Overlapping Empires: Panel Discussion

Join Van Cortlandt House Museum for an onsite panel discussion on Overlapping Empires, a site-wide contemporary art exhibition by Samantha Box.

This conversation will bring together artist Samantha Box, VCHM Director Margaret Holmes, and VCHM Site Historian Nick Dembowski for a discussion about the histories, research, and curatorial questions at the center of the exhibition.

The panel will explore Dembowski’s ongoing research into the Van Cortlandt family’s connections to the Caribbean and Latin America, early New York’s role in Atlantic trade, and the family’s ties to slavery and the slave trade. These histories have become central to the museum’s interpretive themes, reshaping how Van Cortlandt House Museum understands and presents the site.

The conversation will also consider how Overlapping Empires makes direct interventions into these histories. Installed throughout the historic house, Box’s work brings contemporary art into dialogue with the rooms, objects, and layered histories of one of New York City’s earliest colonial sites. Through still-life photography and installation, the exhibition traces connections between empire, trade, migration, memory, and the visual language of wealth and power.

Holmes and Dembowski will also discuss how the museum's research and interpretive work led them to Box’s practice, and how the collaboration developed into Van Cortlandt House Museum’s first site-wide contemporary art exhibition.

This program will be held fully onsite at Van Cortlandt House Museum. Registration is suggested as space is limited.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Van Cortlandt House Museum's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Accessibility: the exhibition will be installed throughout the historic house, which, at this time, is accessed using stairs. The discussion will be held in the downstairs educational space, which is accessed using a single flight of stairs.

A 360-degree tour of the historic house is available on a tablet in our Welcome Center. The exhibition will be available for online viewing in the coming weeks.

Getting here:

Address for GPS: 6036 Broadway, Bronx, NY

Van Cortlandt House Museum is located inside Van Cortlandt Park at Broadway and West 246th Street in The Bronx. There is a paved tree-lined pedestrian path leading from Broadway to the museum.
Public Transportation:

• Subway: #1 to 242nd Street Station, then walk north on Broadway to the tree-lined pedestrian path leading into the park.
• Bus: Bx9 to West 246th Street and Broadway, then walk into the park on the tree-lined pedestrian path leading into the park.
• BxM3 Express Bus to 246th Street and Broadway, then walk into the park on the tree-lined pedestrian path leading into the park.
• Metro-North Hudson River Line to Marble Hill Station, transfer to the Bx9 bus or #1 subway as above.

By Car:
You can park in Van Cortlandt Park's free parking lot, which is a 5 minute walk on park trails from the museum (GPS Link) or you can pay for metered street-parking on Broadway (GPS Link).

To Van Cortlandt Golf Course Off-Street Free Parking Lot

From Queens and Long Island:
Take the Tri-Boro Bridge to the Major Deegan Expressway North (87). Take the 230th St. Exit. Make a right at the top of the exit, followed by a quick left onto Bailey Avenue. Take Bailey Avenue to the end. Follow the Major Deegan North/VanCortlandt Golf Course signs. Bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.

From Manhattan:
East Side: Take FDR Drive to Willis Avenue Bridge. Go over bridge and bear left for the Major Deegan Expressway North (87). Get off at the 230th Street Exit. Make a right at the top of the exit, followed by a quick left onto Bailey Avenue. Take Bailey Avenue to the end. Follow the Major Deegan North/Van Cortlandt Golf Course signs. Bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.

West Side: Take West Side Highway North to Cross Bronx Expressway East.
Take Cross Bronx Expressway to Major Deegan North (87). Take the 230th St. Exit. Make a right at the top of the exit, followed by a quick left onto Bailey Avenue. Take Bailey Avenue to the end. Follow the Major Deegan North/Van Cortlandt Golf Course signs. Bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.

From New Jersey:
Take the G.W. Bridge to Major Deegan Expressway North (87). Take the 230th St. Exit. Make a right at the top of the exit, followed by a quick left onto Bailey Avenue. Take Bailey Avenue to the end. Follow the Major Deegan North/Van Cortlandt Golf Course signs. Bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.

From Westchester County & Points North:
Take 87 South to Van Cortlandt Park South Exit. At top of the exit, make a left. At next light, make another left and follow the signs to golf course, bear to your left and go underneath the overpass. After the overpass take a sharp left into the public parking lot.