Gustav & Ulla Kraitz Propose Roosevelt Island Sculpture Donation For Southpoint Park Entrance Facing United Nations - Is Roosevelt Island Future Home For Outdoor Sculpture Exhibits?

Will Roosevelt Island be turned into an "Island Of Art" filled with outdoor sculptures made by world renowned artists? The answer is yes if Roosevelt Island Gallery RIVAA's Tad Sudol has his way.

During the October 22 Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board of Directors meeting (full video of meeting here), Mr. Sudol presented the Island Of Art plan to RIOC Directors beginning with the proposed installation of a sculpture (pictured below) donated by Swedish artists Gustav & Ulla Kraitz .

 

If the donation is approved by RIOC, the Kraitz sculpture is likely to be placed just in front of the entrance to Southpoint Park

facing the United Nations next to the East River.

Roosevelt Island resident Elisabeth Stapen is assisting Gustav and Ulla Kraitz

Image of Gustav & Ulla Kraitz From Wikipedia

with the sculpture donation to Roosevelt Island. According to Ms. Stapen, the sculptors will be meeting with RIOC Wednesday October 28 to discuss their sculpture donation and to finalize details.

Art Daily reports:

... Ulla and Gustav Kraitz are one of Sweden's foremost artists sharing a prolific career of four decades. Their work has been exhibited widely throughout the world and can be seen in museums, parks, and public settings in Europe and the U.S. Most notable is their Hope Monument to famed humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg, which is installed in front of the United Nations Building in New York City.

Here's video of Mr. Sudol's October 22 Island Of Art presentation



to the RIOC Board Directors discussing the Kraitz sculpture, a proposal to display equipment parts from the old Roosevelt Island Tram

Roosevelt Island Tram Spinning Wheels Images From Gallery RIVAA'a Tad Sudol

in the Motorgate Atrium Gallery and competitions to install a new sculpture on Roosevelt Island each year.

Roosevelt Island Receives Curbed Awards for Art & Urbanity

Who would have thunk it? ? Curbed has awarded Roosevelt Island 2 of its 2007 year end awards for Art & Urbanity.
The Encampment came in second place for "Awesomely Absurd Art Project of the Year" behind the Red Hook submarine and ahead of Long Island City's floating tree.

Weblicist of Manhattan

But the big winner was the proposed skyscraper at Southpoint Park by Italian architectural students that Curbed refers to as "The Roosevelt Island Tower of Death" and which:

might be the finest architectural vision for New York City, and Roosevelt Island in particular, we've ever seen. You must watch it immediately, and this must be built. Make it so.

More here on the proposed skyscraper for Southpoint Park.
You Tube video link is here.

Beautiful Nighttime Panoramic Pictures of Manhattan Skyline and The Encampment From Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park

Photo by Joergen Geerds

More panoramic pictures from Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park. This time taken at night. Click on link here to fully view beautiful panoramic nighttime view of Midtown Manhattan as seen from Southpoint Park on Roosevelt Island.

Plus, panoramic picture from the Encampment at Southpoint Park.

Photo by Joergen Geerds

Click on link here to fully view panoramic picture of Encampment public art project.

The works of the photographer, Joergen Geerds, will be part of a gallery show titled "Points of View" to be held at the Tabla Rasa Gallery in Brooklyn. More details here.

Joergen explains that to capture these panoramic images he uses a Canon XT1.

This setup gives me the same pixel amount as my graflex setup, but with less trouble with scanning&retouching. Exposure bracketing/blending gives me super rich dynamic range with 3 rows of 12 images usually and I think the results are now exactly where I wanted them to be.

Good job! Go see his show.

Earlier post of awesome panoramic picture from Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park showing the East River/Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens skyline here.

Aerial Photos of The Encampment at Southpoint Park Roosevelt Island

Photo by Stephen Amiaga

Photo by Stephen Amiaga

Anyone who attended the recent Encampment public art project at Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park knows that it is a truly unique waterfront site with exquisite views of the East River and Manhattan/Queens skyline. Southpoint should not be the site for the Louis Kahn/FDR memorial.

