Daily Archives: November 3, 2014

The Trump Globe: Global Unity – Shahrouk Reza and Daniel Seo

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The steel globe is located in Manhattan, Columbus Circle at the intersection of 8th avenue, Broadway, Central Park South and Central Park West in front of the Trump International Hotel. The globe was built in 1997, during the revamping of the Trump Tower and sometimes called the Monument to the World, Its structure shows the world made up of steel and it is at least 30 feet wide and is held by one huge chromium column. The Globe is surrounded by three rings orbiting it. In front of the globe, there are large crowds trying to take the subway and get to their destination.

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The Unisphere, located at Flushing Meadows, inspired the Globe. Because of that, it is a symbol of global interdependence and community. The Globe symbolizes the coming together of people from all over the world to achieve a common goal and to share in a common purpose. Its rings memorialize the tracks of Yuri Gagarin (First man in space), John Glenn (First American in Space) and the first communications satellite. Man’s ascension into the space was only accomplished through a myriad of collaborative efforts.

However, because of its location in NYC, the Globe takes on a different meaning entirely. Lying in the heart of the city, the Monument to the World is representative of New York City itself. Because of New York’s intense diversity, the world that the Globe symbolizes can be found within the confines of this great city. Within its boundaries, people from every corner of the globe can be found. As such , we chose the steel Globe because it represents the diversity of NYC and the intermingling of dozens of cultures that happen in the city every day, to create a truly global community.

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The Trump Globe’s 12 Story High inspiration.

The Charging Bull

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The Charging Bull, positioned at Broadway and Morris Street, by Bowling Green has a very strange and interesting history.  The sculpture created by Arturo Di Modica is only one of many of this man’s great works.  An immigrant from Sicily, Di Modica, has always been fascinated with the art of sculpture.  Even from a young age his work has been well known locally.   He had attended the Academia Del Nudo Libero for only two years before he opened up his own studio in Florence, Italy.  In Florence he mainly did work with bronze and other metals however he sometimes also used marble in his works.  After 12 years of living and working in Italy he moved to NYC and opened up a new studio in SoHo.  Di Modica was just as acclaimed in NYC as he was back in Italy, thanks largely to his marble sculptures at Rockefeller Center.  It was not until 1989 did he complete one of his most recognizable pieces though, the Charging Bull.

The Charging Bull weighted 7000 pounds and took Di Modica two years to complete.  In order to place it where he had wanted it, which violated city permits, Di Modica and colleagues staked out the area in front of the NYSE on the night of December 14th to find the interval of time between different police patrols.  He and his colleagues returned the next night with the bull to place it however found that a Christmas tree was set up in the exact location he had wanted to leave the bull.  With his path obstructed, Di Modica had left the massive 2.5 ton bull under the Christmas tree for all of the world to see and instantly overnight the bull had reached great acclaim.  Although the bull was quickly removed under the authority of the NYSE the bull had found a new home where it is now by the Parks Commissioner Henry Stern.Charging Bull, New York City

Like many of Di Modica’s works the Charging Bull had been made with a great attention to detail.  Although many pieces of art are usually used to show a static image, Di Modica’s works are created in very dynamic states.  In his “Charging Bull” the bull is in a stance ready to charge forward.  Also like many of Di Modica’s other works, the “Charging Bull” is thought to bring good luck, prosperity and success.  Due to its initial location, the Charging Bull could have been very symbolic of the coming prosperity of the economy since the bull in itself is symbolic of an upward trending progression (bull market).

