Way back on June 9th, I took a trip to Governors Island for the opening of Figment Festival 2012. I liked Governors Island so much when I first went for Macaulay’s orientation that I decided I had to go back. But this time for art.
For those of you who don’t know, FIGMENT is a project dedicated to the arts, focusing on participation in the creative and free. The project also addresses issues such as lack of opportunity for emerging artists, access to art for everyone, lack of participation and community, underutilization of public space, and a society focused on commercialism. You can check out the full details here. Each year, FIGMENT hosts its annual participatory arts event in New York, dating back to 2007. It was so successful that the event spread to other big cities. The event is completely free and for all ages. And it takes a different spin on art. Rather than viewing the art as spectators, you get to interact with the art. So, in New York, it is held on Governors Island each year during the summer. This year, the opening was on June 9th and 10th. There were all sorts of crazy activities, which I’ll talk about below. But, for the remainder of the summer, until late September, the Interactive Sculpture Garden remains. So you can ride the ferry to the island on any weekend or holiday Monday (for free) and hang around. I think FIGMENT stands for great things and is a highly successful event. It really achieves its goals in encouraging participation in art, bringing the community together, and showcasing emerging artists.
When I first arrived at the island, I already knew this event was going to be quirky.
I was greeted by this wonderful vibrant sign, reminiscent of the Coney Island Sideshow banners by Marie Roberts. And as I was taking a picture of the sign, a golf cart came down the street, blasting upbeat and funky music, while the passengers cheered on and waved to visitors all while dancing. Hmm… I love it! I walked to my right and already, the place was bursting with energy. People were just bicycling or strolling down the road. I first happened upon a small workshop area, where kids and adults alike were using sticks and twigs to create sculptures. Across from the workshop was a person wearing a donkey mask and doing an interpretive dance. It was very strange, but compelling. Especially because the dancer was so random. There was no music and he/she was dancing alone in the middle of a parking lot? But that’s one of the things I loved about FIGMENT. Even though this activity seemed completely random, the randomness made it fit in with all the other art shown. And 
who knows, maybe this dancer was just a visitor who wanted to leave an impression on others. Maybe he/she wasn’t even an official part of the event. But that doesn’t matter. I thought he/she danced beautifully and created some intriguing forms with his/her body. I captured some great moments in the dance. Here is one of them.
Continuing down the road, I saw this a rounded historic building. In front of the entrance, staff members of the building were handing out little numbered tags. So I decided to check it out. Hey, it’s a free museum! And a prison at that. I wandered around the courtyard in the center and through the cells. There wasn’t much to see, but it was nice to peek through the corners and bars of the complex. There was also a beautiful scale model of the prison on display. Throughout the cells, there are boards with tidbits of interesting facts. If you ever find yourself on Governors Island, the prison is worth a visit. It won’t take long to go around the whole thing. They also give free guided tours, but I didn’t go on one so I can’t tell you what they’re like. I only wish that visitors could explore the upper floors. But for reasons I don’t know, they are closed off, as are most of the bottom cells. You don’t get to walk through all the bottom floor cells.
Also, nearby the prison, on the road that wraps around the island, you can get wonderful views of the Statue of Liberty and of the Lower Manhattan skyline. And on a particularly windy, rough day, the waves look violent, crashing against the edge of the island. The water is really deep and dangerous, but cool. So long as you don’t fall over the railing. Hehe…
But yes, back to FIGMENT. Down by the…hm, I just realized that I don’t know how to address where anything is on the island. I don’t know where north, south, east, and west are. And I don’t know if there are names for different locations like, the Great Lawn or the South Fields. So, from now on, I won’t talk so much about location. I’ll just discuss what went on.
There was two stages, from what I remember, at opposite ends of the island. At one, an band played indie rock music while at the other, there was a kind of musical act. I didn’t spend time at either stages though. I just heard the music from afar. On the main lawn, different sculptures and events took place around the edges. At one side was a camp of colorful tents and
uniquely dressed individuals. They were a very laid-back group of musicians, fortune tellers, etc.
Walking along this edge of the lawn, I came across huge blown up hands. Literally. They remind me of the Hamburger Helper hands. Haha. Or Mickey Mouse’s gloves.
Next to this installation was a puzzle-piece decorating workshop. (Where the featured image comes from.) The rules of decorating a puzzle piece were confusing (something like buying it at some store in Manhattan and doing it at home or using the limited supplies at Governors Island) so I did not participate. But I did get a good look at other people’s designs and some of the pieces were amazingly creative. I am not blessed with that talent unfortunately. I need a visual aid to create art; I can’t draw, paint, or design from my imagination.
