By Courtney M.
Jeff
Koons, one of the world's most famous living sculptors, has been
tapped by Friends of the High Line to construct and install a
full-size replica of a 1943 Baldwin 2900 steam locomotive to dangle
from a beamed crane in lower Manhattan. The High Line, currently one
of New York's biggest attractions, is a public park built on a
historic freight rail line elevated above the city streets. Open to
the public, the park is maintained as a revolving community arts
space with site-specific installations and exhibitions for the public
to engage in against the backdrop of the city.
As
an arts administrator, let me preface this post by saying that
I am an enormous supporter of public arts projects that encourage
interest and facilitate a dialogue amongst the community. However, the
fact that this project will cost upwards of $25 million to build and
install is seriously rubbing me the wrong way. The NY Times reports:
“Friends of the High Line has been a magnet for high-profile donations. In October, the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation announced a $20 million gift to the park. Barry Diller, chairman of IAC and Expedia, and his wife, the designer Diane von Furstenberg, had previously given $15 million to the High Line.”
It's
true that large-scale public arts projects have long since been
commissioned and constructed before. But because of the fact that unemployment,
hunger and poverty is currently at an all-time high now for the people of New York
(and beyond), this display strikes me as tasteless and
totally unnecessary. True,
Mr. Diller and Ms. von Furstenberg are free to spend and allocate
their money as they so choose, but $25 million would go a long way to support community housing and hunger programs for the people who
need it most. So, unless this train plans on periodically raining
out rations for the starving, I'm sorry, but all I see here is a giant
juicy steak dangling in front of the city's hungriest.
What
do you guys think?
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