Public Art

The High Line runs through one of the world's great art districts, and the project's connection to the arts has always been strong. Artists, art dealers, and gallery owners in the neighborhood were some of the High Line's first supporters.

Now, through our new High Line Art program, consisting of commissions and creative partnerships, Friends of the High Line continues to maintain the High Line's vital connection to the arts.

Now On View

A bell in Herald Square recorded for
A Bell for Every Minute

STEPHEN VITIELLO, A BELL FOR EVERY MINUTE
On view June 23, 2010 — June 2011 in the 14th Street Passage, between W. 13th and W. 14th Streets.

Artist Stephen Vitiello presents a multi-channel sound installation entitled A Bell For Every Minute for which he has recorded bells all over New York City and beyond. Sounds range from the iconic rings of the New York Stock Exchange bell, the historic Dreamland bell (recorded days after it was discovered in the water off Coney Island), the United Nation's Peace Bell, and more everyday and personal sounds of bike bells, diner bells, and neighborhood church bells. During park hours an individual bell rings each minute from speakers placed throughout the tunnel space where it is installed, the overtones fading out as the next bell begins. A chorus of the selected bells play at the top of each hour, filling the space. The sounds are represented on a physical sound map that identifies the location of each bell, allowing the listener to follow the geographic journey of the recordings. Collectively, the bells are a microcosm of the urban landscape as they relate to the sounds captured throughout the daily life in New York City. The site becomes activated by the composition, and invites the passerby to engage with the High Line and its connection to the city around it.

This installation is presented in partnership with Creative Time, and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, and is made possible by a generous grant from The Rockefeller Foundation's New York City Cultural Innovation Fund.

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A rendering by the artist.

RICHARD GALPIN, VIEWING STATION
On view May 7, 2010 — May 2011 on the east side of the High Line, between 17th and 18th Streets.

Richard Galpin is best known for creating altered photographs of cityscapes. His chosen method of manipulation is to cut and remove the top layer of the colored emulsion from his photographic prints, exposing the paper substrate. By eradicating part of the photograph, the imagery becomes altered to the point of total abstraction. Using clean lines and sharp angles, Galpin's technique produces works with an emphasis on geometric shapes, recalling early 20th century movements such as Constructivism, Cubism and Futurism.

For the High Line, Galpin has created a 'viewing station' that functions in a manner similar to his cut photographs. Park visitors can look through a viewing apparatus lined up with a metal screen from which geometric shapes have been cut. The combination of these two devices gives visitors an altered, abstracted view from the High Line. One of the wonderful experiences the High Line has provided to visitors is a new vista of Manhattan. Similarly, Galpin's artwork offers a novel reconsideration of our surroundings.

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Autumn on the Hudson Valley with
Branches

VALERIE HEGARTY, AUTUMN ON THE HUDSON VALLEY WITH BRANCHES
On view November 11, 2009 — November 2010 on the fence at 20th Street that divides Sections 1 and 2 of the park.

Valerie Hegarty's artwork often poses as artifacts of art history gone awry. Through the combination of real and fabricated components, Hegarty leaves the viewer to wonder at the veracity of the transformation. For the High Line, she created a work that imagines a nineteenth century Hudson River School landscape painting that has been left outdoors, exposed to the elements. Hegarty’s painting is based on Jasper Francis Cropsey’s Autumn on the Hudson River of 1860, a bucolic landscape that shows none of the affects of the Industrial Revolution. Hegarty’s canvas is tattered and frayed, and the partially exposed stretcher bars appear to be morphing into tree branches, as if reverting back to their natural state.

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The River That Flows Both Ways

SPENCER FINCH, THE RIVER THAT FLOWS BOTH WAYS
Debuted June 9, 2009 in the Chelsea Market Passage.

