The streets were crowded and noisy as always. People minding their own business and walking fast. In between the lively streets of Broadway and W 64th Street, there was a little quiet place with a few tables and chairs. This location called Dante Park, where the busyness of New York seemed to stop had something hidden in it. On closer examination in the middle of the park, hidden away behind flowers and other shrubbery was a statue of a bird and its chicks. The statue of the Red-necked Grebe was brightly colored and seemed to be made of cheap wooden material. The three babies on the back of the eight-foot tall bird looked scared and terrified, looking around in every direction. Although the statue is of massive height, it is hidden from a person’s view unless they are looking through a small gated area in the front of the bird.

The art piece is part of a larger installation by the artist Nicolas Holiber, who was made and put 12 birds in small areas going down Broadway. Each piece is made of 100% reclaimed or recycled wood and shows 12 of the endangered species native to New York City. Under Kwon’s paradigm lense, I believe this art piece is a form of New Genre Public Art. I believe the Red-necked Grebe fits this category for the message the art piece has and the action it provokes in the community. The art piece shows the beauty of one New York City’s bird and the harsh truth that without any community involvement, the bird could go extinct. In particular with Red-necked Grebe, I found it very intriguing how hidden it was. It took me a couple of minutes to find the art piece because of its location hidden behind the park’s plants and flowers. I believe the artist did this on purpose to show how oblivious New Yorker’s can be to the issues in our city. If I was not looking for this particular structure, I would have walked right past it. The Grebe’s locations hit on the point of how hidden the issue is of the endangered species in New York and how people themselves must learn more about it and be more proactive. New York City Audubon, the nonprofit organization responsible for financing Nicolas Holiber’s work, message is also seen through the art. The group is an environmental organization that works for the protection and safekeeping of the native birds in New York.

The second art piece I visited, is a site I see almost every day. It has been a part of my life since I was very little and the statue is the main association to my area of Staten Island, called South Beach. Between the intersections of Sand Lane and Father Capodanno Boulevard, there is the entrance to the South Beach boardwalk and parking lot. It is a busy area and on the weekends it is crowded with families going to the beach to have fun. In front of the entrance is a large work of art depicting six dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are made of bronze and are connected to poles which hold their bodies up in the air as if they were in mid-way jumping out of the water. The gated fountain can be seen from many parts of the boardwalk and is the central part of South Beach.   

The piece was created by sculptor Steven Dickey and architect Dana Hepler and was completed by June 20th,1998. I believe the sculpture at first fit as Kwon’s art in a place. When the structure was first built, it was meant to beautify Staten Island. Staten Island was the least popular borough and the Staten Island Borough President’s Office, who funded the project, wanted to attract more tourists and make the borough more popular. Originally, I do not believe the piece had a meaning other than to be pretty and keen to the eye. The statue was disconnected with the community and did not have any correlation to the area, but I believe in the 20 years since it has been built the message of the art has changed. I think today the dolphin statue fits more of Kwon’s description of Art as a Space. I believe the art piece has become more interactive with the community and now shows the growth of South Beach. Although the fountain has a fence around it, during the summer you could still see kids playing in the fountain and climbing the dolphins. Furthermore, the fountain had not only become more integrated but also now has a message which resonates with the community. The dolphin statue depicts the large change Staten Island had overgone and how it is now a beautiful communal place. Staten Island, like the dolphins, had risen out of the ground and become the great borough it is today.

Although both the sculptures I chose were animals they hold very different messages and connect very differently with the community around them. The Red-necked Grebe is a much more recent art instillation and is not a permanent work of art unlike the dolphin statue. Adding on the Grebe showed a part of New York City which is forgotten and not cared about, the conservation of birds, while the dolphin statue showed the beauty that can come of New York and the development of a borough to the exquisite place it is now. Furthermore, the bird statue is of little size and hits to a different audience than the dolphin. The dolphin fountain is much larger than the bird installation and can only really connect to the local community of Staten Island, while Holiber’s piece is meant to reach the hearts of every New Yorker.