higher learning
I've written before about the High Line, the elevated train track that's being redeveloped as a unique park space in West Chelsea. Yesterday the BF and I got a closer look at the structure itself, along with a fascinating art installation inspired by the project.
We signed up for the 11 a.m. tour of Creative Time's exhibit, "The Plain of Heaven," which includes site-specific works from 14 artists responding to the forthcoming refurbishment of the High Line. The train track ends abruptly in the Meatpacking District, since its southern terminus was cut off in 1991. Creative Time's exhibition takes over an abandoned meatpacking (go figure) warehouse on Gansevoort Street, which is scheduled to be demolished to make way for the High Line's new entrance, as well as a (possible) new contemporary arts space from the Dia Foundation.
Now, I don't know if you've ever been inside an actual meatpacking warehouse, functional or otherwise, but I'm here to describe the experience with one word: Creeeepy.
The BF referred to the space as "better than a haunted house" — his half-hearted "I told you so" meant to make up for refusing to take me to Shakespeare's Haunted Pier the weekend of Halloween.
But I digress.
The mixture of high-concept art with this raw, dusty slaughterhouse — sparsely lit, with actual meat hooks hanging from the ceiling — worked together better than it probably sounds in the retelling. The artwork varied from painting and video installations to an ongoing live "dance" performance. Best of all, the tour terminated in a viewing platform that overlooks the High Line itself, which our guide called "an urban prairie."
I see her point. The rusted "plain" may look decrepit from below, but it's teeming with plant life on top: Whole shrubs and twisted thorn bushes push out of the metal rails and scattered collection of junk. Of course, all this will change once construction begins next year.
Leaving the warehouse, we were hit by a strong smell of fish carried by the breeze outside. It's not uncommon, as you walk the cobblestone streets of the Meatpacking District, to encounter such pungent aromas — a reminder that the tony boutiques and shops selling $4,000 couches have only recently arrived in this industrial enclave. The "neighborhood's" very essence, its grit, explains its appeal. Can that authenticity remain if and when the High Line gets revived? I wonder if a re-Packaged District will still have the same charm.
Anyway, "The Plain of Heaven" runs through Nov. 20. If you're in NYC between now and then, catch it while you can.
We signed up for the 11 a.m. tour of Creative Time's exhibit, "The Plain of Heaven," which includes site-specific works from 14 artists responding to the forthcoming refurbishment of the High Line. The train track ends abruptly in the Meatpacking District, since its southern terminus was cut off in 1991. Creative Time's exhibition takes over an abandoned meatpacking (go figure) warehouse on Gansevoort Street, which is scheduled to be demolished to make way for the High Line's new entrance, as well as a (possible) new contemporary arts space from the Dia Foundation. Now, I don't know if you've ever been inside an actual meatpacking warehouse, functional or otherwise, but I'm here to describe the experience with one word: Creeeepy. The BF referred to the space as "better than a haunted house" — his half-hearted "I told you so" meant to make up for refusing to take me to Shakespeare's Haunted Pier the weekend of Halloween.
But I digress.
The mixture of high-concept art with this raw, dusty slaughterhouse — sparsely lit, with actual meat hooks hanging from the ceiling — worked together better than it probably sounds in the retelling. The artwork varied from painting and video installations to an ongoing live "dance" performance. Best of all, the tour terminated in a viewing platform that overlooks the High Line itself, which our guide called "an urban prairie."I see her point. The rusted "plain" may look decrepit from below, but it's teeming with plant life on top: Whole shrubs and twisted thorn bushes push out of the metal rails and scattered collection of junk. Of course, all this will change once construction begins next year.
Leaving the warehouse, we were hit by a strong smell of fish carried by the breeze outside. It's not uncommon, as you walk the cobblestone streets of the Meatpacking District, to encounter such pungent aromas — a reminder that the tony boutiques and shops selling $4,000 couches have only recently arrived in this industrial enclave. The "neighborhood's" very essence, its grit, explains its appeal. Can that authenticity remain if and when the High Line gets revived? I wonder if a re-Packaged District will still have the same charm.
Anyway, "The Plain of Heaven" runs through Nov. 20. If you're in NYC between now and then, catch it while you can.
2 Comments:
you are so lucky. my backyard looks and smells the same way but in my case, it just means i haven't mowed the lawn since august or curbed the garbage since the middle of october. sigh, i wish i lived in nyc.
that dia space WILL most certainly happen. I have more faith in that than the re-packagin of the high line in fact.
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