Flowing

Widely linked, (boingboing, flutterby, etc) but cool nevertheless, James Dyson's water sculpture gets top billing at Chelsea Flower Show. Of course, the English love their gardens way more than they do conceptual art, so this is totally the way to unveil it.

Now the $64K question: is it for sale as a one-of-a-kind art object or proof of concept for a must-have lawn accessory?

And talking of grass and slopes, the Famine Memorial (now undergoing refurbishment after a hard New York winter) is worth a visit -- stopped by on a bike tour of lower Manhattan last weekend with Theo.

- bruno 5-22-2003 7:49 pm

the water sculpture link doesnt work. looks like you need to remove the "text" from the end of the url.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3046791.stm

ive never walked through the famine memorial but it always struck me when i bike passed as an anomalous somewhat ridiculous bit of special interest pandering. just my 1 1/2 cents. but a holocaust memorial in battery park makes perfect sense.

i guess downtown is Memorial Land now after 911. at least that makes sense as it is Historical New Amsterdam.
- dave 5-22-2003 8:48 pm


Thanks, link should now be fixed. I didn't expect to like the famine memorial (and one can't walk through it right now as it's being re-landscaped) but I guess I'm in favor of any evocation of rural landscape in New York , whether community garden or "artwork".

There are plenty of examples in this city, from the old woods of Fort Tryon to the NE corner of Houston Street and La Guardia Place where there's a tiny patch of scrub, home to native plant species of the pre-metropolitan landscape.

Perhaps the empty-croft ruin symbolism of the famine memorial is too easy. Or maybe it's just un-American -- we tend to rebuild here, not let ruins stand for anything but "neglect". Do we fear the signs of age, of decrepitude? In the context of downtown Manhattan's systematic repaving of the past, I think it works.
- bruno 5-22-2003 9:44 pm


The Time Landscape on Houston Street is an "earthwork" by Alan Sonfist. It was "completed" while I was in art school. His girlfriend was a teacher of mine; she kept claiming he'd had all the earth-art ideas before Smithson, Oppenheim, et al. The Landscape hasn't fared all that well, but at least it's more-or-less maintained. I guess the city is now responsible; as I recall, the documentation posted at the site barely mentions the artist.
Haven't actually read it, but discussion of possible interest is here.

- alex 5-22-2003 10:01 pm





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