June 26, 2008
The Waterfalls are Here!
Brooklyn Bridge Waterfall from jakedobkin on Vimeo.
Olafur Eliasson's hyper-anticipated Waterfalls began flowing this morning at 7am, under a dreary, overcast sky. They'll be from 7am to 10pm every day until October 13th, except on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when they'll be turned on at 9am. For a list of good viewing spots, click here.
We'll be reporting live on the falls throughout the day. In the early afternoon, we'll have photos from the first press boat tour, and at night, we'll add pictures of the waterfalls all lit up with pretty lights. Stay tuned-- and send your pictures and videos to tips (at) gothamist (dot) com.
Related: Brownstoner was also out early this morning and got some pictures of the Waterfalls and the new pop-up park next to Fulton Landing-- another nice place to see the Falls.
Here's another video-- this one of the Pier 35 Waterfall, from Gothamist reader gmannn:
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I can barely control myself... can't wait to get off work so I can rush to see this exhibit for myself, which pushes the boundaries of nature as art. Superimposing the natural beauty of a waterfall on an urban environment speaks to me in organic way which leaves me breathless in a level of anticipation not experienced since the shakeshack opened.
I hope I can make my way through the crowds of tourists and citydwellers... but in case I can't, more pictures and videos please! Looking forward to updates on gothamist in the weeks to come.
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How foolish is this?!
It's not even good 'ART' !!
It's look like a construction site that's in need of a good union plumber!!
This is truly an absolutely foolish waste of time and money used to contruct something this is stupidly ugly!
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Nice one, eyekantspel. I was watching the Today Show, and the shots of the waterfalls from the distance looked a little underwhelming, but I think close-up it could be very fun. And I like the engineering of it very much.
The discussion about whether it's worthy or not of people's time is healthy and part of the purpose of public art. It starts a dialogue and makes you ask all sorts of questions.
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I don't know. Does anyone else find this...underwhelming?
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@ JCB -- I definitely felt a little underwhelmed this morning. Maybe it was seeing them from the Brooklyn side-- you can definitely see all four falls, but for the two in Brooklyn, you're seeing them at sort of a weird angle, from behind. And against the cloudy sky, the whole thing just didn't pop out for me.
But let's not be too judgemental yet-- I'm going to try to check the falls out from the Manhattan side after dark-- from the looks of it, that's the best angle, and I think they'll look nice when the get lit up.
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What happened to the gates? This is a snoozer that will certainly be lauded for some time because it is art by virtue of checkbook.
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I wish they were water SLIDES and not just water falls.
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Yeah!!!! I'll have to go tonight!
I saw his work at the show at MoMA and at PS1 and it was great... most of it...
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I heard an interview with the artist on NPR this morning and he had an interesting explanation of the structure. He said that he used scaffolding because he wanted to structure the pieces with a material that's familiar to people, and not try to fool anyone by trying to make the falls look "magical". When I first saw the structures without the waterfalls running, I was a little dubious about the juxtaposition, but with his explanation I think it makes sense and is an interesting combination of nature and man-made.
I live near the waterfront in Bklyn so I'm looking forward to seeing the falls up close.
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eliasson should try this boring stunt next to niagara falls. at least then it would get some laughs.
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I though it was going to fall from the bridge - so I assumed it was a test when I saw one of the installations when I was riding over the bridge this morning. What a disappointment! Really underwhelming.
Here is what I saw...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENbDLMRywLI
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HOW ARE THESE POWERED?
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15 million dollars . . .
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Good thing there'll be live reporting throughout the day. I don't want to miss anything.
10:05a - G'mist here. . . it appears that water continues to fall from the scaffolding setup under the Brooklyn Bridge. Now back to you, Jen.
11a - Breaking news! Water continues to fall from this construction site masterpiece. I'm told it was built using galvanized fence pipe and a big water pump from Home Depot. Back to you, Jake.
3:02p - From Brooklyn, here's Jen Carlson with the latest: "Thanks Jake. Well, as you can see it's been a long day of water falling here under the bridge. Excitement is high as life becomes duller and duller here in NYC. We really need something like this to spice up our existence."
