NYC Waterfalls Get Unceremoniously Disassembled

Photo courtesy readers Stewart and Stina.

A reader sent in this photo of the imminent dismantling of artist Olafur Eliasson's Lower East Side waterfall at Pier 35. Within weeks, the scaffolding at all four locations will be but a distant memory, and in spring the leaves will (hopefully!) return to the trees without that salty East River mist to turn them freakishly brown for the sake of conceptual art.

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By John Del Signore in Arts and Events on October 21, 2008 11:51 AM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

Big Big Ups to #6 who has it perfectly!

HUGO_MEGO

This is just the type of shitty 'art' that Bloomberg loves to foist on to the people of NYC.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Thanks Bloomberg, another term of this crap?

ur doing it rong

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. Yeah! Take that waterfalls!

whitecastlerock

NYC has some pretty amazing art— in museums. These waterfalls, the fucking gates in Central Park-who really gives a shit?

Wza

Eyesore during the day. Cool at night.

Didn't really care for it anyway.

*shrug*

r1b2

The leaves will come back next year. These looked great, they were exciting for residents and tourists (the latter of which brought with them a good deal of money to spend in a city in need of tourist dollars/ euros/ etc.) Lighten up.

sowhtifithppnsitwll

boo -who? bloomberg ultimately. i blame him for a lot of things.

WorksInDUMBO

Sheesh. Ya haters!

Goodbye, Waterfalls! I will miss you!

Asphyxia8

I just wonder why people act like this guy *meant* to damage plant life. Clearly it was an unfortunate and unforeseen consequence.

Even if this were true, they should have been shut off and/or dismantled as soon as the damage became evident. It's not rocket science. Or even elementary botany.

A-8

peanuthead

;P

i mean a drop in the bucket!

peanuthead

ah, the lack of oversight, especially environmental oversight, is pretty much the norm for just about any public project in this city particularly if it involvea big mega bux!

among the worst offenders is the department of parks and their concessions shenanigans. just look at the whole randall's island water park mess. thank god for those awesome south bronx and harlem activists who helped defeat it! and then there is the playing fields thing - private favored access through money and toxic surfaces.

the water falls is just a hole in the bucket (a really big one!).

Spirit of 76

I just wonder why people act like this guy *meant* to damage plant life. Clearly it was an unfortunate and unforeseen consequence.

Not at all unforeseen. Lots of people suspected that the mist from the falls would be damaging to the health of anything close by -- including humans, plants and structures. What else can you expect by making East River water airborne? It's not the kind of stuff you want to breathe.

What is clear is that neither the "artist" nor the Public Art Fund exercised due diligence. The next time the Fund proposes any large project, there will almost certainly be a lawsuit demanding an environmental impact statement first.

moonyap

The waterfalls were a huge, expensive meh.

Kinda neat at night, huge eyesore during the day. 13 million was it? and the city doesnt even get any lasting public sculpture or anytthing? Just an occasional: "See those young trees? a huge waste of money killed the old ones."

money well spent.

JacqueMehoff

now they can go back into the mayor's pocket until favors are needed.

greenpoint_grouch

While I am neutral about the waterfalls, though they did look rather cool in person, I just wonder why people act like this guy *meant* to damage plant life. Clearly it was an unfortunate and unforeseen consequence.