Rendering of Flying High for Equality at Joyce Kilmer Park
The month of June will fill our parks and public spaces with installations meant to bring people together, featuring commonalities, and the sharing of common spaces. Most notable are the large-scale works in ten parks throughout all five boroughs, due to an Art in the Parks: UNIQUO Park Expressions Grant. This Grant was given to parks that are underserved by cultural programming in an effort to transform these locations into art destinations, through a series of rotating exhibitions. Below are 21 art installations and exhibits, from Staten Island to the Bronx, not to miss in the month of June.
21. Treetops Adventure and Nature Trek Opening at Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will open two new attractions with three exciting experiences in June, with a design that was recently bestowed a Excellence in Design award by New York City’s Public Design Commission. The Treetop Adventure will open to the public on Friday, June 16. This new addition to the Zoo and WCS will include seven aerial climbing courses, and a Zipline that runs more than 400 feet across the Bronx River. The seven rope courses will include varying skill levels, and will be located near the Bronx River entrance to the Bronx Zoo.
Nature Trek will open on Friday, June 23rd, and will include a netted bridge-and-tower course, as well as a nature play area located inside the Bronx Zoo. Nature Trek is included with the purchase of a Bronx Zoo Total Experience Ticket.
20. Mutations on The High Line
Radamés “Juni” Figueroa Mutations: La Deliciosa Show
Mutations, a group exhibition on the High Line explores how boundaries between man and nature are defined, how they are crossed, and even obliterated. The twelve installations that make up this exhibition, run from West 12th Street to West 26th Street. In addition, visual artists will hold musical performances as part of Radamés “June” Figueroa’s piece, La Delicious Show.” Mutations will be on view to March, 2018.
The High Line will also unveil the installation, “Hop, Skip, Jump, and Fly: Escape From Gravity,” by artist Sheila Hicks in early June. This large-scale commission will be located at the Western Rail Yards section of the High Line, with the fiber installation spanning more than 650 feet, beginning at 30th Street. “Hop, Skip, Jump, and Fly: Escape From Gravity” will be on view through March, 2018.
While there, check out Darren Bader, Chess: Relatives, which will be on view to April, 2018 under The Standard.
“Giantess” by artist Sascha Braunig, part of Mutations on The High Line
19. The Public Art Fund Brings Earth Potential to City Hall Park
City Hall Park will be invaded by seven large, flat cut aluminum sculptures entitled Earth Potential. As part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Public Art Fund, Earth Potential by artist Katja Novitskova, was created using digitally printed imagery of terrestrial animals and organisms over celestial bodies and planets. Focusing on human advancement, Novitskova imagines worlds unseen by the naked eye. City Hall Park is located at 43 Park Row. The exhibit, Earth Potential, will be on view from June 22 to November 9, 2017. Be sure to check out last month’s Public Art Fund installation, Anish Kapoor’s Decension at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
18. Governors Island Welcomes a City of Dreams
City of Dreams on Governors Island, part of Figment.
This season, the Figment Project asked participating teams to consider the future of New York City, how design can be used to confront environmental challenges, and can architecture be built out of recycled or borrowed materials. The winning entry for the 2017 Figment City of Dreams pavilion competition on Governors Island is Cast & Place: City of Dreams Pavilion, made up of Team Aesop (Josh Draper, Lisa Ramsburg, Powell Draper, Edward Segal, and Max Down).
Cast & Place created a pavilion made entirely from waste using excavated dredge and fill,0,000 aluminum cans, and five tons of clay and recycled wood (the wood comes from an organization that turns wood from demolition sites and storm debris back into building materials). For the project, Cast & Place sourced a lot of aluminum from New York City, working with canners (the people who gather cans & bottles), schools and other sources. Dredged soil and fill were also the material used to make Governors Island. For the pavilion project, the dredge/soil was laid out to dry and crack in reclaimed wood molds. As a result, the team created light, but strong, panels that were then assembled into spaces. With this project, they hope to begin a conversation about rethinking our use of energy and resources. At the end of the summer, the pavilion will be disassembled and turned into benches and trellises.
While on Governors Island, stop by Nolan Park House 8A and visit the exhibit, Writing on it All, a writing project where participants are invited to pen their thoughts on the interior surfaces of an out-of-use house.
17. Prismatic Park Arriving at Madison Square Park
Three large, painted wood, and prismatic glass sculptures entitled Prismatic Park, created by artist Josiah McElheny, will arrive in Madison Square Park in June. The large-format, curved forms, will not only create new spaces, but will also be a vessel for “curvilinear, translucent blue sound walls for experimental music, a circular, reflective green floor for vanguard dance, and a vaulted-roofed luminous red and yellow pavilion for poetry.” The three open-form structures with stage-like platforms will come into play for the collaborating choreographers, dancers, musicians, and poets, who are associated with three nonprofit art organizations based in New York. Artists from Blank Forms, Danspace Project, and Poets House will be performing all summer.