4:15p - It has been reported by a civilian on the scene that the waterfall was constructed in the dead of night using ordinary construction supplies. Now THAT IS ART!
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I told you they would be lame! It's like a shitty shitty faucet. They should return this and get one of those oxygenics showerheads from kohls.
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I am unimpressed.
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I like these. But everyone is entitled to their opinion. After all, why soar high like an eagle when you can just be a pigeon and shit all over everything?
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...but how much bisphenol-a is in the MIST?
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No one said you can't like them, and I'm sure they'll be better when they're lit up... but at least the telectroscope had some charm.
And scaffolding because it is a material familiar to people that wouldn't make it 'magical.' Please.
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i think they look pretty cool. what worries me is that i live near one of them and when you walk by there is like a giant cloud of east river mist...which probably isn't healthy.
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Apparently it's causing nasty traffic backups on the BQE/Gowanus combo.
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I'm looking forward to see them on my bike rides down the east side. I've been seeing them turned off for so long I really have been waiting for today.
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I'm really glad these are here in NYC and not in Cleveland, Detroit, Lexington or some other city. If this art was somewhere in the midwest or the south, there is no way those people could appreciate the beauty and spirit the ways that New Yorkers can.
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“mmHello?”
“Yes, is Olafur Eliasson available?”
“Whom may I say is calling?”
“It's anticlimactic.”
“One moment please.”
“Olafurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... phone!”
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I definitely felt a little underwhelmed this morning.
I have to say, I was surprised that even Jake
admitted to feeling underwhelmed.
you can definitely see all four falls, but for the two in Brooklyn, you're seeing them at sort of a weird angle, from behind.
Seems odd to me that they couldn't create it so that water is flowing from all sides of the scaffolding. I suppose doing from one side only is okay for the one under the bridge, but for the ones where the scaffolding is visible, it is distracting, and really undermines the visual impact of the whole thing.
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One a positive environmental note, it is adding to the dissolved oxygen content of the East River. Aerating the water is good for the fish.
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this is a bit underwhelming, but at least it doesn't detract from the city and the vibe. it's not even remotely as interesting as the gates, but at least someone is choosing to try. within a week everyone will take it for granted, and it will be a part of the city's palette.
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Maybe it would be better up close, but seeing it from the N train this morning...not that impressive.
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Okay, maybe the front views are cool, but the back and side views look kinda lame...too bad you basically need to be on a boat to really see any of them the right way.
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... um... and...?
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It totally looks like a pipe broke at the top of a construction site. I think this is piss poor.
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this looks like a ride at six flags or a stage at sea world...really a waste of money
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This is proof that the ingenuity of man dwarves the marvel of Nature. I'll never look at my showerhead the same way again.
Behold, man's greatest piss-inducing machine.
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Unimaginative up close and from a distance. Considering the thought, energy, time and money that went into the project, you would think it would knock people on their ass, not make them yawn.
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This art piece is not beautiful/charming, and as such, isn't art.
If only they used public money instead of corporate money, because then more people could complain about 'wasting' money.
Oh wait, it wasn't your money to begin with...
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meh.
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Lamest idea ever. At least cover up the metal to blend it into the landscape. This is the worst exhibit since the Gates in Central Park.
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:|
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Yeah, it's not a surprise here that pipes and scaffolding cannot adequately mimic what takes nature millions of gallons of water to produce in most cases.
I guess we should just stick to what we know - destroying nature.
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Underwhelming or overhyped?
I'm going with the latter.
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Can't it be both?
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Is it over yet?
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Speaking from San Francisco this is a little weak. Of course, I'm not going to be able to see it up close and in person, but from clips and pictures I really don't see how it's much different than almost any other civic fountain. The use of scaffolding does take away any magical aspects. It makes it look, well, not particularly designed. It makes it look more like the idea was just to get a waterfall going as quickly, cheaply, and easily as possible. This reveals, to me at least, that water falling on it's own isn't particularly interesting. It's all about the context that it's occurring in and the surrounding area. This makes the scaffolding more of a detriment and the surrounding area is... well, under a bridge? What looks like a light industrial area? Not too spectacular to be honest.