JOHN YDSTIE, Host:

NPR's Ilya Marritz was there to watch them load in the art.

ILYA MARRITZ: When the New Museum was started in 1977, the founders wanted to only show art that was totally new. There would be no permanent collection; all the artists would be living, dynamic, edgy. The concept was great, but the execution had problems: No space was ever right, there were too many columns to display the sculptures, or not enough room for the video art. And so, it's come to this - a building that looks like a stack of six, white cake boxes wedged between an industrial kitchen supply shop and a shelter for homeless men. It doesn't quite fit in with the neighborhood, but the New Museum is making itself at home.

HENRY GARRETS: Yeah, well, we're getting our last crate, I believe, at 5 o'clock.

MARRITZ: That's exhibitions manager Henry Garrets(ph). He and the registrar Sherry Zola(ph) are waiting in the lobby for a sculpture to arrive by truck from Kennedy Airport.

GARRETS: And that should be it, right?

SHERRY ZOLA: I was going to say that looks like the truck.

GARRETS: Josh, we have our artwork, so can you...

MARRITZ: Is this the truck?

GARRETS: This is the truck.

MARRITZ: Sherry Zola, the registrar, goes to meet the delivery men and inspect the crates.

ZOLA: Unidentified Man: Hi.

ZOLA: Unidentified Man: These.

ZOLA: Unidentified Man: Two.

MARRITZ: Which piece is this?

ZOLA: Focal Shukrashekra(ph).

GARRETS: Focal Scholar which is a scarecrow(ph).

MARRITZ: Scarecrow, yeah.

GARRETS: You termed it(ph).

MARRITZ: Unidentified Man: We need another dolly.

GARRETS: Can we have another dolly down here?

MARRITZ: Unidentified Man: Ready, one, two, three.

MARRITZ: When the crates come off the dolly, their work is complete.

ZOLA: That was the last delivery for this exhibition.

MARRITZ: These guys will be back in a few months moving the artworks out.

ZOLA: So, that's the last one.

GARRETS: That's (unintelligible).

MARRITZ: For NPR News, I'm Ilya Marritz. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.