After giving my public art project a bit more thought after last Thursday’s class, I decided to go in a different direction creatively. Essentially, I wanted a more lighthearted and direct path to the emotional themes evoked my my found piece.
That piece, as you may recall, was a clipped newspaper article that I discovered on the sidewalk. After some research, I learned that the clip was published 12 years ago and that the author of the article has since died. I felt a sense of both history and mystery after picking it up. It also heightened my awareness of the wide variety of items blowing around on New York’s streets and sidewalks.
So, for my public art piece, I took a piece of relatively obscure Madison Square Park history, crafted a relatively odd semi-sculpture to reference that history in a mysterious way and then I put it on the ground in two different spots in the park. (The history: Some believe baseball was founded either in the park or very close to it. The sculpture: Four baseballs shaped as a diamond with the text, “Was I born near this park?” written on them.) To me, this was a fun way to get at the core themes from the original found piece.
I found mixed reactions to the baseballs. Many people walked right past. Many gave it a quick glance and a few gave it a much closer look. I would love to know what people actually thought, in addition to knowing what they did.
One note: I wanted to include a piece of music that I feel captures the ethos of this installation for me, but I don’t own the copyright to it. Therefore, I didn’t want to post it on a video sharing site. So I’ll bring in a DVD. (The song is called Little Cloud and it’s by the Incredible String Band. I first heard it in the French movie Summer Hours which, appropriately, is largely about history and memories.)
