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Public Art, or More Construction?

Posted on October 5, 2023October 5, 2023 by East River Park ACTION

New sculpture adds more dystopia to East River Park

An art installation, “Joined an Avalanche, Never to be Alone Again,” opened October 4 at the foot of the temporary Corlears Hook Park bridge. The piece features gravel, corrugated steel, core samples, repurposed fencing from the FDR–and asphalt. 

Low-tide wave made of 100% recycled asphalt is one part of the art installation at Corlears Hook.
This asphalt wave is one part of a temporary art installation at East River Park funded by the Department of Design and Construction and the Department of Cultural Affairs costing $40,000.

At a recent walk-through, the DDC Public Artist in Residence Carlos Irijalba explained that the asphalt is “green,” meaning it is recycled from street repaving operations. But to those who walked by while it was being installed, it smelled anything but–yet another pollutant added to a stark landscape that has been stripped of its greenery, leaving only fencing, steel and gravel, and asphalt, lots of it. 

For a community missing its park, grieving the loss of hundreds of mature trees and open green spaces filled with memories of picnics, music, games and simple relaxation, we are given art that is essentially indistinguishable from the East Side Coastal Resiliency construction site. 

This artist describes this as "a sprawling geotechnical core sample sculpture." The structure behind it is the temporary bridge from Corlears Hook Park to the ferry landing and the remnant of shoreline still accessible.
The artist describes this as “a sprawling geotechnical core sample sculpture.” The structure behind it is the temporary bridge from Corlears Hook Park to the ferry landing and the remnant of shoreline still accessible.
This artist describes this as "a sprawling geotechnical core sample sculpture." The structure behind it is the temporary bridge from Corlears Hook Park to the ferry landing and the remnant of shoreline still accessible.
Carlos Irijalba, left, describes the installation to opening day visitors from the foot of the Corlears Hook Bridge.

The repurposed fencing blends into all of the other fencing, keeping us from what used to be public green space; the smell of its asphalt blends into the daily smell of dust, exhaust and endless construction materials; its gravel is another stretch of gravel along what used to be grassy lawns and bushes alive with pollinators. Its title is displayed on a construction billboard and has no connection to anything. 

A section of fence that used to run alongside the FDR Drive but was removed for construction of the giant levee is now one of the sculptures in the temporary installation at Corlears Hook in what is left of the southern part of East River Park.

Its installation required trucking in yet more construction materials, “harvested from the city’s infrastructure,” releasing more pollutants and carbon into an area already overloaded with pollutants and carbon, and dumping asphalt onto the one of the last remaining bits of espanade. The asphalt is meant to look like a wave. It is unsealed and unpainted, a wave-like pile of loose asphalt that is already disintegrating into an estuary that is expected to keep accepting all of the environmental insults we pour into it. The detritus of this piece may eventually be found in our lungs, in fish and bird stomachs, and at the bottom of the estuary and eventually the ocean.

"Avalanche, Never to be Alone Again," a newly commissioned temporary public artwork by the Corlears Hook ferry landing by Public Artist in Residence Carlos Irijalba. He writes, mistakenly, that it "makes visible how New York City is building resiliency into its survival, looking decades and centuries into the future."
“Joined an Avalanche, Never to be Alone Again,” is a three-part temporary public artwork near the Corlears Hook ferry landing by Public Artist in Residence Carlos Irijalba.

And yet, if you question this art piece, you’re told you don’t understand “art.” Because you only live here, in a community famous for its artists, poets, dancers and musicians. Because maybe you’re an artist yourself who has seen–or even created yourself–so many magnificent pieces that make you more aware of the brilliant possibilities of art when it is organic to the community and the landscape. 

You remember artists like Agnes Denes, who planted a wheat field in view of the World Trade Centers, Cecilia Vicuña who traced the fall of milk along the West Side Highway to see where water goes when it drains into the river, Kathy Westwater, who created a collaborative dance of poetry atop Fresh Kills in Staten Island; the Smokehouse Associates and William T. Williams who painted powerful abstract murals in Harlem.

From our own neighborhood, the marvelous Eileen Myles has tirelessly written incredible poetry and essays driving home the loss of this park. Emily Johnson recently led a powerful tragic performance along the fences and destruction of East River Park. So many more artists have worked diligently and with vision to understand the communities in which they were working and the ecologies of the landscape about them.

Instead, we got asphalt, fencing and gravel. More of it.

–Marcella Durand
–Photos by Pat Arnow

You can visit anytime, or if you wish to speak to the artist or representatives from the Department of Design and Construction, there will be an artist walk through on the next two Saturdays: 10/7 and 10/14. Information and tickets here (though you don’t really need tickets). You can tell DDC staff what you are thinking about this project and how we need art that does not simply glorify construction materials. 

The installation will be removed November 15.

Turn around from the asphalt art installation and see amidst the ruins of the park, how nature strives to survive.
Turn around from the asphalt art installation and see amidst the ruins of the park how nature strives to survive.
  • Carlos Irijalba
  • Corlears hook
  • east river park
  • ESCR
  • Lower East Side
  • 2 thoughts on “Public Art, or More Construction?”

    1. A Sad Squirrel says:
      October 5, 2023 at 3:51 pm

      I’m struck by comparing this to another temporary art installation by authentic artists that resonated deeply.
      – https://eastriverparkaction.org/2020/10/10/art-destruction/

      Reply
    2. Wes Green says:
      October 5, 2023 at 7:51 pm

      Great points, guys. The term “adding insult to injury” comes to mind. So many people making money and careers from trashing our neighborhood.
      The contrast with the westside could not be starker.

      Reply

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