When visiting the “Charging Bull” there were always tourists swarming around it, taking pictures with it and posing in many different ways.  Many do it to find this good luck that the “Charging Bull” is supposed to bring while others do it because they find it fun to pose cupping the massive scrotum of the bull.  Either way the Charging Bull is very iconic of the city and attracts the attention of millions of tourists.  In fact the sculpture is so popular, the NYPD always keeps officers near it because of the sheer number of people that surround the bull.  If you want to see the bull but do not want to make it into a tedious commute you can watch it livestream through this link, but nothing compares to seeing it in person!

http://chargingbull.com/video.html

-Kevin Call, Adrian Horczak

The Metronome – Jillian Panagakos, Manjekar Budhai, Samantha Dauer

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In 1999, artists Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel had installed The Metronome in Union Square. The art installation is comprised of 3 pieces, the first being a centerpiece comprised of rippling, concentric circles adorned by a gold, halo-like embellishment around an opening in the wall and a slab of rock. The second is an LED display with 15 digits. The first 7 digits represent the amount of time that has passed since midnight, in hours (2 digits), minutes (2 digits), seconds (2 digits) and tenths of a second (1 digit). The final 7 digits follow a similar format, except they are in reverse order and represent the amount of time left in the day. The 3 digits in the middle, measuring tenths of a second, are meant to be mind-bogglingly fast and represent the fleetingness of time, along with the fast-pace of New York City. The final piece of the installment is a half-sphere that is part gold and part black and that mimics the phases of the moon.

The LED clock from The Metronome installation.

The LED clock from The Metronome installation.

The entire installment deals with conceptions of time and utilizes symbolism to do so. The slab of rock, for example, is meant to represent geological passing of time. The opening in the wall emits smoke and sound at midnight and noon each day, to mark significant times. The sphere, of course, represents the lunar phases and passing of time on that level. The most intricate piece, however, must be the LED clock, which has matching halves that increase or decrease accordingly. They perfectly fit together, measuring the amount of time since the last midnight and the amount of time until the next midnight, functioning almost as a “modern-day hourglass” as described by Atlas Obscura. The installment as a whole is one of the most confusing public pieces in the city.

 

The centerpiece of The Metronome in Union Square.

The centerpiece of The Metronome in Union Square.

Ultimately, our group chose to research The Metronome because its complex symbolism and links to mankind’s conception of and obsession with time. Humanity, as a whole, has a tendency to constantly need to understand time: how much of it has passed, how much we have left, and (especially for New Yorkers) how little we have to spare. The clock captures this idea perfectly, as the viewer is initially drawn to the 3 center digits, changing exceptionally fast, that connect how much time has passed with how much time is left. Literally and symbolically, you are stuck between past and future, quickly changing from each moment that is considered to be the “present”.

123rd Street Rap

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This poem by Willie Perdomo is a very dark portrayal of a day on 123rd Street. Despite this very gloomy look at a normal day on this street, the poem uses end rhyme that gives it a sense of rhythm and makes it an entertaining read. I almost felt bad reading this poem, because I enjoyed it so much. In the poem, nothing goes right on this street, from violence to nature that does not grow.

Dawn

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This is one of the darkest poems I have read, certainly the darkest I have read from this poetry book. This poem takes a very pessimistic view of New York and does not say one positive thing about New York. Why does Federico García Lorca feel so strongly against New York? The last two lines are especially dark, “Crowds stagger sleeplessly through the boroughs as if they had just escaped a shipwreck of blood”. I have not been in New York for too long, but I have never seen anything like the images described in this poem.

Six Characters in Search of an Author

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My response to this play was very similar to Christopher Chong’s. I understood the overall plot, mainly thanks to the playbill’s summary, but I could not follow the smaller details of the play. This was mainly because it was difficult to keep up with the English subtitles, but even when I could read the subtitles, I was not able to watch the characters on stage. However, even though I could not understand the entire story, it was easy to see that this was an outstanding performance, as the actors and actresses were fantastic on the stage. This play likely would have been very enjoyable if you could read the subtitles and watch the play at the same time.

In regards to whether the ending was reality or fiction, I believe the ending and deaths of the two characters were fiction. This is because for the earlier parts of the play, the majority of the roles for the characters were in their scenes. However, even when they were not acting out a scene, they had the same personality throughout the entire play, which suggests they were not really acting, but rather were being themselves. Also, when the characters were going through a scene, they never had to do a second rehearsal because they always did it perfectly the first time.