Once Were Waterfalls
Linus Gelber
Today is the last day for Olafur Eliasson's public art installation, The Waterfalls, which cascaded and poured and roared and raged and blew all summer long at four shore locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Governor's Island. Some time toward the end of the day the water will be turned off for good, and then I imagine the structures will be removed before winter.
It's fair to say that The Waterfalls did not capture the hearts and minds of the New York public.
Ultimately I kind of liked them - they weren't moving or outrageous or brilliant, but the idea was pretty cool, and I liked watching the water blow this way and that way in different weather. They were dwarfed by the broad scatter of our neglected waterfront, and they never really had the impact I think we all wanted them to have. Still, it was kind of fun.
The hater critics are the most outspoken group, as usual, so in the short term I expect The Waterfalls will be reviled in memory. Over the course of time I imagine we'll come to feel a bit fond of them in retrospect.
The money for these hundred-foot structures and their pumps and mechanics is, of course, private money. No public funds were used for this project. Sarah Palin, now, there's a waste of our taxpayer money - but I digress.
This one stands below the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, on land that will soon become the extended Brooklyn Bridge Park - if the city still has money for parks in the lean times ahead. In stiff wind, the water would blow straight back through the scaffolding and up against the Promenade, or to the right along the shore of the river. I don't think that was meant to happen, but it was interesting to see.
All the world loves bigger water.
View Project:
