The beautiful Roof Garden at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City provides breathtaking views of the skyline. Annually, the museum chooses an artist to design a rooftop installation that showcases their unique style, interacts with The Met’s collection, and enhances the outdoor space’s aesthetics. This initiative offers the museum a distinctive platform to exhibit some of the world’s most captivating contemporary art.
Jennie C. Jones has been selected for the 2025 Roof Garden Commission. Jones is known for her conceptual, sound-focused works that span painting, sculpture, and installation. By exploring the intersection of music, art history, and Black creativity, she creates both visual and auditory art experiences. Her upcoming installation at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden will mark her first outdoor sculptural project encompassing multiple works.
Jones, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, now resides and works in Hudson, N.Y. Her interdisciplinary art delves into intricate social and cultural narratives, addressing the historical oversight of Black artists in modernism and drawing parallels between avant-garde jazz and the fundamental concepts of Minimalism and abstraction. Her artworks can be found in public and private collections worldwide, with her recent exhibition “Jennie C. Jones: Dynamics” displayed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
For her commission at The Met, the museum stated that “Jones will explore the sonic potential of stringed instruments as well as their formal possibilities. In Jones’s unique response to modernism, these acoustic sculptures propose the line of the string as a proxy for art history, unbroken and continuous.”
This Roof Garden Commission initiative was launched in 2013 with the artist Imran Qureshi inaugurating the series. Over the past decade, artists such as Dan Graham (2014), Cornelia Parker (2016), Adrián Villar Rojas (2017), Huma Bhabha (2018), and Alex Da Corte (2021) have participated in this project.
Jones is the second African American artist to take part in this initiative, following Lauren Halsey. Halsey’s previous site-specific installation, inspired by her South Central Los Angeles roots and the grandeur of ancient Egyptian architecture, was on display last year.
“Though stylistically different, both Jones and Gibson see the potential for beauty and form to carry the potency of individual and cultural histories.”
— Met Director and CEO Max Hollein
Jones’s 2025 Roof Garden Commission got announced simultaneously with the news that Jeffrey Gibson will undertake The Met Fifth Avenue facade commission in 2025. Gibson will create new works for the architectural alcoves on the museum’s front. Gibson is currently representing the United States at the 60th Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition in the U.S. Pavilion. As a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, he holds the distinction of being the first indigenous artist to achieve this honor.
The Met’s director and CEO, Max Hollein, lauded Jones and Gibson as esteemed artists and expressed the museum’s excitement about the 2025 commissions. Hollein remarked, “Though stylistically different, both Jones and Gibson see the potential for beauty and form to carry the potency of individual and cultural histories. We’re honored to have them join this important commission series and look forward to unveiling their works in 2025.” CT
The Roof Garden Commission: Jennie C. Jones will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, from April 15-Oct. 19, 2025
FIND MORE about Jennie C. Jones on her website and Instagram
BOOKSHELF
A forthcoming volume in April, “Jennie C. Jones,” provides insights into the conceptual artist’s works. “Jennie C. Jones: Compilation” chronicles her mid-career exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Houston. With contributions from writers like Hilton Als, Huey Copeland, and George Lewis, the catalog edited by Valerie Cassel Oliver delves into Jones’s art. The sculptural exhibition “Ground/work,” showcasing six contemporary artists including Jones, documents the inaugural outdoor display at Clark Institute in Williamstown, Mass. Additionally, publications such as “Jefferey Gibson: This is the Day” and “Jefferey Gibson: Like a Hammer” examine Gibson’s creative portfolio. Furthermore, the recently published “An Indigenous Presence,” edited by Jefferey Gibson, sheds light on over 60 Native North American artists across various artistic realms. “Lauren Halsey: The Roof Garden Commission” presents a look at Lauren Halsey’s 2023 creation at The Met and features an interview with the artist.