Roosevelt Island 360 adds his voice on the subject of the memorial:

What I am fully against is what this is becoming … a hyphenated memorial to Louis Kahn in addition to FDR.

My primary concerns regarding the design of this memorial are (1) the potential loss of the natural 360 degree views afforded by the current space, (2) the loss of the natural green space itself, and (3) my concern that the space will no longer be allowed to play host to events like the summer time outdoor movies series and projects on the scale of "The Encampment". Certainly The Encampment would not have had the same sense of a pitched campground sitting between granite walls inscribed with FDR’s Four Freedoms speech.

Having a memorial would be acceptable if it does not impinge on the access the island population enjoys. It would be one thing if the memorial was built either before the resident population grew to its current level or before the original WIRE buildings were completed but now the voices of the island’s residents should be given weight over the Kahn fanatics and the memory of a former President especially since there are other memorials to FDR here in NYC and elsewhere.

Aerial images of The Emcampment are from Thom Sokoloski.

Memorial to Louis Kahn or FDR at Southpoint Park?

The images above are from the proposed Louis Kahn Memorial purported to be for President Franklin Roosevelt that some hope to be installed at Southpoint Park on Roosevelt Island, (Top image is from Architectural Record, bottom from NY Times). The New York Sun is reporting today that:

A plan to build a memorial to President Franklin Roosevelt on Roosevelt Island is getting a boost from city leaders, who are meeting today to underscore their support for the initiative. The movement for the memorial, which was designed by architect Louis Kahn almost 35 years ago, needs to raise $40 million by the end of the year; as of July 20, it had collected $5.1 million.

The city leaders set to attend the event include Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney; City Council Speaker Christine Quinn; City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin; New York State Assembly member Micah Kellner, and the president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer.

As I have stated before, my impression is that for many proponents of the Memorial, their support is based more upon the desire for a Louis Kahn project in NYC than to honor President Franklin D. Roosevelt, particularly since there is an existing FDR national memorial near the National Mall in Washington DC and Roosevelt Island as well the FDR Drive are named after the late President.

Those in support of this proposal should know that there are many residents of Roosevelt Island who do not want this massive granite structure with rows of trees obstructing the beautiful waterfront views from Southpoint Park and further impeding access to the East River. This NY Sun article had the following statement indicating opposition to the Louis Kahn memorial by Roosevelt Island residents:

The president and CEO of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, Matthew Katz, said he is concerned that the memorial will cut off views to the east and west. A survey of residents found that most want "the greenest thing possible" in that space, he said.

"The Roosevelts were gods in my house, growing up," Mr. Katz said. "Whether this is the appropriate memorial is another question."

The association's secretary, Sherie Helstien, said that by resisting Kahn's memorial design, residents are trying to "save the last big community park" in the city. "I think a lot of us are just hoping they don't get the money," she said. "We don't want that thing here."

I agree. We do not want any green space nor access to the water from Southpoint's Park removed because of this proposed memorial.

More background on this issue from this NY Times 2005 article:

the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, the state-appointed organization that runs the island, has commissioned a new design by a New York landscape designer for the 14-acre site, known as Southpoint Park. Taking into account feedback from residents and visitors, the design would substitute the granite memorial and overarching linden trees of Kahn's plan with a lawn for 7,000 spectators to view performances on a removable stage. There would also be a sledding hill and a skate pond.

..."Kahn's memorial was played out in a different time, a different era, a different world," said Herbert Berman, president of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. "It was right for 30 years ago, not for now." Today, he said, those who live on Roosevelt Island are interested in less formal uses for the land.

...Last April, the operating corporation invited the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit organization that helps communities protect and conserve land by developing parks and recreational activities, to come up with new proposals for attracting people to the park and to the island.

