Friday, February 11, 2022 – CREATIVITY WAVES ON FLAGPOLES ABOVE ROCKEFELLER PLAZA & YOU CAN DESIGN ONE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022
The 595th Edition
GREAT NEW PUBLIC ART
IN
SUBWAY STATIONS
AND
FLAGS FLYING IN
ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
YOU CAN DESIGN A FLAG TO FLY IN ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
Photo courtesy of Rockefeller Center
Born in 2020 as a way to celebrate the strength and resiliency of New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Flag Project at Rockefeller Center replaced the flags surrounding the plaza with crowd-sourced art for the first time in the Center’s history. The 193 flagpoles normally fly the flags of the countries recognized by the United Nations. Now, Rockefeller Center is putting out an open call for artists to submit artwork that reflects this year’s theme “Only One Earth.”
The wildly popular first edition of the Flag Project received over a thousand submissions for the 193 spots available. The two past editions featured flags designed by famous artists and designers like Jeff Koons, Marina Abromovich, KAWS, Christian Siriano, Elliott Erwitt, Tyler Mitchell, and Ryan McGinley, though the project is certainly not limited to renowned artists. Indeed, artists from all walks of life are invited to submit their work for consideration via Rockefeller Center’s website.
The Flag Project returned in 2021 and celebrated New York City through photography. It was presented in partnership with the non-profit Aperture Foundation and featured a lightbox exhibition with works by esteemed street photographer Jamel Shabazz in addition to the flags.
This year’s Flag Project will be presented by Tishman Speyer, the developer behind Rockefeller Center, in partnership with the Climate Museum and the United Nations Environment Programme. “Submit an original piece of art that shows us what the environment means to you, how you live sustainably and in harmony with nature, and the daily steps you take towards positive climate action,” the submission page states.
The winning designs will be created as eco-friendly, biodegradable flags that will fly from April 1st until May 6th and on June 5th in honor of World Environment Day. The flags will be a focal point of Rockefeller Center’s free public programming for Earth Day on April 22nd. Submissions are open until February 24th.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with UNEP and the Climate Museum to address the global threat of climate change this year with inspirational art by artists from around the world. The Flag Project has quickly become one of Rockefeller Center’s most beloved events. It’s an opportunity for artists of all ages, near and far, to share their visions for our one earth,” EB Kelly, Managing Director and Head of Rockefeller Center, said in a statement.
This year’s edition of the Flag Project coincides with Stockholm+50, an international environmental meeting that will be held in Stockholm on June 5th to discuss the UN’s Sustainable Development goals, including the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda, and the post-2020 global Biodiversity Framework.
Day Into Night Into Day in the 138 St-Grand Concourse Subway Station Stairwell. Photo by Argenis Apolinario.
Inside the downtown stairwell between the mezzanine entrance and southbound platform at the 138th St-Grand Concourse Subway Station in the Bronx is Amy Pryor’s mosaic artwork Day Into Night Into Day. Presented by MTA Arts & Design, the four-part mosaic depicts the shifting hours of daylight and darkness over four seasons using a spectrum of colors. Its structure is uniquely based around a twenty-four-hour clock and pie charts. Overlapping the seasonal sunrises and sunsets are charts of stars rarely seen from the Bronx at night. The mosaic’s top left square depicts the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, while the top right represents the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. In the lower-left is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and in the lower right is the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall.
As Sandra Bloodworth, Director of MTA Arts & Design stated: “In many ways, Day Into Night Into Day parallels the daily journeys taken by travelers through the station to and from the Mott Haven neighborhood. Amy’s rendering of the rising and setting of the sun highlights the cosmic energy involved in determining the length of our days and nights. The sparkling surfaces of the mosaics bring a contemplative spirit into the station, reminding us that while the evening brings our day to a close, every morning provides us with a fresh start. The artwork captures our imagination and adds a burst of energy and a wave of tranquility to the beginning and conclusion of our travels.”
