USA: Artist to creat giant waterfalls in New York

Record ID: 825380

  • Title: USA: Artist to creat giant waterfalls in New York
  • Date: 21st January 2008
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 16, 2008) (REUTERS) BROOKLYN BRIDGE DETAIL OF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE, DISSOLVE TO GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF ONE OF OLAFUR ELIASSON'S WATERFALLS TO BE CONSTRUCTED UNDER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THE WATERFALL TO BE AT PIER 35, MANHATTAN GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THE WATERFALL TO BE AT GOVERNOR'S ISLAND ANOTHER GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THE WATERFALL WHICH WILL BE UNDER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA4TVJFGR6QY6WVB4I6JVOHGJJ0
  • Story Text: Four man-made waterfalls will be constructed in the water off Manhattan, Brooklyn and Governor's Island. Artist Olafur Eliasson's installations will grace New York's shores for three months in the summer.
    Four giant waterfalls will be erected in New York for three months this summer in a public art project city officials hope will create 55 million U.S. dollars in extra tourism revenue for the Big Apple.
    The waterfalls, including one that will fall from the famed Brooklyn Bridge, are the brainchild of Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Installation will cost 15 million U.S. dollars, funded by private donations to New York's Public Art Fund.
    The waterfalls will range in height from 90 to 120 feet (30 to 40 metres) -- around the same as the Statue of Liberty from head to toe.
    Three of the waterfalls will cascade into the East River and New York Harbor from free-standing scaffolding towers that Eliasson said were part of his artistic vision, mirroring the scaffolding towers that sprout up throughout New York. The falls will be in place from mid-July to mid-October.

    "What I have to do in a teamwork like this is to obviously advocate the artistic qualities about the project and I think the success within a teamwork lays in that everybody succeeds advocating what they believe in without compromising the other ones," said Eliasson.
    City officials are hoping that increased hotel, restaurant and other business revenues linked to the waterfalls should bring an additional 55 million U.S. dollars to the city's economy, Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris said.
    The Circle Line boat company will offer free and discounted trips to give visitors a closer look at the waterfalls.
    The scaffolding will have a floating barrier at the bottom to stop small boats going underneath and a "shark cage" under the water to stop fish being sucked into the pumps that will take the water to the top.
    The pumps will be powered by renewable energy sources and the falls will be lit only by low-level lighting at night that Eliasson said would be "not Las Vegas-style."
    Eliasson, who was born in Copenhagen in 1967, is best known for his 2003 installation "The Weather Project" at the Tate Modern in London, a giant sun made of mirrors, lamps and mist that drew over 2 million viewers.
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