In November the trust presented the operating corporation with "Wild Gardens/Green Rooms," a picturesque park designed by Mark K. Morrison, a local landscape designer who is currently working on security fencing for the United Nations, as well as on numerous Manhattan playgrounds. The design includes a cafe in the ruins of the smallpox hospital and an earth mound providing enough contour for sledding in winter. The removable stage at the edge of a large lawn would be located at the southernmost tip, where Kahn put his granite room open to the sea.

..."Louis Kahn would have done it differently if he were alive today," said Charles McKinney, the consultant in charge of the Roosevelt Island park proposal for the Trust for Public Land. "He was well known for his concerns about creating communal spaces, and he would have understood the importance of this community's concerns, and he would have responded."

Here is a link to the Southpoint Park Conceptual Plans discussed above including the Wild Gardens/Green Rooms concept approved by most residents as well as the Visionary Landscape concept that includes the Kahn Memorial, assuming funding can be obtained.

If the proposed Louis Kahn memorial is built, Roosevelt Island loses opportunities for special events that produce views like this from Thom Sokoloski's The Encampment as well as normal everyday experiences of walking down to beautiful green parkland and listening to the sounds of the East River. Or maybe even the possibility of importing a sand beach to Southoint Park similar to the one in Long Island City at the NY Water Taxi Beach.

Photo by Ianqui

Photo by Power Gail

Robert Bennet for The New York Times

Image from Eater.

It would be a real shame to give up so much potential for Southpoint Park for this memorial.

As I was writing this post Curbed picked up story here.

More Encampment Photos from Roosevelt Island

Here are a couple more photos from Roosevelt Island's The Encampment. These photos were sent in by Ghila Krajzman. Thanks!
More images from Curbed and Roosevelt Island 360
Blogger Scoboco recaps and summarizes the Encampent as well as provides the final image.


I remember backing out of a tent, hearing a wailing cry, turning around to see what was the cause of the noise and seeing a women walking very slowly holding a baby in her arms. I must admit being a bit frightened by her. Very effective!

Visit to Renwick Ruins on Roosevelt Island

Photo blogger the Weblicist visited Roosevelt Island's Renwick Ruins (also known as the Smallpox Hospital) on the way to see The Encampment and asks the following question:

What do St. Patrick’s Cathedral and The Island Hospital have in common?

Answer:

They were both designed by the famous 19th Century architect James Renwick Jr.

Images are from the Weblicist. There are more creepy Renwick pictures at the jump and Encampment images here.

Seeking an Aerial View of Roosevelt Island's "Encampment"

Returning from an out of town trip yesterday afternoon, the flight path of the plane took me directly over the "Encampment" installation on Roosevelt Island. It was quite stunning seeing dozens of white tents lined up in rows on Southpoint Park from a plane flying above them.
The view at night of the illuminated tents from a plane must be spectacular.
If anyone out there happens to be on a plane or a helicopter flying over Roosevelt Island, or knows someone who is, please try to take some photos and/or video of the installation and send them to Thom Sokoloski, the creator of the Encampment.
The Toronto Star on the "Encampment".

As hundreds of New Yorkers walked among the some 100 vintage pale white tents on Roosevelt Island last night, every one silhouetted against the brilliant New York skyline, they couldn't have known how close "The Encampment," by Toronto artist Thom Sokoloski, came to being shut down even before it could be put up.

New York is now discovering the most compelling installation in its own backyard since the salmon-coloured fabric of Christo's and Jeanne-Claude's "The Gates" brightened up a wintry Central Park in 2005. They won't have long, though. "The Encampment" comes down after tonight.

Problems earlier in the week when:

On Tuesday, he even felt he might have to abandon entirely the $100,000 project until a supporter came up with the needed money in the last minute. Local bureaucracy wasn't particularly helpful, either. The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) had withdrawn the promise of some $12,000 in funding, after promising its financial support earlier this year.

