10. Celebrating 30 Years at Socrates Sculpture Park
Concave Room for Bees, 2016 by artist Meg Webster
The exhibit LANDMARK will celebrate the 30th anniversary year for Socrates Sculpture Park. This exhibit is meant to transform the land, both physically and symbolically, playing on the fact that the land, which is now a sculpture garden, was once an industrial landfill and illegal dumping ground. In this public park, the works of eight artists explore the topic of transforming land. Below, we take a walk through just a few of the installation that make up the exhibit LANDMARK.
Concave Room for Bees by artist Meg Webster is her creation of a 70 foot-in-diameter living sculpture, consisting of more than 300 cubic yards of fertile soil, reaching five-feet high. The interior space houses plantings of flowers, herbs and shrubs for the purpose of attracting pollinating creatures. The sculpture park’s colorful chairs are also within, inviting viewers to sit and enjoy the sounds and smells of nature.
ARTPORT_making waves is the artistic group behind Cool Stories for When The Planet Gets Hot, which is an anthology of the video series held inside the shipping container. It is a compilation of art videos that address climate change, stewardship and sustainability.
ARTPORT_making waves installation, Cool Stories for When The Planet Gets Hot
In the installation, Half Moon, Abigail DeVille utilizes found materials, highlighting public neglect, decay and marginalization. Exhibiting with found materials in not new to Ms. DeVille. In a recent exhibit entitled Harlem Stories, she highlighted a landscape under the constant pressure of development and gentrification.
A salvaged piano harp is turned into an active beehive in Jessica Segall’s installation, Fugue in Bâ™. The piece becomes a sound installation as the bee colony interacts with the piano chords. It is also a nod to nineteenth-century Astoria, which was an industrial port and hub of piano manufacturing.Steinway & Sons is still making pianos in the neighborhood.
Fugue in Bâ™ by Jessica Segall
Colorful and interestingly designed seating, created by Jonathan Odom, and painted by volunteers, staff and youth participants, is scattered throughout the park. Socrates Sculpture Park also has a lively schedule of summer events that include outdoor cinema, sculpture workshops, yoga and GrowNYC Greenmarket from June through November 19. While you’re there, you can also visit the Noguchi Museum, which is across the street.