The Key That Opens Secrets Around NYC

Artist Paul Ramirez Jones from Park Slope in Brookyn, N.Y. gave Mayor Bloomberg the first of his many special keys on Thursday to kick off his very unique art project. Jones began distributing 25,000 of his custom made keys which can open various mysterious locks around the city.

The master key opens cemetery gates, secret doors and padlocks in every borough, including a hidden door between two portraits in the Brooklyn Museum, a locker inside Brooklyn's Gleason's Gym, a closet in Gracie Mansion, a private vegetable plot at a community garden in the Bronx and more.

Anyone can pick up the keys from a Times Square kiosk until June 27. The project runs through Labor Day.

Organizers of the Creative Time-sponsored public art project, called The Key to the City, promise a special prize to those who take photos of themselves at all of the 24 sites.

More information here.

Photo by Brenda Star via Flickr.