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Photo courtesy Seg Fault.
Artist Olafur Eliasson's ambitious and controversial waterfall installation ends today after a 15-week run, leaving sick trees, irritated residents, and a collective 'meh,' in its wake. Last week tests conducted by Cornell University concluded that the soil at the River Café, just downwind from the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall, had salt levels almost 10 times higher than normal. “Those levels are amazingly high, and if that level of salt was in the soil for a long period of time, the plants wouldn’t survive,” soil expert John Ameroso tells Brooklyn Paper.
The test confirmed the suspicions of River Café manager Scott Stamford, who had been complaining for months that the wind was blowing salty East River water onto the trees at his restaurant, turning them prematurely brown. In response to criticism, the waterfalls’ operating hours were cut in half in September, to 49.5 hours per week from 101 hours per week, and workers hosed down the damaged trees with fresh water every day. But Judy Stanton of the Brooklyn Heights Association tells the Times that on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, everything "except for a few of the evergreen holly bushes, everything within the range of the waterfall turned brown and lost leaves."
Still, officials insist the exhibit was ultimately a success. Mayor Bloomberg had predicted that the waterfalls would generate some $55 million in economic activity, and the city’s Economic Development Corporation is preparing a report that will include an estimate on the revenue generated. (Bloomberg's spokesman Jason Post cited sold-out boat tours as an example of the waterfalls' popularity.) River Café valet Ben Corman seems to sum up the mixed reaction to the waterfalls, telling the Times that "if he did not work so close to one, and go home smelling like the East River, he would probably like them."
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hah! nice headline. good riddance nature killers!
i think as an artistic statement it shows how out of touch art and aritsts can be with their surroundings.
Maybe people will learn something from this.
Thank goodness.
As an aside, I think former parks commisioner Henry Stern either coined or popularized the term arboricide.
You smell East River, I smell lawsuit. Class action, anyone?
Does anyone have any idea what the salt levels in soil are in the winter from all the salt that gets spread on the streets for snow?
I can't imagine the salt from the waterfalls is anywhere near that level and the trees seem to survive every winter okay.
How were the waterfalls considered art? They were hideous eyesores!
I used to see them every day and all you see is the monstrous latticework of scaffolding, which completely engulfs any waterfall effect.
What a waste of money.
Are you an artist,Matty? Are you speaking from experience?
Because I am a professional artist, that is how I make my living, and although this public installation was a failure in a number of ways I don't believe that all of New York City's Public art is "out of touch".
In fact I met an artist that did a MTA mural (Times Square) and she spent an entire year of her life creating that mural and was paid next to nothing for it. It was an act of love for her city and she was honored to do it.
The waterfalls were by an artist who is not a resident of NYC; so yes, out of touch. Artists who create work for the public basically do it for free because there is already too little funding for public art. I have served on these committees in other cities- I know this to be true. I agree that there is a lot of art that is not made accessable to the public- but there a lot of artists working very hard to change that and your ignorant attitude is the kind of thing that keeps good work from ever being seen.
The difference is the seasons. In winter, tree roots are basically dormant. Early spring rainfall can help flush salt away before the tree begins its growth phase again. Here, you had salt spray not only on the soil but coating the leaves during the most active growth season for the trees, dehydrating them severely. It's a double whammy. Hopefully next time, the Public Art Fund will consult with some actual scientists before blowing millions of dollars on some big, useless project.
I don't even understand these complaints. the ONLY trees in that area are from the river cafe. and they are just this tiny area. Everything else is just docks, gravel, and places where the mob disposes of bodies. this is blown totally out of proportion.
YAY!!!!!!!
Yay!!! The gothamist art critics speak again!!! Honestly, you guys should cut down on the art postings because it shows what blowhards matty and patleeman can be.
stick to black/latino men and crime posts, of the dailynews/post variety. their analysis fits nicely there.
most of you people are complaining because you love to complain & the irritated residents are just a bunch of nimby's.
i'd like to know how much $ that river cafe guy has donated to save the rainforests or plant trees here in nyc? hypocrite.
i saw absinthe last week & while i was waiting to go in, the lit up waterfalls were beautiful to look at it. they seemed to be moving in slow motion. i also overheard tourists who had made a trip downtown just to check them out.
"i'd like to know how much $ that river cafe guy has donated to save the rainforests or plant trees here in nyc? hypocrite."
How does this have any relation? Why does the guy have to donate money in order to have a credible voice on the damage done by this installation?
This so-called waterfall is a leaky overhead pipe compared to the real thing. Nature is the real genius when it comes to waterfalls.
#13- what damage to his installation? sure a couple of trees got more yellow, but i'm sure the river cafe had a whole lot more business from the waterfalls. go to that area. the river cafe has like 30 trees and that's it. there are no other trees in that area. this is a non-story
It wasn't art, it was an urban novelty, like that dippy ferris wheel in London, no more and no less. And its environmental impacts were never fully explored which means that the next douchebag who shows up with a big idea is going to get fully vetted, and probably turned down. Fuck 'em. Any attempt at "Environmental Art" is tired and overblown. 1974 is fucking over.
bh - Even if no damage was done, my question stands. Why does the guy have to donate money to have a credible voice in the eyes of zodak?
I don't, or didn't, have a position on the installation and its effects. I'm just wondering what zodak's thought process is.
my thought process is that this guy doesn't care about trees or the environment, he's just trying to get publicity for his cafe & is using the waterfalls to do it.
EPIC FAIL