Max Neuhaus

November 19-21, 1976
U.S. Custom House, 1 Bowling Green
Photo © 1976 Ruth Cummings

In November of 1976 Creative Time and the New York Landmarks Conservancy presented Max Neuhaus’s Round: Sound for Concave Surfaces in the rotunda of the U.S. Custom House at Bowling Green. The unusual acoustics of the elliptical marble space challenged Neuhaus to create an original work for the project, as the space itself was a primary component in determining the composition and final arrangement of the piece. “I see traditional concert hall acoustics not as an ideal but as one very specific sound situation. I am interested in exploring others, such as the one which will be generated by the curved surfaces of the rotunda and which will be a basis for this work,” said Neuhaus. During the three day event Neuhaus exploited the acoustics of the rotunda by generating a single fundamental pitch with various overtones circulating around the space via a ring of sixteen speakers, thereby creating a constant circular movement.

Prior to working with Creative Time, Neuhaus had created sound environments for swimming pools, parking lots, subway stations, and streets. Notably, Round: Sound for Concave Surfaces inspired other artists to submit projects to Creative Time, which prompted the first Custom and Culture exhibtion the following June.

Otto Piene

October 19-December 31, 1976
88 Pine Street
Photo by Peter Moore © Estate of Peter Moore / VAGA, NY

For Anemones: An Air Aquarium, Otto Piene presented a walk-through soft sculpture environment of inflated fish and sea anemones as an interpretation of I. M. Pei’s architecture at 88 Pine Street. The sea life, ranging in size from ten to forty feet, were constructed from red spinnaker cloth and clear polyethylene, and surrounded by multicolored translucent sheets. Timed fans inflated and deflated the underwater life, creating the illusion of slow breathing. “When measured against the daily concerns of surrounding businesses, the Anemones project may seem frivolous, but it brings to an essentially urban situation a whiff of nature’s elements. For the passersby, Anemones is an unexpected lunchtime air aquarium. The theme of this venture is scale, along with movement,” said Piene. The sculptures were designed by Piene and his crew of artists and students during a workshop held in the exhibit space over the summer.

Otto Piene and Alejandro Sina

June 26, 1976
59th Street Pond, Central Park
Photo © 1976 Ruth Cummings

Neon Rainbow, the second New York Sky Event in the summer of 1976, consisted of a three hundred foot polyethylene arc that soared 150 feet above the 59th Street Pond in Central Park and was visible for miles. In collaboration with light artist Alejandro Sina, renowned artist Otto Piene attached seventy-five slender, red neon tubes, each two feet in length, to the polyethylene arc. This created a dual visual effect: during the day, the outline of the arc predominated, but as night fell, the lights, programmed for a strobe effect, illuminated the summer sky.

Otto Piene

June 10-11, 1976
East Harlem
Photo courtesy of Creative Time

For the East Harlem Sky Event, six hundred children from seven East Harlem schools paraded in their neighborhoods displaying wind sculptures made during a week-long workshop. Following the parade, the banners, wind socks, and streamers were attached to fifty-foot helium-filled polyethylene arcs over their school playgrounds. Four artists collaborated with Creative Time to work with the kids who participated in this event. This event kicked off Creative Time’s New York Sky Events, a summer-long project featuring wind sculptures by Otto Piene.

Red Grooms, Mimi Gross Grooms, and The Ruckus Construction Company

November 20, 1975-January 20, 1976
88 Pine Street
Photo © 1975 Robert Mates

Ruckus Manhattan was a multimedia, three-dimensional representation of Manhattan on display on the ground level of 88 Pine Street. The out-of-scale model, constructed of papier-mâché, wood, plastic, fiberglass, and vinyl, was designed to conform to Manhattan’s psychic dimensions rather than its physical ones, and included such landmarks as the Apollo Theatre, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, the Chrysler Building, the Stock Exchange floor, Trinity Church, and the World Trade Center. Finding inspiration in sources as diverse as cubism and newspaper comics, Grooms’s city-within-a-city provoked serious thought about everyday life in Manhattan.