Mini-Park Meet Mini-Gate

"Floating Island," Robert Smithson's Central Park on the water, had a special visitor on Thursday when a would-be Christo pursued the moving art installation on a motorboat topped with a saffron gate. Don't worry though, the apparently very serious motor-boaters never made it on to the island.

In the meantime, the 130-ton "Floating Island" makes its last rounds today and tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.. A PDF of general times for where and when to see it can be found here. Have you seen the Island? What did you think of it?

Photograph by Ian Adelman from the NYTimes

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By Garth Johnston in Arts & Entertainment on September 24, 2005 10:06 AM

Comments [rss]

zincink

What a cute idea! I would love to see it..it would be even more fun if they have mini people on the mini island..

windexblue

Several people were out at Grand Ferry Park in Williamsburg waiting for hours for the thing to come by. I know a bunch of people who also tried, without success, to see it last week. The directions on the Whitney website don't seem to be accurate predictors, and the time frames are pretty broad for some days. If anyone's got a better, more reliable schedule for the thing, it would be a public service to post it.

sp

LOL, thats the funniest thing ever. Great art, huzah!

rl

wow, i had no idea it was supposed to be an art exhibit. i saw it while eating lunch yesterday by the water in dumbo, and i thought it was just some nursery shipping trees around very, very slowly. silly me.

utw

It made me feel like it was I on a large boat, floating past a little island.

CitySpecific

The experience of seeing it was not as cool as when the Gates opened, but it was fun nonetheless. I watched it meander its way around Pier 45 earlier this week. From what I read, Smithson was going for more of a cerebral effect than a visceral one.