By yesterday, though, the last of the 99 other Civil War-style dog tents were finally in their not-quite symmetrical militaristic rows. These were the final touches on the scrubby site across the East River from the United Nations that had been transformed by visiting school kids putting up tents, busloads of hospital patients helping to fill them with artifacts, the arrival of the New York Times, Fox TV and other media outlets, as well as some well-timed appearances by local politicians.

With the problems fixed:

Now Sokoloski had every reason to be cool. "It's a wonderful moment when everyone going by, in boats or planes overhead or driving along the Roosevelt Parkway, first sees the lights in the tents," he says. "What did I do here? I created a model of sociability. I worked with people. I shook their hand."

Image is from All New York Tours.

The Encampment Arrives on Roosevelt Island

The Weblicist of Manhattan visited The Encampment on Roosevelt Island and came back with some stunning images including the one above. The photo blogger describes the experience as follows:

I took the Roosevelt Island Tram over to see The Encampment By Thom Sokoloski. It was quite fascinating. He had set up 100 Civil War Canvas Tents on the Southpoint of the island next to the old asylum. They were illuminated from within and each one told a different story about the people who had been interned in the Island Hospital between 1828 and 1955.

The New York Times describes the difficulties and challenges in getting The Encampment finished.

In the 80-degree weather of yesterday morning, a dozen volunteers showed up to help; most encountered a locked gate. Though Mr. Sokoloski spent months assembling the proper permits, security had been a constant issue: the site, part of what will become Southpoint Park, is usually closed to the public. Homeland Security officials were on high alert because of the United Nations General Assembly meeting just across the East River, and the police threatened to shut things down because of a miscommunication.

By noon only a dozen tents had been set up, and few were filled. Mr. Sokoloski’s partners, Jenny-Anne McCowan, a choreographer and outreach coordinator, and John McDowell, a composer, busied themselves marshaling the volunteers.

Even the construction supervisors — four Canadian military re-enactors, with extensive experience in putting up tents — were sweating. The exhibition, part of the annual Openhousenewyork weekend, was several hours behind schedule.

But Mr. Sokoloski, a Toronto-based artist who seems younger than his 57 years, remained calm. A former theater director (he worked at La MaMa in the 1980s) and location scout for movies, he is adept at making big projects work, like an opera he staged in Toronto’s main train station in 1992.

“It’s one thing after another, but you get used to it,” Mr. Sokoloski said. “You just keep going till the last moment, because who knows what will happen tomorrow?”

Of course, The NY Times was wrong in stating that Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park "is usually closed to the public". In fact, Southpoint Park is usually open to the public unless there is some sort of security advisory in effect.
But the NYT does have a nice slide show of the Encampment including the tent image below.

The Encampment Opens Tonight

Via Curbed, The New York Post on The Encampment.

The largest public art project to hit the city since "The Gates" in Central Park will be on display beginning tonight when a field at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island is filled with 100 illuminated canvas tents called "The Encampment."

The Encampment will:

shed light on the island's murky and painful history as home to psychiatric and smallpox wards.

And:

will tell a history of the hundreds and thousands of people . . . who have gone through social, mental, medical and penal confinement on this island," he said. "It's going to be a lot of fun."

The fun begins tonight.
The image is from one of the Encampment installations from by Alison Nastasi. Very cool.

Help Install The Encampament - Telling Roosevelt Island Stories

Today's NY Sun has an article on preparations for The Encampment, a participatory public art project to be held on October 5-7 at Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park as part of the Open House New York weekend. The article illustrates Encampment creator Thom Sokoloski's task helping participants:

designing installations that would tell visitors about the island's complicated, and often grim, history.

For example:

A woman named Amanda was further along in conceiving her installation, about a doctor at the lunatic asylum, who was, according to an article in Harper's, the object of affection of two of his female patients. The patients, known as Fanny and Moonshine, expressed their love by leaving the doctor bouquets made of grasses, strips of paper, or rags. Amanda was planning to hang these around the tent, possibly with cards in them telling the women's stories. Mr. Sokoloski nodded. "I like the idea of what those bouquets signify, because it's very primitive and primal, communicating through objects," he said.

