Last month, K-pop sensations BTS launched CONNECT, BTS, a global public art project involving 22 artists across five major cities (London, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Seoul and New York). This week, British artist Antony Gormley has unveiled his contribution to the project: a ginormous modernist aluminum sculpture inside Brooklyn Bridge Park, one whose jumble of coils and loops will likely draw selfie enthusiasts.
New York Clearing (2020) is conceived as "a single line made up of more than 11 miles of square aluminium tubing that loops and coils without beginning or end, rising to a height of nearly 50 feet, turning itself into an environment for the viewer that counters the grid of modernism and the city with swooping lines of energy." Situated at Pier 3 overlooking the East River, it will be on display to the public from February 5th to March 27th.
"I hit my head like four times," said public art connoisseur Jake Dobkin, who took the photos of the sculpture up above. "It’s objectively cool if you like wires or are a slinky fetishist, and I think it’s got Instagram potential, or at least TikTok vibes."
"This would be a good place to throw on some tunes, drop some acid, and lose your shit," Dobkin added, "apart from the very real danger of getting strangled by some metal lashing." Choose your soundtrack wisely:
Gormley is known for his large-scale public sculpture work around the globe. In 2010, his Event Horizon statues, which consisted of over two dozen life-size anatomically correct male bodies, were placed on top of buildings near Madison Square Park, including the Flatiron and the Empire State Building, and caused quite the stir at the time.
He said in a press release about the new project: “This is the first time that I have attempted to make Clearing without architectural support. I am enormously excited about the opportunity of making this energy field in conversation with Manhattan across the waters of the East River. It can be seen as an evocation of human connectivity, a materialisation of the energy of the people that view it and the people that made it.”
If you're wondering what the connection is between a project like this and BTS, the press release states that the CONNECT, BTS artwork "draws motifs from parts of BTS' philosophy that centers around diversity, love and care for the periphery as well as communicating and fostering connections that transcend barriers."
During a launch event in London in January, Gormley explained his own interest in being associated with BTS: "The notion that through this new mycelium, in a sense, this network of connectivity to a whole new young audience, [we are] building bridges with the future—hopefully through a sensitive, open-minded, lively, young strata in society—is exciting," Gormley said. You can see an interview between Gormley and BTS below.
And for the true BTS ARMY members out there, you can also find special artwork introduction videos recorded by BTS via the official website by clicking on “Secret Docent."
