The New Museum is preparing an exhibition that turns the Bowery into a living archive of New York creativity. Opening on September 24, The Bowery: Devil's Mile will bring together archival materials, historic objects, and artworks that reflect four centuries of change along the museum's home street.
The presentation will feature a rare 1830 hand-pump fire engine, surviving dime museum attractions, documentary work by Jacob Riis, and pieces by artists including Keith Haring, Lynda Benglis, and June Leaf. Together, these works map the Bowery's evolution from a Lenape path and colonial corridor into a dense urban district shaped by trade, migration, and artistic experimentation.
In its early history, the Bowery connected New Amsterdam to northern farmland and later became home to one of Manhattan's first free Black settlements. As the city expanded, the street developed a layered identity: part entertainment zone, part working district, and later a magnet for writers, painters, and musicians seeking affordable space and creative freedom.
The exhibition also highlights the Bowery's role in music history, including the rise of CBGB in 1973, which helped define punk and new wave culture. The New Museum describes the show as an introduction to the street's enduring energy, where memory, art, and urban reinvention continue to intersect.
By framing a single street as a cultural timeline, the New Museum offers a broader view of how cities preserve identity through art, and how local histories can inspire future creative ecosystems.
