Drawn by an over-900 people attending Facebook events page and a plug on GAYLETTER two months ago, I wandered into the opening of :) by FriendsWithYou at The Hole and left feeling a mixture of what Dr. Hunter S. Thompson described as “fear and loathing.” Now, a few days before the exhibition’s closing, I revisited :) to see if my opinion of the art would change without the unseasonable near 100 degree heat, crowded gallery and drunkenness. It didn’t.
The High Line Section 2 is New York City’s latest stab at utopia, so it only makes sense that people love it. But maybe they love it a little too much? Gothamist publishes a photo essay of couples canoodling on the High Line lawn, and all of a sudden, the lawn gets closed for cleaning. Cleaning of what, exactly?
Minutes before the much-admired postmodern choreographer Trisha Brown was to stage her early 1973 “Roof Piece” on Thursday, June 9, the High Line’s urban park rangers and the stage managers of Trisha Brown’s Dance Company began to panic. An upstaging performance by a potentially show-stopping tornado struck fear upon headsets and walkie-talkies alike. Would the show go on?
At the end of the newly opened Section 2 of the High Line is a psychedelic amusement park filled with inflatable creatures, googly-eyed, cartoony and basically irresistible. This playground, designed by artist collective Friends With You, was host to Aol’s party celebrating the High Line opening last Wednesday.
Section 2 of the High Line, an elevated railway running down Manhattan’s Tenth Avenue renovated by architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro that has quickly become an urban design icon, opens to the public today. But visitors to the park yesterday were greeted with a soft-opening preview, complete with popsicle vendors, public art projects and plenty of opportunities to lounge in the grass. The new section may not cause as much stir as the launch of the first, but the 10-block stretch from 20th to 30th street is full of subtle surprises, from flyover walkways to hidden forests.
This week’s Required Reading features mashed-up video games, a lost e.e. cummings poem, an indie arcade review and a museum just for you.
I’m not sure exactly when I became aware of the High Line, but once you noticed it, it was hard to forget. There were giant graffiti pieces visible from street level and in the spring and summer you could see a ragged blaze of green sprouting from the otherwise lifeless tracks. I remember walking along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues — peering up at the hulking structure and wondering how I could get up there.
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