m. to noon. The Conservancy's 13th annual Public Art Symposium takes Lugo's exhibition as its theme. It's held at SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street, a short walk west of the park. It's free, but you need to register through Eventbrite. The Conservancy's event page lists participants including Lugo, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Miguel Luciano, Frida Kahlo of the Guerrilla Girls, John Ahearn, Rigoberto Torres, Max Gruber and Grace Yasumura. It also says the final program is still to come.
- Tuesday, November 17. MSP History Tour: The Gilded Age, Before, & Beyond, held in the park.
- Wednesday, November 18, noon to 1:30 p.m. Bench Hours with MSPC senior staff in the park.
- Thursday, December 3, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The Conservancy's holiday tree lighting, with the tree lit at about 5 p.m.
- Sunday, December 6. The last day the installation is listed as on view.
The last two dates are what shape the month. The tree goes up on a Thursday, and the urn, the hydrant and the tables are scheduled to leave that Sunday. For a few days, the park will have its winter tree and its summer commission at once. The weekend of December 5 and 6 is the last chance for a game at the reflecting pool. The Conservancy hasn't announced what comes next on its art page.
After five, when the lawns close
A game of dominoes goes better with something to eat. Several places that opened nearby this fall fit around a park visit.
- Two Cookies, 333 Park Avenue South. This is the independent New York cookie brand's third shop, after Soho and the East Village. It works from a walk-up window, and you can pre-order online and pick up there. The Flatiron NoMad Partnership says it's open daily for pickups and sells pet cookies too. That helps if the plan includes a dog photo at the hydrant.
- Bun Mee, 115 East 23rd Street. The San Francisco bánh mì shop opened its first East Coast location on Thursday, October 8, according to Eater NY. The Partnership lists hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The menu includes the Classic Combo Bánh Mì with lemongrass pork, pâté de campagne and mortadella, plus a pho-inspired ribeye dip.
- Heytea's Gelato Lab+, 863 Broadway, between 17th and 18th Streets. Eater NY reports it opened Friday, October 16.
The lawns close at 5 p.m., which leaves the evening for sitting down somewhere.
- Amphora, 43 East 20th Street. Eater NY reports it opened Wednesday, September 9. Chef Jack Logue, formerly of The Clocktower and Daniel, runs the kitchen with wine director Chris Miller. The Partnership says the cellar holds about 2,500 labels, and the restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m. Diners can choose a tasting menu, a three- or four-course prix fixe, or order à la carte at the bar.
- Norte, 39 West 19th Street. Its opening announcement set October 29 as the date for this 150-seat northern Mexican steakhouse in a restored 1910 landmark building. Executive chef Oriol Mendívil cooks in a Josper charcoal oven, and the menu includes a tableside chicharrón cart and a French Dip Barbacoa limited to 12 orders a night.
For an easy late-November afternoon, pick up cookies at the Park Avenue South window, play a game at the reflecting pool, and walk through the urn on Redbud Lawn before it closes at 5. Go to dinner on 19th or 20th Street after the lawns close.
Heather spends a lot of time around this park, from the hydrant on Sparrow Lawn to the side streets off Park Avenue South, and she's happy to talk about what this part of Flatiron is like day to day. If you'd like that conversation, Heather Cooper offers a complimentary market consultation and can meet you near the reflecting pool before the tables come down on December 6.
