TurnPark Art Space is an open-air sculpture museum in Massachusetts, about a 2.5-hour drive from New York City. It opened in 2017.
Unlike Storm King, the sculpture park we recently wrote about, TurnPark stays open year-round, including winter.
What’s especially interesting is that TurnPark was founded by immigrants from Moscow. It’s a private initiative by a couple, Igor Gomberg and Katya Brezgunova. He comes from a business background, while she is a writer and screenwriter — at one point, she was one of the writers for the popular TV series Don’t Be Born Beautiful. Perhaps that’s why the park itself turned out to be remarkably beautiful.
The location played a major role as well. Before becoming an art space, the site was a marble quarry where stone was once extracted for roads and buildings. Today, the landscape gives the park its distinctive character: the quarry itself remains part of the composition, with cliffs, ledges, and excavated voids acting as both stage and backdrop for the sculptures.
One of the earliest and most recognizable works in the park is Don Quixote by Nikolai Silis, a sculptor of the Soviet «Sixtiers» generation and one of the key figures of unofficial Soviet art in the second half of the 20th century. The sculpture appeared long before TurnPark existed, and it was around this piece that the idea for the space began to take shape.
The most Instagram-friendly work is a kinetic sculpture by Vadim Kosmachev, assembled from mirrored panels mounted in rigid metal frames. The panels rotate, reflecting light, sky, and the surrounding landscape.
Visitors who have lived in or spent time in Kyiv will also immediately recognize Rain, a sculpture by Nazar Bilyk.
According to many visitors, one of the most powerful works in the park is Puerto by American sculptor Gene Flores, who is often described as a student of Richard Serra. At TurnPark, however, the difference between them becomes especially clear. Where Serra’s metal often feels heavy and imposing, Flores’s work behaves differently — more like an extension of the terrain itself, a frozen fragment of geological matter.
The park features artists from different countries and eras, but they are united by one thing: none of the works shy away from a dialogue with the surrounding environment.
The only building at TurnPark — and a key architectural element of the entire project — is the Gatehouse. It can easily be seen as a «functional sculpture». The building was designed by renowned artist and architect Alexander Konstantinov, who also developed the overall spatial logic of the park as a co-author of the project. In that sense, TurnPark can be experienced as a single, cohesive artwork shaped by Konstantinov’s artistic vision.
Inside the Gatehouse is a gallery and visitor center, but the most important feature is elsewhere: you can walk across the roof and enter the park from above. A glass bridge connects the volumes, preserving light and the feeling of openness.
The park is located in West Stockbridge, a quiet and charming New England town where 19th-century houses sit alongside contemporary cafes, bookstores, and small galleries.
TurnPark has become an important part of the town’s cultural life, hosting festivals, film screenings, live music performances, and themed walks through the park.
Practical information
📍 Turn Park / 2 Moscow Rd, West Stockbridge, MA 01266 (about a 2.5-hour drive from NYC)
🎟 Admission: $14
🌎 Museum website: turnpark.com