And:

For some of the participants in the project, the island's history as a destination for the city's outcast and forgotten probably doesn't seem so far away. A group of patients from Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital & Nursing Facility — which offers long-term care for people with spinal cord injuries or HIV/AIDS, as well as medical care for undocumented immigrants or homeless people — are designing 20 tents.

One patient chose a story about a young man with tuberculosis who jumped to his death off the south point of the island, Ms. McCowan said. When she asked him why he chose that story, he said it reminded him of his own friends who had committed suicide. Another young man with a spinal cord injury decided to use his installation to tell his own story. "He said, ‘I'm still here,'" Mr. Sokoloski recalled.

If you are interested in volunteering to help set up The Encampment installation below are some of the ways you can assist.

Set-up and Strike of the tents:
Friday, October 5th: 8am to 2pm - 9 people
Monday, October 8th: 8am - 2pm - 8 people

For the 3 nights of presentations:
We have 2 shifts per night (6:30pm - 10pm / 10pm - 1:30am) - total of 16 people each night
Roles are as follows: Site supervision, roadway guidance and front of house

If interested please contact Thom Sokoloski.

Roosevelt Island Fall for Arts Festival 10/06/07

In addition to marking your calendar for the weekend of October 5-7 to see the Encampment project at Roosevelt Island's Southpoint park, remember to include in your calendar Roosevelt Island's Fall for Arts Festival to be held next Saturday, October 6 from 11AM - 5 PM. The festival will feature live performances from an outdoor stage on the Rivercross lawn including dancing, singing, storytelling, comedy, puppetry as well as food and drink.
According to the Main Street Wire (PDF File) Roosevelt Island will be:

a hub of art and creativity, with the proverbial “something for everyone.”

A concert will be held at 7:30 PM in the Good Shepherd Community Theater:

featuring vocal and instrumental artists including pianist Roy Eaton, Mitch Elinson, jazz and gospel singer Juanita Fleming, folk guitarist/singer/songwriter Chris Fuller, classical flutist Natalia Gruzdeva, classical soprano Sherie Helstein, opera singer Marianne Labriola, and classical guitarist David Lieber.

Roosevelt Island 360 has more here.

Encampment Volunteer Blogs Roosevelt Island

A volunteer from the Encampment project is blogging about her experiences on Roosevelt Island. Here, here and here.

This amazing exhibition will take place over the course of three nights (October 5th, 6th, 7th, from 7p.m. to 1a.m. each night). You will be able to view installations created by nearly 100 different artists, each installation somehow informed/inspired by the history of the people of Roosevelt Island and the history of the island itself. There is no guest list--this is a free event, open to the public. Please come and take part in this unique event.

Marriage of Real Estate and Money on Roosevelt Island

The Encampment is not the only public art project on Roosevelt Island. Unlike the temporary Encampment project, there is a permanent public art installation in the East River located just off of Roosevelt Island near the Manhattan Park apartments created by the sculptor Tom Otterness. The series of three sculptures depict "The Marriage of Real Estate and Money".
According to the Modern and Contemporary Design blog:

Otterness specializes in creating large-scale pieces, mostly of bronze, which is why his work is so well-suited to the realm of public art. The Marriage of Money and Real Estate is a sculptural installation he did just off Roosevelt Island in New York, a set of three sculptures that depict very simply how money and real estate are connected. In a cartoon-like manner, Otterness manages to make this capitalist reality look cute.

