Head to Pier 17 to ride a sonic wave of illuminated seesaws in a new public art installation
All photos courtesy of Wagstaff New York/The Howard Hughes Corportation
All photos courtesy of Wagstaff New York/The Howard Hughes Corportation
As 6sqft shared last week, The Garment District Alliance unveiled its latest public art installation, a collection of 12 oversized, illuminated seesaws titled “Impulse,” that emit various sounds as New Yorkers play on them. If you’re looking for even more giant interactive seesaws, you’re in luck: Wave-Field is now lighting up the lower Manhattan night. Now through the end of March, you’ll find the installation of illuminated musical seesaws at Seaport Square next to Pier 17.
All photos courtesy of Wagstaff New York/The Howard Hughes Corportation
According to a press release, the main point of Wave-Field is to “give people agency over the urban site the artwork inhabits.” The very nature of a seesaw suggests that people partner up for the experience, therefore encouraging the development of interpersonal relationships. In addition to the emphasis on human connections, there’s the fact that seesaw passengers are acting as catalysts for the activation of the artwork.
The sound design for Wave-Field is based on the idea that electronic systems possess a life of their own, so to speak, and a mysterious vibrancy. Visitors are encouraged to partner up and cooperate in activating the seesaws, which then “burst into a menagerie of electric calls that resonate with the site’s urban pulse, blurring the boundaries between sound and landscape.” As a result, spectators become immersed in the wave of illuminated planks and the unique sounds they create.
The new illuminated installation is open to the public from 10am-9pm, 7 days a week in Seaport Square.
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All photos courtesy of Wagstaff New York/The Howard Hughes Corportation
