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March 1, 2009
"What Was": across from Ward Bakery site, scavenged metal reborn as art
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder takes on a different role, that of an art critic, as he visits a new art installation.
Across from the Ward Bakery site within the Atlantic Yards footprint, the Soapbox Gallery on Dean Street for two weeks offers artist Guy Ambrosino's installation "What Was."
Here's the artist's description: For this installation I used steel from the Atlantic Yards site directly across the street. The steel was part of the Pechters building that was torn down. It was in the concrete floors of the building. As they demolished the building and broke up the concrete the steel bent into these wonderful lines and arcs. The elegance and natural flow of the heavy rigid steel seemed an appropriate metaphor for the tension created by the Atlantic Yards Project. (The struggle between creating a wonderful project that is relevant and meaningful to community in Brooklyn against the demands of big development.)
The artwork elicits the following thoughts:
I agree that a viewer can read tension into the work, and that the steel does appear as "wonderful lines and arcs."
But my main response was something different: the Ward Bakery was so big, its debris could have been repurposed for countless installations.
Or it could have been preserved and renovated. After all, "the greenest building is one that's already built."
Posted by steve at March 1, 2009 6:31 AM