Downtown Brooklyn boasts many public art installations. These include permanent art installations and monuments by renowned artists and designers, as well as new, temporary installations by up-and-coming artists. Here is a listing of Downtown Brooklyn's many public art installations and monuments.

PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS

  Chase Information Wall - Nam June Paik (1992)
Commissioned for the lobby at 4 MetroTech Center. Paik was one of the first artists to work extensively in electronic media. This cheekily titled, sensorily overwhelming piece incorporates 429 TV monitors, cable broadcasts, laser disc players, and computers.

  The Balanced Cylinders - Paul Sisko (1984)
This dramatic two-ton, twenty-eight-foot sculpture is composed of interlocking red wedges of steel and is situated on Jay Street Plaza, at the entrance to the MetroTech Commons.

  Alligator & Visionary - Tom Otterness (1996, 1997)
Commissioned for Public Art Fund and located in the MetroTech Commons. These slightly sardonic sculptures depict an alligator emerging from a manhole to bite down on a man with a dollar sign on his head and a mock lamppost crowned with a globe.

  Basketball Dropped from 35,000 Feet at Moment of Impact - James Angus (1999)
Commissioned for Public Art Fund and located in the MetroTech Commons. This deflated form-a damaged basketball-sounds like a missive from the skies, though it looks like a relic from the streets frozen in time.

  Stray Dog - Tony Matelli (1999)
(MetroTech Commons, MetroTech Center) This New York-based sculptor has created a life-size, resin dog, complete with service leash, that appears to be in mid stride.

  Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Geology & Physics - Mordi Gassner (1930, 1939, 1930, 1929, 1930)
(Polytechnic Institute of NY University, 5 MetroTech Center) These large charcoal drawings are part of an unfinished series of "mural monuments to modern culture" and represent the New York artist's commitment to humanism.

  Masstransiscope - Bill Brand (1980; restored 2008)
(Tunnel walls, Dekalb Ave., Manhattan-bound B, Q train) This lively animation, seen from the windows of trains, comes to life on either side of the platform as riders accelerate toward Manhattan.

  Dekalb Improvisation - Stephen Johnson (2004)
(Corner of Dekalb Ave. and Flabush Ave. Extension) This mural in the north mezzanine of the Dekalb Ave. subway station is a paean to the "Mighty Wurlitzer Organ" now at the basketball court of nearby Long Island University, formerly the Paramount Theatre.

  Departures and Arrivals - Ben Snead (2009)
(South Mezzanine wall, Jay Street/MetroTech A, C, F, R subway station) Commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Arts for Transit. This work about diversity and movement in the local, natural world depicts five species that have migrated to Brooklyn and one that is departing.

  Overlook - Allan and Ellen Wexler in collaboration with di Domenico + Partners (2009)
(LIRR Atlantic Ave. Terminal) This piece evokes the rocky overlooks found in national parks, which encourage travelers to pause and view the scene below.

  Hook (Archean Reach), Line (Sea House) & Sinker (Mined Swell) - George Trakas (2004)
(Atlantic Ave./Pacific St. B, D, M, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, 5 subway station) These three sculptures lin the station to maritime ports of the eponymous oceans: a boat-shaped gantry hangs beneath the station's skylight; a granite wave rune along the wall of the transfer corridor; Rockville granite runs down the stairway.

TEMPORARY INSTALLATIONS

  Love Letter to Brooklyn - Steve Powers (2011-2012, ongoing)
Artist Steve Powers has created a series of "Love Letters" to the borough at various locations in Downtown Brooklyn (Albee Square, 119 Livingston Street and Macy's garage at Hoyt & Livingston streets). The mostly text-based murals draw their inspiration from the thoughts and reminiscences of Brooklyn residents and passersby. Sponsored by Macy's, the Fulton Mall Improvement Association and the Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn Business Improvement District. 

  A Promise Is A Cloud - Public Art Fund installation (2011)
With works that explore evolving states and the capacity for transformation, the latest installation by the Public Art Fund in the MetroTech Commons features work by four artists: Ohad Meromi's Stepanova; Adam Pendleton's Black Dada flags; Erin Shirreff's Sculpture for Snow; and Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries' The Stuggle Continues. For more information, visit www.publicartfund.org.

  Stars - Leo Villareal (ongoing)
(Façade of Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Ave.) For the twenty-fifth anniversary of the BAM Next Wave festival, sculptor Leo Villareal installed an LED work withing this landmark building's distinctive arched windows. It is viewable from dusk until midnight.

  Willoughby Windows - various artists (ongoing)
(Duffield St. and Bridge St.) This innovative program, sponsored by MetroTech BID and Ad Hoc Art, has transformed 12 vacant storefronts into a street-level exhibition. Featuring site-specific installations by 15 New York-based artists with deep roots in the street-art movement, the exhibition helps reactivate a block slated for redevelopment.

STATUES AND MONUMENTS

  Henry Ward Beecher - John Quincy Adams Ward (1891)
(Cadman Plaza) This bronze statue pays tribute to the local preacher, orator and prominent abolitionist.

  Christopher Columbus - Emma Stebbins (1867)
(Cadman Plaza) This bronze statue was commissioned for Central Park in 1869 but never installed there. It was eventually installed in Chinatown, then moved to its currernt location in front of the New York State Supreme Court in 1971.

  William Jay Gaynor Monument - Adolph Alexander Weinman (1926)
(Cadman Plaza) Gaynor was a Brooklyn resident, state surpreme court justice, and mayor of New York from 1910 to 1913. Weinman's bust is flanked by a pair of allegorical bas-reliefs representing law and strength on one side, and knowledge and ease on the other.

  Brooklyn War Memorial - Stuart Constable, Filmore D. Clarke and W. Earle Andrews (1951)
This 24-foot tall granite and limestone memorial is dedicated to the 300,000 American men and women who served in World War II. Two larger-than-life figures crown the monument; on the left is a male warrior, and on the right is a female with a child.

  Transit Authority WWII Memorial - (1953)
This memorial to workers who perished in WWII is located on the north corner of the façade of the former MTA headquarters at 370 Jay Street.

  Prison Ship Martyrs Monument - McKim, Meade and White (1908)
This 148-foot-tall tower in the center of Fort Greene Park was designed by McKim, Meade and White in 1908. It is dedicated to the 11,000 men and boys who died under deplorable conditions onboard British prison ships during the Revolutionary War. More information.