Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive, which opened in New York last month, documents the neighborhood’s intellectual and cultural ferment.

New York is still reeling from the pandemic. Almost 35,000 people have died from covid in the city; temporary morgues, in the form of refrigerated vans, were set up to store victims’ bodies. Many residents have left dense urban areas for leafier suburbs elsewhere in the state or in New Jersey. To some, the future of the metropolis seems uncertain.

A new cultural centre shows that good things can emerge from a city in flux. Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive (ha/ha), which opened on September 19th, celebrates the arts scene that was born in the East Village in the wake of the second world war. It is a reminder of how New York has coped with calamities in the past, often with the help of artists and storytellers.