Page 4 of 6
Brooklyn, New York
Stuck taking landscapes, stuck making still lifes, stuck making sculptures
We’re staying local for this page of the 2014 Weekend Trips Slideshow, with our own triborough tour of New York, starting in Brooklyn. Specifically we’re on the waterfront in DUMBO in Brooklyn, where on the left you can see the Brooklyn Bridge and on the right you can see the Manhattan Bridge. And also on the left, for a limited time, you can see some public art- this is Kolonihavehus by Tom Fruin.
We’re still in Brooklyn and still on the waterfront, but now we’ve moved ENE up past the Williamsburg Bridge to the abandoned Dominos Factory. The factory is closed and slated for demolition, but before that happens, it opened its doors to the public for an immense art installation of Kara Walker’s sugar sphinx, officially titled A Subtlety.
The sugar sphinx was at Dominos for a limited time, about two months only, with limited weekend hours and gigantic lines to get in. I waited until about two weeks before it closed to visit (my schedule isn’t always as easy as you’d think it should be), and by then the smell in that unconditioned space was noticeable. That and the rats, although if you are patient enough and your subway is late, you can usually spot a rat anytime you want walking around the platform.
As for the artwork, it was pretty unforgettable. It’s a shame it is only temporary.
Open House New York is keeping us in Brooklyn one more time with a tour of Green-Wood Cemetery, where Dewitt Clinton, Boss Tweed and Leonard Bernstein are all buried. The tour was fascinating and it included a reception in an underground, candle lit catacomb which was just as creepy as it sounds. Also after the tour they strongly advised taking the free shuttle bus back to the entrance since the cemetery is so confusing that it’s very easy to get lost. Of course I decided to walk back anyway and, even with the help of my phone’s GPS maps, I of course got lost at times. But it was a good lost, allowing me to see even more of one of the more interesting places in Brooklyn.
We are now in Queens and, to be more specific, the Queens Museum, where a new renovation by Grimshaw is open. The renovation and museum is nice, but the real reason anyone (or, to be more specific) goes to the Queens Museum is to see the monstrously large panorama model of the City of New York, a holdover from the Worlds Fair and a pretty magical experience still after all these years.
Our triborough tour takes us to Governors Island, which technically counts as part of Manhattan. Every summer I try and visit Governors Island to check out how much of the park is finished (every year the answer is a little more) and to see the fun summer art installations like this one- a miniature golf course with this hole representing a tiny little George Washington Bridge being attacked by a Chris Christie monster with a traffic cone, just like in real life.
The artwork on Governors Island is more than just a Chris Christie monster attaching a miniature bridge at a miniature golf hole. It is also home to an annual summer “City of Dreams” pavilion, and this year’s pavilion was a good one. Governors Cup by CDR Studio was tucked in behind the trees and made of nothing but clear plastic drinking cups when, put together just right, were actually kind of magical.