Moving a little towards the center of the lawn, there was a huge wooden box. Remember when I said I heard some sort of a musical coming from a stage? Originally, I thought it was coming from this box. I decided to chase the sound to find the source. At first I was facing the back of the box, so I walked to its front to see what kind of piece this was that it was playing music. However, when I got to the front, I saw that it was actually a contained scene in the box. Like the display windows at stores. The music was not coming from here at all. (Soon after, I figured out that it was coming from a stage with humongous speakers across the lawn.) This piece was really fascinating. There are small subtle details that prompt you to not just look at it and quickly walk away, but to closely inspect the small scenes within the larger scene. Additionally, when I was there, the artist was also there, standing by talking to curious viewers.
Next I stopped by some kind of dance/music machine. On the road, there was a rolling DJ stand on which the DJ jumped and danced. Connected to the back was a huge bopping frog. So weird. But not as strange as the aqua battle taking place nearby on the lawn. I can’t remember the name of the game anymore, but the rules were basically, you had to use the costume pieces hanging on the clothesline to dress up. Then you and your team stand in one of the two small inflatable pools that are filled with very shallow water and wet stuffed animals. When the timer starts, you have to throw as many stuffed animals into the other teams pool while they throw other ones at you. The winner is the team whose pool in the end has less stuffed animals. But the strangest part of the game was the 
referee/commentator’s outfit. A military ballerina?
After walking down half of the lawn, I reached the most packed area of FIGMENT: the mini-golf course/playhouse treehouse/Statue of Liberty’s head/TV area. Basically, where most of the interactive art was. The mini-golf course was a homemade, for lack of a better word, and the whole thing was free. The treehouse had tons of buttons, bells and whistles, and nifty little sound-making gadgets. Like a child’s toy adult-size. And there was this lovely little slide. I say that sarcastically. It totally bruised by tailbone for the following days :( There was also a larger than life TV that you could walk in and pose! Another really cool piece was a model of the Statue of Liberty’s head scaled to the same size as the actual. Little kids practically dominated this piece, walking and rolling all over it. And the last piece was an orange structure called the Circle of Intention. Inside, the white walls were lined with words in different colors and languages. In the center was a red pole with ribbons attached to the top, reaching out the structure. Off the lawn, there
was large drum circle. Interactive art! Yay!
After continuing around the main lawn, I reached a huge red sculpture – a very linear and architectural piece and two ginormous bright wheels. They look like hamster wheels, but, sadly they don’t move and you’re not allowed to climb them. Also around here were performers completely covered in a stretchy colored fabric sack, moving around in odd forms. A bit freaky, I’d have to say. But in a good way. Nearby, there was a small merry-go-round, with swings as seats and bubbles coming out of the top! Whoo!
Off the main lawn, there were other installations, such as dance and music group performances, where visitors would just take out a blanket, sit on the grass, relax, and watch. I went into one of the buildings on Governors Island. (Unrelated to the event, but I love the architecture of the houses here. It reminds me a lot of the northeastern colleges I visited/applied to. I 
would love to go to school on Governors Island! And there actually is a high school on the island, with a huge fish tank at the entrance.) One of my favorite installations was a toy capsule vending machine where you could actually turn the coin slot (without putting in any coins) and receive a capsule. My capsule included a gold coin token, a small clear rubber snake, a black rubber ring that says “QTPIE,” a pretty designed strip of card stock with the phrase “things will happen,” and a “fortune teller miracle fish.” Yeah, that’s right. A fortune-telling miracle fish. This was a really nice souvenir.
Another cool artwork was the ice blocks that never melting. The day was hot and I did a lot of walking, so touching the ice block was blissful. One of the tree trunks nearby was covering with a stretchy piece of fabric and it looked as if there was a face protruding from the trunk. Very cool. A huge spider character made of paper mâché and tissue paper. A tree with pieces of paper hanging down a branch. On each paper was a drawing, mostly of faces. I especially loved how the light beamed through the gaps between each scrap. And lastly, but not least, a huge battle of mainly little boys against the older twenty-something men in charge of the event – complete with toy swords and shields. My friend and I were invited to play, but I declined. Haha.
Overall, I had a wonderful and enriching experience. This was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I hope that this event becomes more and more popular each year because I think its aims are terrific and it is a very cultured way of having fun. Again, I apologize for not writing this sooner! GOSH, I need to stop procrastinating on this website. (Note: I did not give most of the names of the artworks. A lot of them can be found on the website, here. You’ll also probably notice that I did not cover some of the cool sculptures that are shown on the website. Unfortunately, I did not see a lot of them when I was there on the opening day. I think they were added later. I’ll have to take a visit to the Sculpture Garden again.)
I’ll leave you with this appropriate photo of the dock as I left Governors Island and a photo that I really adore, but couldn’t find anywhere relevant to put it.
