Even though I just moved from Manhattan to Woodmere, Long Island, I still consider myself a Manhattanite. So, for this blog when I was thinking about what communities I belonged to, I immediately thought of Manhattan.
As a member of the Manhattanite community, I could’ve thought of a number of artworks from the Met, the MoMA, the Frick, the Guggenheim or any other of the museums here. But none of these single pieces of artwork stands out as sacred to the overall community. The Manhattan community is a strange community because it is not a close-knit, friendly, everyone-knows-everyone type of community. It is more of a “we all live together in the same space and share the same lifestyle even though out lives don’t really intersect.” So what artwork could be sacred to this type of disconnected community?
I immediately thought of The Gates by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Gates- 7,500 orange gates with long billowing panels of cloth hanging down, blowing in the wind, placed along the walking paths of Central Park. “The Gates” was a piece of Site Art that was unique to Central Park, and it was only up for about a month.
Why do I think the Gates is the most sacred artwork to the Manhattanites? Well, first because of the obvious- The Gates was in Central Park, the heart of Manhattan. Besides for that, it was also open to everyone. People came from all over just to walk through Central Park and under these great orange gates so that they could be part of the action.
Like I said before, Manhattanites are all strangers even though they use the same stuff like space, stores, transportation, and experience. “The Gates” reflects Manhattan life because all the people who came to walk through the gates were strangers sharing a common experience. Crowds of people who did not know each other walked through the Gates together, participating and sharing the experience together to be a part of the artwork itself. That’s part of why I think it was relevant to the community- although we didn’t go through it together together, we went through it separately together. I guess what I mean is that we all experienced it individually and in our own way at different times, but overall I think it was a sacred artwork to us individually and therefore also as an overall community of individuals.
Also since the Gates was only up for about a month, it reflects the Manhattan culture of a fast-paced, rushed way of living because since the gates were up for such a short time, you had to rush to see them, or else you might miss out.
I remember I went a lot of times to Central Park to see The Gates. I went with my friends, and I went with my family. I remember how cold it was, and that there was snow on the ground. I even remember what I was wearing that day! It was a big touristy day; there were street vendors selling hats, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and other apparel with the picture of the Gates. Even though we weren’t tourists, I remember my mom bought a hat for herself and a sweatshirt for me, because she said it was “part of the experience”.
Besides for being a sacred artwork for the Manhattan community, I think the Gates also helped create a community. By the fact that we all came together to look at the gates, we became much closer. Without public places such as The Gates, it would be much harder to be a community because we would just be a bunch of people living our own lives side by side. However, by coming together, crossing paths and having shared experiences, we become connected people who make up a community, rather than people living alone side by side.
