"FIGMENT Terrace 2011" Exhibition
Governors Island
This event has ended.
FIGMENT, a free, family-friendly participatory arts event held in multiple cities and attracting tens of thousands of participants each year, has announced the projects for two of its summer-long installations on Governors Island: 14 artist-designed minigolf holes that will form the FIGMENT Terrace Minigolf Course, and 13 interactive projects that will form the FIGMENT Terrace Sculpture Garden, both free and open to the public May 27-September 25, 2011.
More info:
FIGMENT Minigolf (with hi-res images): http://figmenproject.org/minigolf
FIGMENT Sculpture Terrace (with hi-res images): http://figmentproject.org/sculpturegarden
FIGMENT general info, press release PDFs, hi-res images: http://figmentproject.org/about/press-resources
About FIGMENT:
Founded in 2007 on New York City’s Governors Island with a handful of projects and a few thousand enthusiasts, FIGMENT has grown exponentially into a multi-day, multi-city event that drew over 30,000 participants in NYC and Boston in 2010. With the addition of Jackson, Mississippi and Detroit, Michigan in 2011, FIGMENT continues its mission to offer free, inclusive and participatory art to entire communities, removing the barriers of museum and gallery walls and entrance fees, and blurring the lines between those who create and those who enjoy art. FIGMENT NYC 2011 dates are June 10-12.
In addition to the weekend-long arts festival, FIGMENT presents three free season-long interactive exhibitions on Governors Island: FIGMENT Minigolf Course, FIGMENT Terrace Sculpture Garden, both highlighted below; and the City of Dreams Pavilion, a centerpiece for arts activity on the island, the result of an international design competition created in partnership with ENYA and SEAoNY. Full press releases for all three installations are available as PDFs at http://figmentproject.org/about/press-resources
About FIGMENT Terrace - Minigolf Course & Sculpture Garden:
2011 marks the fourth summer that FIGMENT will create a free, artist-designed minigolf course on Governors Island. The course has been a huge success, in constant use throughout the entire season and loved by visitors of all ages. It is estimated that last year, over 200,000 people visited FIGMENT Terrace, which includes the minigolf course.
This year's course will have 14 holes inspired by the theme "Bugs and Features," with FIGMENT giving its own participatory and inspired twist to the fascinating world of bugs -- of both the creepy crawly and the technological variety. The FIGMENT Minigolf Course shares our fascination with the way that bugs make our skin crawl, but at the same time live among us symbiotically and can be helpful in keeping our world in balance. We hope to provide a place for wonder and dialogue, and an environment where man and bug can putt away in harmony.
Sharing the Terrace with the minigolf course is FIGMENT Sculpture Garden, also in its fourth year. For 2011, out of over 50 submissions, FIGMENT has selected 13 amazingly creative, interactive, and sustainable sculpture projects that -- pending fund raising and approvals from the Trust for Governors Island and other relevant city agencies -- will find a temporary home on Governors Island.
The FIGMENT Minigolf Course and FIGMENT Terrace Sculpture Garden will be open and free for the public to enjoy while the island is open Fri-Sun and holiday Mondays May 27 -Sep 25, 2011.
A few of the FIGMENT Terrace 2011 Minigolf Course holes (see site for complete list):
? B by Samuel Sherman and Jacquelyn Strycker - a pvc pipe hive which takes as its inspiration both the classic Donkey Kong 3 arcade game and the honeycomb prisms built by bees.
A Very Fly Swatter by Jason Lucas, Bob Scott, Bob Seetin and Lilah Amon-Lucas - an oversized icon of pest-ridding technology, this hole asks viewers to contemplate what happens when our weapons grow beyond our control.
The Composting Micro Bug Food Spiral by Dee Dee Maucher of the MoS Collective - the multitudinous microorganisms around us can also process our food waste: this golf hole is a three-step compost system for soil building and food growing.
All Stretched Out by the Katz Family - a centipede, complete with 100 discarded and donated shoes, forms the main obstacle for this minigolf hole.
Urban Ant Farm by Alex Petrowsky - the ant farm is an American cultural icon of bug-related imagery. This hole presents New York City as an oversized ant colony, with everybody hurrying in similar directions, working towards common goals, and sometimes carrying seemingly unbearable loads.
Flea Circuity Circus by Maggie Ens, Ian Klapper, Marc Sloan, and City & Country School - players maneuver their golf ball through a maze of motherboard obstacles and spinning binary code inspired by Alexander Calder’s legendary found object circus made for the young at heart.
A few of the FIGMENT Terrace Sculpture Garden 2011 projects (see site for complete list):
Invisible Sculptures by Andreas Keller - the nine hours every day we spend in front of the computer and TV screens mean we engage with sights and sounds, but rarely attend to smells, tastes and touches. Invisible Sculptures consists of odor delivery devices in a line of oak trees. The odors refer to Governors Island and its history.
TreeHouse by Benjamin Jones - TreeHouse is part nostalgic playground, part classroom highlighting sustainability issues. TreeHouse and its surrounding playground activities are created entirely from reclaimed materials, and all power comes from wind and solar energy.
Temple of Grace by Jen Upchurch, Douglas Hart, and Bryan Cates - designed in the form of angel wings, the Temple will be a significant landmark sculpture. Intended as a place of exploration, contemplation, reflection and personal expression, the sculpture will encourage visitors to walk around and through it, sit down in it, and even climb into it. They can also leave contributions of art, messages and other ephemera on the wooden feathers of its wings.
Claiming Space For All Occasions by Maria Hupfield - this durational performance piece and installation is a ground-based circular earth work. The artist creates a pattern in this circle by cutting away the existing grass; the exposed earth underneath shapes the image. The work remains visible until the pattern fades from exposure to the elements, and the grass grows back.
Transformative Kayak by Robert K. Otani - a sculpture for relaxation and social interaction, aiming to bond the island’s energetic atmosphere of children playing to the needs of adults seeking a day of repose. Kids can play in the ‘floating’ kayaks while their parents relax in the hammocks that are tethered in between. After summer, the sculpture will be reconfigured and donated for children’s use around the island.
Stealth Fighter by Zaq Landsberg - emblematic of US military operations in both Gulf Wars, the F-117 stealth fighter's odd, angular design makes it invisible to radar. This 1:1 scale replica is framed in wood and wire and covered in Astroturf: it will be hidden in plain sight. Visitors can go inside the fighter and peek out the jet intakes and cockpit windows, while the fighter's sloped sides provide shade.
Media
Schedule
from May 27, 2011 to September 25, 2011