Local
Chasing New York City's Waterfalls
You can find cascading waterfalls right in the middle of the East River. This sounds impossible in the city, but of course, these aren’t natural waterfalls. Instead of falling from cliffs or mountains, the water churns from metal structures.
These waterfalls are part of Dutch and Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s current exhibit: The New York City Waterfalls, unveiled on June 26. The four waterfalls are located throughout New York Harbor: under the Brooklyn Bridge, between Pier 4 and 5 in Brooklyn, on Pier 35 in Manhattan and along the north shore of Governors Island.
The metal structures resemble the scaffolding that normally enmeshes construction in the city. Using intake filter pools, water from the river is collected without harming fish. A pump sucks the water to the top and falls back down into the East River through a filter that resembles a cheese grater, giving the spout the frothy look of natural falls. At night, the Waterfalls will be lit up with LED lights powered by renewable energy. The heights of the waterfalls vary slightly from 90 to 120 feet tall, mimicking New York’s skyline.
New York City is surrounded by water, and Eliasson created the exhibit to make New Yorkers more aware of their aqueous environment. “In developing The New York City Waterfalls, I have tried to work with today’s complex notion of public spaces,” Eliasson said in a press release. “The Waterfalls appear in the midst of the dense social, environmental and political tissue that makes up the heart of New York City. They will give people the possibility to reconsider their relationship to the spectacular surroundings, and I hope to evoke experiences that are both individual and engage a sense of collectivity.”
The Public Art Fund, New York City and State governments, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pushed for these temporary exhibits throughout the city.
Eliasson works with “natural elements and phenomena to create sculptures and installations that evoke sensory experiences.” He often plays with light and water in his works, such as the 1998 Green River exhibit installed in cities throughout the world, such as Los Angeles, Bremen, Germany, and Stockholm, Sweden.
Eliasson is also featured at the Museum of Modern Art and p.s. 1 with his exhibit Take Your Time, a retrospective of his works, including new pieces. The Waterfalls will run through October 13, on Tuesday and Thursdays from 9 am to 10 pm, and the rest of the week starting at 7 am.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
from All the Water I’ve Seen Is Running
By Elias RodriquesJUNE 2021 | Fiction
In Elias Rodriques’ forthcoming novel, All the Water I’ve Seen Is Running, Daniel, a queer mixed-race Jamaican-American man living in New York City is drawn back to the conservative North Florida town he once dreamed of escaping, after learning of the sudden death of a close friend. What follows is unlike any coming of age story I’ve ever read. Returning to his former home stirs up memories long suppressed, but Rodriques’ lyrical excavation of Daniel digs into not only his childhood but also the experiences of his family in Jamaica. Though alienated from most of his peers as a teen because of his race, class, sexuality, and nationality, Rodriques sets Daniel in vivid nature scenes—such as the one that begins this excerpt—to show how he made his own home on the water. The dialogue throughout the novel is also a highlight, as we see how fluidly Daniel is able to code-switch to navigate between his multiple identities.
Stretching Time in River to River’s 20th Season
By Noa WeissJUL-AUG 2021 | Dance
Over three weekends in June, Movement Research collaborated with River to River to curate a series of processional performances in Battery Park City. I attended Okwui Okpokwasili and Emilý Æyer’s “Procession,” which proved to be both simple and challenging.
New Leadership, and Work, at New York City Ballet
By Susan YungMAR 2019 | Dance
After many months under an interim leadership team of dancers who replaced the ousted Peter Martins, the company announced that Wendy Whelan, who retired from the company in 2014 after 30 years, will be associate artistic director, and ex-principal Jonathan Stafford—who had become the de facto leader—will be artistic director.
51. (Both Banks of the Hudson River)
By Raphael RubinsteinMAY 2021 | The Miraculous
Following the destruction of the World Trade Center towers an artist turns his attention toward the distant past of New York City, specifically to initial encounters between the region’s indigenous Lenape people and early Dutch colonialists.