Inspired by the Hudson River, Spencer Finch's The River That Flows Both Ways documents a 700-minute (11 hours, 40 minutes) journey on the river in a single day. The title is a translation of Muhheakantuck, the Native American name for the Hudson that refers to the river’s natural flow in two directions. Like the rail line that existed on the High Line, the Hudson River was, and still is, an active route for the transportation of goods into Manhattan. The river and the High Line have always been linked in their geography, their function, and their imprints on the industrial legacy of the city.

From a tugboat drifting on Manhattan's west side and past the High Line, Finch photographed the river's surface once every minute. The color of each pane of glass was based on a single pixel point in each photograph and arranged chronologically in the tunnel’s existing steel mullions. Time is translated into a grid, reading from left to right and top to bottom, capturing the varied reflective and translucent conditions of the water's surface. The work, like the river, is experienced differently depending on the light levels and atmospheric conditions of the site. In this narrative orientation, the glass reveals Finch's impossible quest for the color of water.

This installation is presented in partnership with Creative Time, and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, and is made possible by a generous grant from The Rockefeller Foundation's New York City Cultural Innovation Fund. This project was made possible, in part, through the generous support of Chelsea Market and in-kind support from Jaroff Design and Mison Concepts, Inc.

Watch the Thirteen Sunday Arts Profile of Spencer Finch

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Upcoming Projects

DEMETRIUS OLIVER, JUPITER
On view September 7, 2010 — October 6, 2010 on billboard east of the High Line at West 18th Street

Demetrius Oliver, Jupiter, 2010

Demetrius Oliver‘s work for the High Line, Jupiter, folds together elements relating to photography, performance, astronomy, physics, and music.

The main component of Oliver’s work will be a photographic banner printed with five images showing the aftermath of indeterminate tasks having been performed in an interior space. These round images set against a solid black background, will resemble planets in a night sky, an association reinforced by the fact that some of the images will appear to be incrementally rotating in space. The banner will be installed on a 25-by-75-foot billboard adjacent to the High Line at West 18th Street.

In addition, regular evening performances featuring live music will accompany Oliver’s piece. Student musicians along with artist Blanche Bruce will perform John Coltrane’s composition “Jupiter.” The musicians will perform at various locations along the High Line, playing simultaneously although not in sync. The arrangement of musicians across a span of the park gives the music a spatial and temporal dimension that toys with the idea of Space.

Kim Beck, Space Available, 2008.

KIM BECK, SPACE AVAILABLE
Kim Beck will create three sculptures resembling the skeletal framework behind advertising billboards. These blank forms will emulate the abounding indicators of the economic recession, such as empty storefronts and "For Sale" signs. Beck’s sculptures will have the illusion of depth when viewed frontally, but as viewers move past them, the side views will reveal that they are in fact totally flat; cut from perspective drawings and built like theater props.

A series of three sculptures will be installed on roofs of buildings close to the High Line. They will integrate seamlessly into the environment of the High Line neighborhood, echoing existing billboards and buildings in partial states of construction. The existence of the three will reinforce their visibility and help encourage visitors to rethink the logic of what they are seeing.

Exact locations and exhibition dates to be announced.

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Recent Projects

Specials

SPECIALS
Specials is a collaboration between artists Lisa Sigal and Paul Ramírez Jonas, launched in June 2009. For this ongoing, roving art project, the artists have constructed a mobile unit composed of vendor carts and a 10 x 4 foot wall. On one side of the wall, they hang artwork by a wide range of artists; on the flip side, they serve homemade tacos, free of charge. Each time Specials is presented, the artwork and the type of taco change, in the manner of restaurants’ daily menu specials or art galleries’ changing exhibition schedules. This project deliberately blurs the boundaries between visual art, performance, social gathering space, and festive event. As the artists have stated, "Specials will continue to evolve following a desire to go beyond tired dichotomies of inside/outside, art audience/non art audience, viewer versus participant. It is not This or That; it is This and That."