No Less Than Everything Came Together by Marcel Dzama at the Bedford Avenue Station. Photo by Kris Graves.
| As an additional pop of color, the MTA has unveiled Queens of the Night and No Less Than Everything Comes Together, two permanent mosaic series inside the 1st Avenue and Bedford Avenue L train stations. Created by artist Katherine Bradford, Queens of the Night serves as a tribute to the creatives and essential workers who ride the L train daily. Located in the East Village at the 1st Avenue station, the ethereal figures in Bradford’s work come together to inspire viewers to consider the outward expression of their own interior vivacity. One of the most striking panels from Queens of the Night is “Superhero Responds,” portraying New York’s essential workers in the style of Superman.Situated in Williamsburg at Bedford Avenue, No Less Than Everything Comes Together features theatrical fairy-like figures under the sun and moon. Created by Marcel Dzama, scenes depicted in No Less Than Everything Comes Together are populated with elegant ballet performers, many of whom are adorned with the black-and-white costumes typically worn by NYC Ballet dancers. Scattered throughout the mosaic series are numerous characters representing infamous Brooklynites including Bugsy Siegel and Captain Jonathan Williams — the founder of Williamsburg. |
Every One by Nick Cave at Transit Times Sq 42 St Station. Courtesy of MTA Arts & Design.
Inside the new 42nd Street Connector between Times Square and Grand Central is Every One, the first of a three-piece installation by artist Nick Cave. Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design, the installation was created as part of the 42nd Street Shuttle reconstruction and reconfiguration project, costing the city more than $250 million. The figures were made from recomposed source photos of soundsuits taken by James Prinz, which were then interpreted in glass for display on the subway station’s walls.
Every One’s design features a series of figures wearing colorful soundsuits — costumes that camouflage the shape of the wearer. Taking inspiration from African art traditions, ceremonial dresses, and haute-couture fashion, soundsuits are unique in that through covering the entire body, they conceal the wearer’s gender, race, and class, which eliminates audience judgment throughout the performance. Throughout the installation, the figures can be seen jumping and twirling along the wall, with their suits swaying as if moved by the wind. The other two parts of Cave’s installations, Each One and Equal All, will be installed next year at the new shuttle entrance and on the center island platform wall at Grand Central Terminal respectively.
UPCOMING PROGRAM WITH THE NYPL
THIS COMING TUESDAY
REGISTER TODAY!!!
https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2022/02/15/clone-rihs-lecture-footsteps-nellie-bly
FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
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THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
A soaring Art Deco masterpiece and a National Historic Landmark, Cincinnati Union Terminal is also a museum and cultural center where discoveries await. Following a complete renovation, the building reopened to the public in late 2018.
ANDY SPARBERG, LAURA HUSEY AND M. FRANK GOT IT!
FROM A READER
From Jay Jacobson
But my folks left NYC in the middle 1960s to live in Rome. A few years later (about 1972, i think) my mother returned to New York. She moved into a room in our Mitchell Lama coop on the West Side until she could find a place to live with my dad when he finished up in Rome and came back to NYC. Somehow, my mother was able to rent a one bedroom apartment in the Century. It had the sunken living room, a fake fireplace, and no view at all of Central Park West. The interior garden of building was an unattractive sight of building materials, so looking out the apartment windows offered no views of anything.
When my dad returned, he joined my mother in the Century. She died in 1979, just before our son Dan’s birthday. My dad stayed on as widower, buying the apartment when the condo plan was offered. It was the last home he had, as he died in 2010, shortly after Pat and I brought him to an assisted living facility in Massachusetts to be nearer to us. We celebrated his 100th birthday with family coming from many parts of the United States with a huge dinner from The Great Wall, a local Northampton Chinese restaurant set out in the nursing home main activity room.
When it was clear that my dad would not return to the Century, it became my job to empty his apartment, to have it painted and to arrange for the sale. My dad had delayed selling for as long as he could. He had an idea of the value of the place well beyond reality. He had made friends with many of his neighbors, including one broker, who he trusted to do a good job for him. When I reported the results of the sale, he was disappointed. “How much did the lawyers get for a fee?” he asked. When I told him there was no fee he paid, he was mollified but still grumpy.
About a week later, visiting him in the nursing home, he asked “Who was the lawyer?” When I told him I handled the transaction, he looked at me and said, “Thanks”.
Sent recently from an iPhone transmitting near my home planet
JJJ
Text by Judith Berdy
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