Culture in Chelsea

A third-floor nonprofit that has taught letterpress and binding since 1974, with a free gallery at the front and the presses running behind it. Shows change every couple of months.

Mon to Sat, 11am to 6pm. Closes 5pm Friday and Saturday

A large gallery on the block between Tenth and Eleventh, free to walk into, with a bookshop two doors down at 535 that keeps the same hours. Shows change every several weeks and there is no admission and no ticket. You can be through it in fifteen minutes or stay an hour, and nobody minds either way.

Tue to Sat, 10am to 6pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

Three converted 1920s warehouses on West 22nd, run by the Dia Art Foundation, showing one long commission at a time rather than a rotating program. Admission is free. The scale of the space is the point and a single work will often take the whole floor, which makes it a short visit unless you want a long one.

Wed to Sat, noon to 6pm. Closed Sunday to Tuesday

Pace built itself a tall purpose-made gallery on West 25th and kept two older spaces at 508 and 510 on the same block, so there are usually several unrelated exhibitions running at once within a hundred feet. Entry is free, the lifts are signed, and the upper floors are where the larger installations go. It sits in the gallery blocks between 24th and 26th.

Tue to Sat, 10am to 6pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

Paula Cooper opened the first gallery in SoHo in 1968, with a show to benefit the committee trying to end the war in Vietnam, and moved to Chelsea decades later. The main space has been at 524 West 26th since 2018. The program still runs to conceptual and minimal work. Free, and usually quiet enough to hear the floor.

Tue to Sat, 10am to 6pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

Free fashion museum inside the Fashion Institute, two gallery floors that turn over a few times a year.

Wed to Fri, noon to 8pm. Sat, 10am to 5pm. Closed Sun to Tue