Ferry Culture

5 WATERFRONT ARTWORKS TO SEE BEFORE THE END OF SUMMER ‘16

One smokes. One rotates. One’s a tongue-twister

By COURTNEY MIFSUD

For our money, the best outdoor art gallery in the City is the East River itself. Think of Robert Smithson’s posthumous Floating Island (2005), Olafur Eliasson’s The New York Waterfalls (2008) and Duke Riley’s Fly by Night this past spring. (Yes, he really did release two thousand LED-clad pigeons released from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.) We love making a leisurely afternoon of it, catching a ferry, bringing a picnic, and soaking up the scene. See these 2016 installations while the weather is still cooperating.

UNDERSTANDING by Martin Creed

This rotating neon text installation is playful, poetic and an impressive ten-feet-tall. It also sits on a 50-foot long rotating beam and spins in patterns via a computer program. Artist Creed designed that, too. (On view until October 23)

Understanding
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Pier 6
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Ferry Stop: Brooklyn Bridge Park/DUMBO

Understanding

OY/YO by Deborah Kass

Surely there’s no other palindrome that better captures the voices of New York than Kass’s sculpture, OY/YO, which reads “OY” if you’re looking at it from Manhattan and “YO” if you’re looking from Brooklyn. (On view through September)

OY/YO
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Ferry Stop: Brooklyn Bridge Park/DUMBO

OY/YO

MERIDIAN (GOLD) by Mika Tajima

You’ve heard of mood rings, but what about an art installation that changes color depending on the price of a precious metal? Tajima’s well-like structure blows continuous plumes of illuminated water vapor that change color as gold prices fluctuate. (On view through September 25).

Meridian (Gold)
Hunters Point South Park
Long Island City, NY 11101
Ferry Stop: Hunters Point South/ Long Island City

Meridian (Gold)

CABIN by Rachel Whitehead

Nestled in Governor’s Island just opened 10-acre park, The Hills, Cabin is a permanent concrete reverse cast, like the reverse cast of a condemned Victorian house, that won Whiteread Britain’s prestigious Turner Prize in 1993. (Permanent installation).

Cabin
Governors Island
New York, NY 11231
Ferry Terminal: Governors Island

Cabin

ROCKAWAY! by Katharina Gross

Honorable Mention (A little off the beaten path for ferry riders, but worth the trip.) Gross, a German spray paint artist, turns an abandoned aquatics building into a colorful and electric reverse painting. (On view until November 30.)

Rockaway!
Fort Tilden
169 State Rd
Breezy Point, NY 11697
Ferry Terminal: Riis Landing (Accessible from Wall Street/Pier 11)