Specials will be presented on the High Line in the 14th Street Passage (between 13th and 14th Streets). The planned schedule is as follows (subject to change):

• Thursday September 17, 2009 4:00 - 8:00 PM
Featuring works by Fiona Tan and Regina Silveira, and a potato and corn croquette with red cabbage and avocado taco.

• Thursday October 1, 2009 4:00 - 8:00 PM
Featuring artists who participated in the 1993 Whitney Biennial, including Janine Antoni, Byron Kim, Simon Leung, Glenn Ligon, Suzanne McClelland, Kiki Smith, and Fred Wilson, and spicy pumpkin taco.

Read more about Specials

About High Line Art

One of the many features that make the High Line so exceptional and rich is the presentation of contemporary art in, on and near the park. Artwork is a logical inclusion for the High Line; artists, gallery owners and art collectors were among the earliest supporters of its transformation into a public park space, and it runs through some of the most culturally significant neighborhoods of Manhattan.

High Line Art is marked by newness and freshness, with an emphasis on site-specific pieces that respond to the uniqueness of the High Line in form, structure and concept. Our core goals are to provide and facilitate opportunities to artists to showcase their work in a public venue where they can reach wide audiences; to further enhance the excitement and uniqueness of the High Line; and to reinforce New York City, and in particular, the neighborhood around the High Line, as a vital cultural center.

The presentation of art on the High Line serves both artists and the public. The High Line is expected to attract 2 million visitors by the end of its first year, ranging from neighborhood residents to international tourists. For artists, the High Line offers an opportunity to reach a larger and more diverse audience than typically offered by most arts institutions such as commercial galleries or even museums. For the public, an encounter with an artwork in the public sphere can enrich their experience. A broad range of art genres and mediums will help expand notions of what constitutes public art, as well as where, when and how it is presented.

Selection and oversight of art on the High Line art is handled by Lauren Ross, the full-time Curator and Director of Arts Programs at Friends of the High Line, in conjunction with fellow staff and the curatorial staff of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

High Line Art consists of the following programs:

High Line Art Commissions: The principal component of High Line Art, this ongoing program commissions new artwork by artists at varying stages in their careers for temporary presentation on, in, under, and near the High Line. The work commissioned can fall under almost any genre or medium including, but not limited to, sculpture, painting, graphic arts, sound, video, spoken performance, and dance.

High Line Art Partnerships: This program allows Friends of the High Line to collaborate with other organizations throughout the city to present a wide range of arts on the High Line. Like High Line Art Commissions, these projects are flexible; they may present visual art, performance, dance, or other experimental genres.

The partnership model is one that has long been embraced by Friends of the High Line. Past collaborations on art projects include Joel Sternfeld’s remarkable photographs of the pre-renovation High Line, which were published by Steidl Books as Walking the High Line; the annual Kitchen High Line Block Party with the venerated performance space The Kitchen; and works by Spencer Finch and Stephen Vitiello with Creative Time. A partner on all art on the High Line is The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the public agency that has jurisdiction over the High Line.

High Line Art and Public Programs: Friends of the High Line runs a dynamic schedule of programs designed to engage, educate, and enrich a diverse audience of all ages. Varied program formats include lectures, panel discussions, walking tours, art-making workshops for families. Whenever possible, these programs are open to the general public, either free or at minimal charge.

A portion of these programs focus on High Line Art and broader issues relating to public art, and feature artists, curators, art historians, and other arts professionals. Art-related programs off of the High Line include walking tours to galleries and public art in the neighborhood, and events at partner organizations.

Past art-themed programs have included Chalk Shoes to the High Line, a performance choreographed by Julia Mandle, featuring local eighth-grade students; the High Line Portrait Project with photographer Tom Kletecka; Fritz Haeg's Edible Estates at the Hudson Guild; and the presentation of art by Michael DeFeo, Jason Hackenwerth, Jeff Ladoceur, and others at the Target High Line Street Festival.
View our Events Calendar

High Line Art is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties.