Playing The Building
We went to see David Byrne's "Playing The Building" an art installation in the Battery Maritime Building right next to the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in lower Manhattan.
I like the concept though the execution was less interesting than I had hoped. I would like to see some people who could actually play a keyboard instrument take a whack at creating recognizable melodies out of the sounds of the building. To someone who grew up riding the Staten Island Ferry and has spent a lot of time in the various incarnations of the terminals on either side the sounds produced by the installation were disappointingly familiar. The building sounded exactly like it should which is, I guess, a success from one point of view but slightly boring from mine.
Still, it was a worthwhile trip in and I'm glad I saw, heard, and smelled the place. Poking around old, decaying public or industrial spaces is something I enjoy.
There's also something to be said for spreading out with the Sunday papers and a cup of coffee on the lower deck of the Staten Island Ferry on a summer day. And it was practically free: we drove to the ferry which is maybe half a gallon of gas round trip, parking is free on Sundays and so's the ferry. We zipped over on the noon ferry, poked around the installation for half an hour and jumped on the 1pm ferry back and were back home by 1:50pm.
On the way in we stopped at the public library in St. George. As a lifelong Islander I'm amazed at the amount of positive change that's happened in the area around the ferry terminal. So many good restaurants, the farmer's market, the theater, the library...and it just seems to keep improving even in the current crappy economy.
Now if someone could just figure out something to do with the Paramount we'd really be rolling. Maybe they could hook up an old organ, hmmm.....
I like the concept though the execution was less interesting than I had hoped. I would like to see some people who could actually play a keyboard instrument take a whack at creating recognizable melodies out of the sounds of the building. To someone who grew up riding the Staten Island Ferry and has spent a lot of time in the various incarnations of the terminals on either side the sounds produced by the installation were disappointingly familiar. The building sounded exactly like it should which is, I guess, a success from one point of view but slightly boring from mine.
Still, it was a worthwhile trip in and I'm glad I saw, heard, and smelled the place. Poking around old, decaying public or industrial spaces is something I enjoy.
There's also something to be said for spreading out with the Sunday papers and a cup of coffee on the lower deck of the Staten Island Ferry on a summer day. And it was practically free: we drove to the ferry which is maybe half a gallon of gas round trip, parking is free on Sundays and so's the ferry. We zipped over on the noon ferry, poked around the installation for half an hour and jumped on the 1pm ferry back and were back home by 1:50pm.
On the way in we stopped at the public library in St. George. As a lifelong Islander I'm amazed at the amount of positive change that's happened in the area around the ferry terminal. So many good restaurants, the farmer's market, the theater, the library...and it just seems to keep improving even in the current crappy economy.Now if someone could just figure out something to do with the Paramount we'd really be rolling. Maybe they could hook up an old organ, hmmm.....
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