Friday is the official opening of the latest outdoor, large-scale art project in NYC, something called “Event Horizon” by the artist Antony Gormley who has placed statues of 31 naked men on the precipices of buildings in and around Madison Square Park.
The idea of the project, Gormley says, is to get New Yorkers to look up at the men/statues, wonder what’s going on and, in so doing, think of their environment in a completely different way. In effect, to pay attention to what’s going on.
When I first heard of this project, I thought it was the last thing New Yorkers needed, given that those statues are an eerie reminder of the dozens of people who jumped to escape the horror of the World Trade Center towers. But now that I’ve thought about this for more than a moment, I think Gormley is onto something because New Yorkers make a very conscious effort to remove themselves from their environments every single day.
Maybe that’s necessary. Certainly on the subways, which at times can be uncomfortably intense, it’s better to seal yourself off with headphones and a good book. But what about when we’re just walking around the city streets. Take a look now that the weather is getting warmer at how many people walk along chattering into their cell phones while completely ignoring their surroundings. I don’t think that’s healthy — when do people give themselves a chance to think anymore, or to notice what’s going on around them?
Gormley probably would have loved what happened on my subway ride today. A cute little girl loudly said “hi” the moment anyone came within ten feet of her. People began to smile, and say hello back, and chat with the mother. I felt better watching the interaction, and I’m sure others did too. That little girl changed the way we saw and felt about our environment just by saying “hi.”
Sometimes we need to be shaken up and removed from the box we place ourselves in day in, day out.
These statues relaly upset me. And I know they upset a lot of people. As someone who’s passion is art, I recognize that art doesn’t need to be comfortable or beautiful; it shuld be thought-provoking.
But looking up at Union Square today I was shocked and more terrified than I can recall being in a LONG time to feel that I was about to witness a suicide–and that no one had noticed but I.
The panic I felt in those moments before I determined it wasn’t real have left me extremely unsettled. All throughout the day people looked up and screamed, “Oh, God! Oh, SHIT!” What if a large group of people all happened to notice the statue at once? It could have caused potentially dangerous mass panic. I’m sure the authorities have gotten hundreds of frightened calls about the statues, and young children would probably be extremely upset.
For the duration of the time I spent in Union Square, I felt that some deep, dark thing were watching me from that tower.
My point is this: Did it make me think? Yes. Did it make me feel? Yes.
But is an extremely realistic, life-size portrayal of a man on the brink what everday New Yorkers need? If they weren’t life size. If it weren’t over a crowded area and couldn’t cause perceived danger to the people below. If suicide strikes a deep chord with so many people, I don’t think the city is ready for art quite like this, and I was upset that it was allowed to be placed there.
And wouldn’t the autorities feel concerned that if people expect to see men posed to leap they won’t react when it’s the real deal?
The potential for mass panic is truly huge.
I feel lke a hypocrite–here I am, an artist, someone to whom expression and freedom of such is key.
However, the way someone views art is personal and through choice–the public shouldn’t be forced to have the same plummeting feeling of horror that I did upon seeing this.
What I saw was a man about to throw his life away.
What I realized is that it I shouldn’t have.