Yeah, but the time it was erected, it was seen by some as a ghastly industrial eyesore that stuck out like a sore thumb just so people could “get a view”. Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all of that.
It wasn’t really meant to be a permanent, and expected to be torn down 20 years later. Being the tallest building at the time, and being built before sky scrapers, I guess they could plan keeping its view open with future buildings.
Anyway, I don’t really have skin in the game. I think it is an interesting shape. But the criticism of “it’s pointless” (in a non-literal way) could be said of pretty much all art. Time will tell if The Vessel will become a cherished installation, or torn down in 20 years for something else. There have been a lot of large installations in the past that didn’t stand the test of time.
I’m not a fan of these monuments, either, because of where the rich get the funds to create them. Some of those questions (like the lack of public input) were raised in this piece on NYC’s Little Island:
I am so unartistic as to disqualify myself from commenting on its merit in that regard. I also care very little for historical intent. What I do care about is the practical aspects of current usage. The Eiffel Tower does provide a beautiful view of Paris - that doesn’t take training or talent to see. While Paris is a very expensive place to live, France provides a fairly significant socioeconomic support system such that the people who do the work within the city can reasonably afford to live there.
Contrast that with the Vessel, which not only provides little to no benefit to the people of New York; it both presents a clear hazard as well as taking up space that is desperately needed for affordable housing in one of the most expensive cities in the world, in country that provides no support to people who actually do the work of making the city livable for everyone else.
AFAIK the Eiffel Tower had no purpose at the outset, other than as an ‘artistic’ statement/centrepiece for the World’s Fair. Sure, it has function now - radio and other broadcast masts - but I don’t think it had any more purpose when conceived than the Hudson Yards thing does.
I used to enjoy that, until the Belfry of Bruges. The images here don’t quite capture the worn rope “handrail” and stairs, but it gives an idea:
Similar conditions in chateaux and castles are why I always wear shoes with slip-resistant treads. Still, the combination of the bells and the cold wind in Bruges reminded me too much of the movie Vertigo. Now I stay away from bell towers and watch videos taken by other people instead.
This conversation is rather starting to vex me needlessly; I probably should have just muted the thread, rather than offering up my personal opinion.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Anyhoo…
Irrelevant to my actual point; does it serve a purpose NOW?
And with that point made, I think I will mute this thread;
I realize that all the recent bad news has put me in a mood most foul, and conjecturing back and forth ad nauseum about bad art will NOT help improve it.
Memory is a funny thing. I’ve seen Vertigo maybe five times, not always from beginning to end. I’ve seen In Bruges twice, and it clearly left much less of an impression on me.
Hundreds of residents & businesses flourished in the footprint of what is now Hudson Yards. The developer abused eminent domain laws to force them out, grab the land, make a deal with corrupt authorities, & build for profit. I’m not surprised by their disregard for human life.
I find this aspect of the prow-shaped outward cantilevering interesting. It’s as if, the higher you stand, the more difficult it is to notice those below you plummeting to their deaths. And, like the bow of a massive “Vessel,” there comes a point, unless you look directly down and behind you, where you cannot see what you are plowing through.
Like when a work of art transcends the artist, could this be a subconscious critique of monolithic capitalism? We should consider the physical context of this leviathan. No?
It was
painful to watch him dismantle a wonder’s of the world-sized brick chimney by himself - dangerous and ridiculously hard work he massively udnerbid on.
