Last May a bunch of Brooklyn College MFA graduates exhibited their work at the War Memorial, only to have it banned by the Brooklyn Parks Department. In the process of hauling off the artwork the Parks Department deemed inappropriate, college officials managed to damange some of it. Two Trees Management (who is moving Galapagos to Dumbo) saved the day and exhibited their show at 70 Washington Street. Meanwhile, the students sued the Parks Department, the city and Brooklyn College. more ›

Almost two years ago, the cornerstone at Ground Zero was placed at the World Trade Center site. But now it's been moved to Hauppague, NY! The NY Times reports that the largely symbolic slab of granite was moved in order to accomodate the new designs for the space, as there's been a new Freedom Tower design in the meantime. Developer Silverstein Properties said the cornerstone "needs to be repositioned to make sense in the new building." But don't fear: It will be on display at Innovative Stone where it was made - you need to make an appointment though. Well, at least people will be able to see it (we're trying to find the silver lining, because it's too easy to complain about anything to do with the WTC rebuilding process). more ›

After its eviction from a city park, the Brooklyn College MFA graduates will get to another chance to exhibit their work, this time at 70 Washington Street, thanks to Two Trees Management which manages 70 Washington Street and 110 Livingston Street. The Brooklyn Parks Department freaked out when seeing art from "Plan B" at the War Memorial and unceremoniously hauled the works away (causing some damage as well). The show will reopen on Wednesday, and you can find out more about at Plan B Prevails. more ›

With the proposed chill coming this weekend, we thought it would be a good to remind everyone that the city's ice skating rinks will be closing on April 2. Yes, the Pond in Bryant Park has been closed since January and Prospect Park's rink closed last weekend, but there's still the Abe Stark Rink at Coney Island, World’s Fair Ice Skating Rink in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the Staten Island War Memorial Ice Skating Rink in Clove Lakes Park, and Lasker Rink and Wollman Rink in Central Park. And speaking of toe picks, has anyone seen The Cutting Edge 2 on ABC Family yet? more ›

Recently, there's been a bit of opposition ot the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's World Trade Center Memorial design, which was selected over two years ago, with the main complaints being that the memorial was partly subterranean. Now the LMDC has issued a letter to the complaining families saying that memorial will be built as planned, as construction will begin next month.. The Post received a letter, which has LMDC president Stefan Pryor explaining that when letters about the memorial design were sent to 5,000 family members in 2004, only 400 forms were returned and only one mentioned the "below grade" location. (We wonder if the families would, in turn, say that the forms were not very clear.) Pryor's letter also included the thought, "While we understand that, as is inevitable in a process of this complexity, some of you may still disagree with choices that have been made, those choices were made in good faith." Gothamist still doesn't know how to feel about the WTC Memorial design - it has changed significantly, in order to meet other development issues, since it's initial presentation. The unfortunate thing is that usually people only know how they feel about physical spaces until they are built - we're thinking about the opposition to the Vietnam War Memorial during the pre-construction period. more ›

While the purpose of the Times article about selected WTC memorial Reflecting Absence is to explain how landscape architect Peter Walker joined original designer Michael Arad, the real story is about designer and WTC memorial juror Maya Lin. Lin, who designed the Vietnam War Memorial as well as the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, AL, as well as a dreamy Wave Field at University of Michigan, was a supporter of Reflecting Absence. The article also includes her September 2002 idea for a memorial the New York Times magazine commissioned, which bears a "superficial resemblance" to the winning design, mainly the pools where the towers once stood, though reporter David Dunlap stresses that Lin did not commandeer the jury into choosing Reflecting Absence. more ›