Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Marina Rosenfeld, Ben Rubin

October 17-November 30, 2002
World Financial Center Winter Garden, 200 Vesey Street
Image courtesy of Creative Time

In commemoration of the reopening of the World Financial Center Winter Garden, four of New York’s most visionary sound artists created new works for a group exhibition of eclectic, site-specific sonic installations entitled Sonic Garden. This eclectic sound art exhibition incited a diversity of sensory experiences that offered audiences an intimate and curious alternative to ambient noise.

Each artist’s individual composition audibly “decorated” the Winter Garden’s voluminous, 120 foot-tall, barrel-vaulted glass architecture with sounds. Laurie Anderson used electronics to filter and process stringed instruments, transforming the space into a giant violin; David Byrne surprised visitors with jokes recited by Borscht Belt comedians; Marina Rosenfeld released musical notes that traveled through the atrium like pebbles scattering over the water’s surface; and Ben Rubin broadcast the chaotic shouts and calls of commodities traders at the New York Mercantile Exchange against the automated recitation of international market data, recognizing a longstanding and vital downtown community.

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Gary Hume

October 8, 2002-April 20, 2003
The Ritz-Carlton, 2 West Street
Photo © 2002 Charlie Samuels

In October of 2002 Creative Time presented British artist Gary Hume’s sculpture Back of a Snowman as part of a series of public sculpture installations on the plaza of the Ritz-Carlton New York. The presentation of Back of a Snowman marked the first United State’s exhibition of one of Hume’s delightful snowmen.

Weighing five thousand pounds, the ten foot bronze sculpture faced sweeping views of the New York Harbor, its blunt silhouette and unadorned surface against the city skyline reminding viewers of how distant the natural environment can feel in an urban context. Subtly coupling the permanent and temporary, Hume’s sculpture challenged its subject’s ephemeral nature with materials of permanence. Dimpled white, enameled spheres conveyed an elegance reminiscent of modernist abstract sculpture as well as the humor and immediacy of Pop Art. But without coal, carrots, or a top hat, Hume’s sculpture was a blank canvas, whose brightly reflective surface served to ignite the imagination and childhood memories.

Back of a Snowman was produced in association with the Battery Park City Authority, Millennium Partners, and The Ritz-Carlton.

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