A new video series by artist Aaron Asis, who is also our new Artist in Residence at Untapped Cities, goes into the forgotten and abandoned places in New York City. Rather than subject locations to a “ruin porn” treatment, the collaborative project “Unforgotten” focuses on the relationship between public interest, creative efforts and governmental actions with a goal to promote access and awareness throughout our cities. We have been working closely with Asis on securing locations and providing support for Unforgotten Films, while Aaron has been a fixture on our tours of the Remnants of the World’s Fairs in Flushing Meadows and our Underground Tour of the NYC Subway.
The New York State Pavilion is the subject of the second episode in the series, which started with a video about Fort Totten, a place Untapped Cities offered an abandoned exploration of this summer, in partnership with NYC Parks. Asis and his team, says “For this latest episode featuring the New York State Pavilion, we had an opportunity to highlight the Pavilion’s unique history and showcase the unique efforts working together to restore the integrity of a great Queens icon.”
Interviewed in the video are Salmaan Khan, co-founder of People for the Pavilion, Janice Melnick, Executive Director of the Alliance for Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and administrator for NYC Parks, Mitch Silverstein, Stephanie Bohn and Gary Miller of the NYS Pavilion Paint Project, and artist Phil Buehler who interviewed pavilion architect Philip Johnson about the structure. Buehler also planted the ivy that was growing on the columns of the pavilion.
The video has archival footage from the World’s Fair, of Philip Johnson, of the restoration efforts and more. The video also shows some of the visionary proposals that were submitted to an architectural competition run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and People for the Pavilion to re-imagine the New York State Pavilion, As Asis says, “The Pavilion is a remarkable structure and an inspired example of how creative collaborations can inspire public interest and government action — which we hope to see more of, throughout the city.”
Michelle is the founder of Untapped New York and the author of The Art Spy (HarperOne, forthcoming) Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York Hidden Bars & Restaurants, and Broadway. michelleyoungwriter.com
