SoftSpin-UntappedCities-640x640Soft Spin, a sculptural & sound installation by Heather Nicol in the Winter Garden Atrium

The Winter Garden Atrium has always been one of our favorite indoor public spaces. It was designed by architect Cesar Pelli in 1985 and completed in 1988, bearing the name World Financial Center. Severely damaged during the September 11th attacks in 2001, the reconstruction required 2,000 panes of glass and 60,000 square feet of marble flooring and stairs. The ten story pavilion located on Vesey Street is now part of the Brookfield Place office complex.

Often activated with art programmed by Arts Brookfield, the latest is the current exhibit Soft Spin, a sculptural and sound installation by Heather Nicol. Designed to conjur up the feel of swirling skirts, six colorful sculptures are suspended from the ceiling.

View up the marble staircase in the Brookfield Plaza Atrium
View up the marble staircase in the Winter Garden Atrium

The “skirts” swirl when pedestrians pass by, creating the sound of singing voices–six different voices. Heather Nicol is a Toronto based artist who has exhibited at the Sculpture Center, New York, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Great Hall of Union Station in Toronto and Brookfield Place’s Toronto property at The Allan Lambert Galleria.

View to North Cove Yacht Harbor
The six sculptures were created using over 750 yards of fabric

Soft Spin is surrounded by new upscale shops and eateries including Le District, a thirty-thousand square foot French-inspired marketplace and six signature restaurants including Hudson Eats.  You will find many pastry cases, candy shops and cafe’s, along with their flagship restaurant Beaubourg Brasserie.

Looking up into one of the sculptures, while it swirled around
Looking up into one of the sculptures
Le District
Le District is a 30,000 square foot French-inspired marketplace
Le District
Many shops & cafe’s in Le District including their  flagship restaurant in ‘Beaubourg Brasserie’

The Winter Garden has a long history of art, both installation and performance. Under the auspice of Arts Brookfield, this history is sure to be continued. In addition to revolving exhibits, we look forward to the Tribeca Drive-In during the Tribeca Film Festival, music in the form of the Global Beat Festival, and even a poetry month.

View into the Atrium
This view into the Atrium gives you an idea of the size of the sculptures, which range in size from 22 to 28 feet in height

In addition to the already formidable list of shops and restaurants, the Brookfield Place anchor store will be a seventy-five thousand square foot Saks Fifth Avenue, which is expected to open in 2016.  Soft Spin will be on exhibit in the Winter Garden through April 24th, free and open to the public from 8 am to 10 pm daily.

Get in touch with the author at AFineLyne