Soaking Up New York City’s Pools and Beaches

Originally a munitions-supply depot for New York State’s National Guard, the Central Park Arsenal Building has lived many lives since it was erected, in 1848: as a short-term home to some collections of the Museum of Natural History, police precinct, temporary haven for a menagerie of P. T. Barnum’s animals. Now it is the headquarters of the city’s Parks Department, and its upstairs gallery exhibits six to eight art shows each year highlighting local history and the natural environment. Currently on display, not far from a displaced carousel horse and around the corner from a landing wallpapered with Employee of the Month plaques, is “SPF16: NYC Pools and Beaches in Contemporary Photography,” a collection of photographs from all five boroughs, made in the past thirty or so years by the acclaimed photographers Juliana Beasley, Damion Berger, Rona Chang, Bruce Davidson, Tobias Hutzler, Bruce Katz, Michael Kirby Smith, Wayne Lawrence, Greg Miller, Christine Osinski, Thomas Roma, and Lauren Welles.