McElheny is encouraging the artists to also use the space for rehearsals, or impromptu workshops. This interactive installation also invites the public to get creative, share their “unique voice” in the way that historically our public parks have become important political stages. Since the park welcomes more than 60,000 daily visitors, expect to see a lot of talent. This is the thirty-fourth art installation by Madison Square Park Conservancy. Prismatic Park by artist, Josiah McElheny will be on view to October 8, 2017.
16. Coney Art Walls 2017
Artist, Chris Stain, in collaboration with Martha Cooper (photographer), for the 2017 Coney Art Walls
The Coney Art Walls, curated by Jeffrey Deitch and Joseph Sits, now in its third year, kicked-off on Memorial Day, bringing many renowned street artists back together on Stillwell Avenue, just off the Boardwalk in Coney Island. Expect to see Lee Quinones, Chris Stain, TatsCru, Ron English, Buff Monster, DAZE, Icy & Sot, Lady Pink, and many more. Some of the walls from past years are still on view with new pieces added. Coney Art Walls will be open through September.
Join us for a tour of the Secrets of Coney Island this summer:
Tour the Secrets of Coney Island: Past, Present, Future, & Unknown
15. Flying High for Equality on View in Joyce Kilmer Park
Rendering of Flying High for Equality at Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx
The Venezuelan-American artists, Patricia Cazoria and Nancy Saleme (an Aunt and Niece collaborative team) began working together in 2010. Their installation in Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx, entitled Flying High for Equality, was inspired by American novelist, Richard Bach’s book, Jonathan Livington Seagull, using sparrows as a metaphor for resilience, audacity, intelligence, beauty, and the ongoing search for equality.
Flying High for Equality is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
14. Katarina Jerinic: Cloud Drift Arriving in Gowanus
Katarina Jerinic: Cloud Drift will be the first public art project in Gowanus. It will be on view to September 21st as part of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Arterventions Program, and will be a series of monumental cyanotype-image flags to be flown over the Gowanus Canal at each of its bridges – Union, Carroll, Third, and Ninth Streets. Each flag will feature the artists’ photographs of the canal’s surface.
Follow this Hatch Fund Project on Facebook or on its site, as the artist moves forward in her residency at Baxter Street Camera Club, where she will be making the flags, which will be printed as 3 x 5 foot cyanotypes on cotton canvas, and attached to existing light posts.
13. The Installation, Flame, Arrives at Tramway Plaza
The installation, Flame, is the sum-total of the artists experience in engineering, boat-building, and model-making. This lightweight, carbon fiber structure, with its open lattice-work, catches the light in a variety of ways throughout the day.
Located on the Tramway Plaza at Second Avenue and 59th Street (next to the tram to Roosevelt Island), Flame will be on view to November 16, 2017. Flame is part of Art in the Parks, New York City Parks and Recreation.
12. Double Sun at McCarren Pool Park, Williamsburg
Image via nyc.gov
The McCarren Park Pool Bathhouse unveils its Percent for Art Artwork Installation, Double Sun, with the opening of the pool this summer. Artist, Mary Temple began work on this project immediately after the 2016 swimming season, during evening hours over approximately fourteen evenings. The two highly visible troupe l’oeil illusions were hand-painted using hand-mixed latex paints, tinted lighter than the base color. The tree-branch murals that make up the installation, Double Sun, will welcome visitors as they move beneath the archways.
The McCarren Park Pool Bathhouse is located at 776 Lorimer Street, between Bayard Street and Driggs Avenue in Brooklyn.
11. The Broadway Mall Association Brings Joy Brown to Broadway
The sculpture entitled, One Holding Small One, on Broadway and 96th Street in front of the West Side Arts Coalition
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, The Broadway Mall Association, in cooperation with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Morrison Gallery of Kent, Connecticut, commissioned the new installation, Joy Brown on Broadway. Nine adorable site-specific bronze works sit on the Broadway Malls between 72nd Street and 168th Street. The installation will be on view through November, 2017.
11. La Mer Wave Walk Trail Throughout NYC
‘Denise’ is one of the 52 wave sculpture that are part of La Mer Wave Walk. This wave, entitled ‘Denise’ is located at The Plaza, 125th Street and Park Avenue at the MetroNorth Station
In preparation for United Nations World Oceans Day on June 8, a public art trail of wave sculptures were installed throughout the five boroughs, entitled La Mer Wave Walk. The colorful sculptures, created by many notable artists, are part of a joint effort between Project 0 and the beauty brand La Mer, were “inspired and influenced by the ocean,” with a focus on marine protected areas, including the Azores, the East China Sea, and the Caribbean mangroves.
The public is encouraged to hashtag the Waves at #LaMerWaveWalk, and bid online to own your own Wave. The La Mer Wave Walk will be on view to June 21.
