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February 20, 2005
not the gates
I was lucky enough to catch The Gates in Central Park this weekend. I hadn't been that excited by them beforehand (I guess the media saturation had burnt me out).
On arrival, however, I was impressed. It's mass intervention in public space, something I'm generally in favour of. Very quickly, though, it turned to monotony. Speaking to Daniel Rozin earlier, he said it would have been better if they deviated from the paths, creating new ways of navigating the park - and I agree. It completely formalised the concrete, and most people happily obeyed and stuck to the paths (with the added gutpunch that most of the large green areas are shut off in winter to allow regrowth).
The saffron became ubiquitous and cloying. I didn't suffer gates-induced panic attacks, but it made me want to rebel, and so I tried to take photos of the few views you can currently have without the intervention of the gates. Little moments of normality during this unnatural period. It was suprisingly hard, having to crouch to obscure the orange, or line up the gates with trees.
view the entire 'not the gates' series
Someone asked me what I thought today, and my answer, after a short pause, was "It'sok." Certainly not $21 million ok - I wonder if this is some tax writeoff.
I also managed to catch Wolfgang Volz's beautiful photography exhibition (showing with the wonderful East Village USA, at the temporary home of the New Museum in New York). Half of the exhibition is his documentation of previous Christo projects, which all seem lovely in archive, but inhuman in presence. What was it like to work in the Reichstag when it was wrapped?
(of course, I'm not idealistic enough to not not take pictures of The Gates)
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