I offer this brief and unpolished video tour with wandering and unscripted commentary to those of you who have read about this big art installation, and may not get a chance to see it, or, to those of you who are thinking about seeing it.
"Perge modo et qua te ducit via dirige gressum," said Venus to Aeneas.
11 comments:
For some reason, these have captured me and I've read every story about them. Perhaps precisely for the reason you mention at the beginning.
Are they less impressive in person? I enjoyed your clip and the stills I've seen so far. If they do nothing more than get New Yorkers out on the water to enjoy the city with them as a back drop, maybe they've served their purpose!
It's always interesting to get your take on things Tony. After some of the, if you'll excuse the expression, gushing press on the installation that I have read, I have to say seeing your video of the waterfalls, that it was quite a letdown.
However, you are lucky to live in a city that is actually willing to promote public installations of contemporary artists, good or bad. It is one of the things that I love about New York, so much of the cities life takes place outside and people appreciate their public spaces and use them.
What a charming and knowledgeable docent you make! Are you willing to do more art tours for us? You've shown us and commented on some of the architecture; take us through the public art of the city and tell us what you see. I really enjoyed this format.
Bravo.
I haven't seen the waterfalls for myself yet - and thanks to your commentary, I don't think I'm missing anything. What was fascinating about The Gates was the mix of people there to see it, the color of the art in relation to the Park in February, and the way it interacted with the Park itself (the wind effect in particular).
But on the plus side, I learned something valuable here - enkindle is an actual word!
very cool. from an outsider's point looking in, when i saw the first one close enough from your viewfinder, i thought, "wow."
i am spoiled by the number of waterfalls here on the islands. some make me feel nothing, others make me feel incredible. there is one that you can only get to by canoe (or any sort of boat) that is only a small patch of beach that a lot of people don't know about. if it weren't for the crazy crashing surf you need to venture thru to get to it, i would visit more often.
having grown up around water, i never tire of being in it or being on it, or observing it's beauty and power.
thanks for sharing the video!
Thanks for filming this. I haven't seen them and enjoyed this.
For me any atempt at art is worthwhile.
What a wonderful excursion! Thank you for taking us along with you. Interesting analysis. I found the life, motion , and color of the backdrop in proximity to the installations, far more engaging than the pieces themselves. I think the waterfalls were unimaginatively executed, with little attention given to the nuance of presentation. Lights, color, movement, dimensional levels, all could have been employed to great benefit here, instead of four scaffold towers of sheeting water. Perhaps there was artistic merit in the placement of them that I am not getting from the video. In any case, what a nice way to spend a summer evening!
Thanks for saving me the time and $ of the Circle Line tour. I took a couple of poor quality video clips of the Moscow River fountains when I was there in 2006. You mention the use of color in lighting water installations, which they did to somewhat cheesy effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbGtKNezkMw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LzDfL_PPmk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d4qhFenNXM
Beautiful editorial.
My favorite quips?
"Some of those sewage plants had more brio than these waterfalls and did more to enliven the human spirit than these did..."
"The fountains at the Bellagio are entirely enjoyable...and less pretentious..."
OMG. Classic. I giggled through your monologue. Your "more brio" made me bark a laugh.
Thank you for your delightful review of "The Waterfalls".
These waterfalls accentuate artificiality and perhaps that is why you did not ENJOY the feelings that came up for you. I think it is great you disliked them so much. I also enjoyed your piece. You have a great voice for doing such things.
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