9. The Installation, Constellation, Arrives in Seward Park
“Constellation” by artist Cheryl Wing-Zi located in Seward Park
Constellation by artist, Cheryl Wing-Zi, utilizes the Seward Park community public space with performances around the interlocking wooden modules, that double as additional park seating. The installation will be re-arranged into three different configurations throughout the exhibition to accommodate programming. Constellation is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
8. The Photo Assemblage, Linouq, will Line the Fence at Thomas Jefferson Park, East Harlem
Imagine walking every street from State Street to 220th Street, taking photographs along the way, creating more than 4,170 images. Then imagine taking these photos and creating metal squares – a photo assemblage of all you have seen. This is what makes up the installation, Linouq by Harlem artist Capucine Bourcart, that will hang from a chain link fence at Thomas Jefferson Park in East Harlem.
The design of the assemblage was inspired by Native Americans. Linouq is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
7. Mariposas Lamps Lights Up Faber Park in Staten Island
“Mariposas Lamps” by artist Lina Montoya in Faber Park, Staten Island
The installation, Mariposas Lamps by artist Lina Montoya, is part of the series La Isla Bonita, a beautification project, transforming public spaces through public art and community engagement. It was inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘Cien Anos de Soledad.’ “Mariposas Lamps” and is located in Faber Park, Staten Island.
Mariposas Lamps is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
6. A New Art Installation ‘Eyes’ Tappen Park in Staten Island
“Eyes” by artist, Kitzhugh Karol located in Tappen Park in Staten Island
The interactive installation, Eyes by artist Fitzhugh Karol, frames the park’s historic Village Hall, and silhouettes the surrounding hillsides. The artist hopes to integrate the sculpture within the landscape, including a ‘play’ feature for more community involvement.
“Eyes” is located in Tappen Park, Staten Island. Eyes is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
5. Concur y Compartir – We Find Each Other in Flushing Meadows Corona Park
The installation, “Conocer y Compartir – We Find Each Other” by the artists, Sam Holleran, Patrick Rowe, and Mobile Print Power, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Flashing back to the World’s Fair of 1964-65, the installation Concur y Compartir – We Find Each Other is a series of illuminated sculptures building on the theme, wayfinding. Created by artists, Sam Holleran and Patrick Rowe, collaborating with Mobile Print Power, which is a multi-generational collective based in Corona, Queens, the artists hope to engage the community and explore social and cultural situations using screen printing and participatory design.
Conocer y Compartir – We Find Each Other is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
4. Circadia Arrives at the Entrance to Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn
Rendering of Circadia by artist, Blythe Cain located in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn
Circadia, by artist Blythe Cain, will grace the entrance to Fort Greene Park. It was created with materials referencing historic building foundations, and formed with shapes resembling the natural landscape of the park. The luminescent sculpture includes a seating system made from concrete and recycled phosphoric glow-in-the-dark tiles.
Circadia is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
3. The Conversation Sculpture in Herbert Von King Park, Brooklyn
“The Conversation Sculpture” by artist, Muse Hixson, located in Herbert Von King Park, Brooklyn
Creating seating within a park setting is always a desirable feature. The Conversation Sculpture, with its flower-shaped frame, positions the seating in a way that encourages conversation. The open frame is a window onto the parks landscape and new conservatory garden.
The Conversation Sculpture was created by artist Muse Hixson, founder of the non-profit Brooklyn Art Incubator, and located in Herbert Von King Park, Brooklyn. It is is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
2. Rufus King Park in Queens Finds Common Ground
“Common Ground” by artist, Risa Puno, located at Rufus King Park in Queens
The artist, Risa Puno, has created a way to literally bring people together with her installation, Common Ground. The colorful, adjacent tabletops celebrate the diverse community that shares Rufus King Park in Queens in front of the King Manor Museum. With this installation, Puno focuses on harmony through diversity in a park that once was the home to statesman and lawyer, Rufus King – son of a wealthy lumber merchant.
Common Ground is part of the Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
1. Daylighting Arriving at Virginia Park in the Bronx
Rendering of Daylighting by Love Pignata located in Virginia Park. Image via NYC Parks Department
Daylighting highlights the importance of the concept of waterways, many which are buried under the streets of New York City. Th artwork will be at Virginia Park, located at the intersection of White Plains Road, Westchester Avenue, and the Cross Bronx Expressway, near the Bronx River. The area was originally settled as farmland in 1924. The artist, Love Pignata, was inspired by the architectural and historical elements of the location.
Daylighting is part of the Art in the Parks:UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant, bringing art installations to ten parks this June.
If you haven’t yet seen the Art Students League Models to Monuments Program in Riverside Park, it will be on through June. Many of April and May installations we recommended are still on view. Get in touch with the author at AFineLyne.