RIRA Council Meeting

I went to the Roosevelt Island Resident's Association Common Council meeting Wednesday night.
The meeting started with a presentation by Thom Sokoloski and Jenny-Ann McCowan of the Encampment public participatory art project that will be installed at Southpoint Park during Open House NY from October 5-7. They gave a well received presentation to the Council members and reiterated their call for creative collaborators from the Roosevelt Island community as well as sponsors for individual tents. They are currently on Roosevelt Island so if you are interested in participating in this project they can be reached here.
Assemblymember Micah Kellner then reported on matters of interest to the Roosevelt Island community including a potential new buyer for Island House but not Westview as well as his Roosevelt Island office hours. A recent Main Street Wire article on issue of the sale of these buildings is here.
A long and fascinating conversation among the Council members then ensued regarding whether or not RIRA should accept unrestricted funds from the RIOC President's discretionary allotment that would be used for financing the RIRA sponsored plebiscite, but not election - repeat not election, of the Governor's nominees to the RIOC Board of Directors. Issues involving the balance between pragmatic local politics, governmental transparency and ethical considerations were robustly and vigorously debated. The motion to accept the funding was passed. Unfortunately, after 2 1/2 hours I had to leave while the meeting was still in progress so I do not know if there were any subsequent developments. Check out this week's Main Street Wire for more comprehensive coverage of the meeting.
The main impression I walked away from at 10:30 PM was that the RIRA Council members, all Roosevelt Island residents and our neighbors, are performing a great public service and deserve our respect and thanks for their service to the community. Perhaps they are not on par with the Founding Fathers pictured above, but if they are able to accomplish the plebiscite, a wonderful demonstration of democracy in action.

The Encampment Update - Call for Creative Collaborators

Thom Sokoloski, the artist behind The Encampment (October 5-7), sent a message asking for those interested in participating in the creation and realization of this project to be installed at Southpoint Park Roosevelt Island to contact him at EncampmentCollaborators@gmail.com. If you are interested please contact them by September 1.
A You Tube video link to an earlier version of the Encampment is here.

The Encampment Public Art Project - Are the Gates Coming Next to Roosevelt Island?

A Christo Gates like public participatory arts project called the Encampment by artist Thom Sokoloski is coming to Roosevelt Island during Open House New York in partnership with the Roosevelt Island Historical Society and Roosevelt Island Visual Arts Association. The project is scheduled to be presented from October 5 - 7 and will place 100 19th century expedition style tents at Southpoint Park. Throughout September the public will be encouraged to participate in the Encampment's creative process.
The Encampment is described as follows:

The Encampment is a large-scale public participatory art installation. One hundred - 19th century expedition-style
tents will be erected as a work of optical art on Roosevelt's Island Southpoint. Though the work can be seen during
the day, its experience is truly a nocturnal one. New Yorkers along both sides of the East River will be able to view the
symmetries of the interiorly lit tents all night long, while the public can experience the installations created by
volunteer creative collaborators within each of the tents from 7pm -1am, October 5-7, 2007.
Since the creation and completion of The Encampment requires the participation of the public, we invite the residents
of Roosevelt Island, as well as multi-disciplinary artists and students focused on art, design, architecture and the
performing arts to join in the creative process. Throughout September they will collaborate with the Creative Team to
research the stories, people, culture, architecture and history of Roosevelt Island. They will have the choice to design
an installation for one of the tents, take part in choreographed ceremonies, partake in a musical landscape or join the
production crew that puts it all together!

The Toronto based creators of the Encampment are also promoting a 24 hour Art Adventure to view the project which includes a private jet from Toronto and a gourmet meal. We don't know if the gourmet meal is on Roosevelt Island or not.

In this 24-hour art adventure you will travel by private jet from Toronto to New York and be chauffeured to the elegant Millennium UN Plaza Hotel, which overlooks The Encampment on Roosevelt Island. That evening you will be treated to a gourmet dinner and be a VIP guest at the premiere of the artwork. Throughout the night and following day you will experience The Encampment from a multitude of perspectives: from your hotel room above, on the East River and at the site itself. The creative team will also guide you on an exclusive tour of Castle Williams, the site of their next work The Babel Symphony, before returning by jet to Toronto.