Arts/Culture: Places: Art & the City

Art & the City

Summer is generally viewed as the time to flee the city and head for the coast or into the country, but a slew of one-of-a-kind public art and major outdoor exhibits and performances in Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco and are providing serious reasons to spend some time outdoor this season. Here’s a round-up of the most exciting.

NEW YORK

The Waterfall Project Danish artist Olafur Eliasson has presented Denmark at the Venice Biennale, lit the Tate Modern with an artificial sun and collaborated with Louis Vuitton on its Christmas windows. And this summer, he takes on Manhattan. His much-anticipated Waterfall Project, which opens June 26, will consist of four freestanding waterfalls scattered throughout the East River, including under the Brooklyn Bridge. It will be the largest public art project since Christo and Jean-Claude transformed Central Park with their Gates. The immense waterfalls (each will be about 60 feet high) can be viewed from the Southstreet Seaport area and from Governor’s Island, but visitors who want to get up close and personal can also take a special water taxi or get star treatment from the Carlyle hotel.

Eliason fans should also visit Take Your Time, the first major U.S. retrospective of his work currently at New York’s MoMA.

Moore in America The natural splendor of the New York Botanic Garden and the organic shapes of Henry Moore’s bronzes seem like a match made in heaven, but bringing the eighteen oversized—and heavy—sculptures from the U.K. to the east Coast was no easy feat (most arrived in cargo ships). The exhibit is stunning and unprecedented: it’s the largest outdoor collection of Moore’s work ever shown in the country (let alone within such a gorgeous backdrop). The show runs through early November.

To read an interesting article in the New York Time about how curator Anita Feldman found the perfect location for each piece, go to: www.nytimes.com.

LONDON

Street Art Mystery street artist Banksy, who has never been publicly identified (though several sources in recent years claim to have photographed him at work) raised the profile of this still underappreciated art genre. This summer, Tate Modern is hosting a group show during which acclaimed artists from New York, Sao Paulo, Barcelona, Bologna, Paris and London have created enormous new works on the exterior walls of the museum, overlooking the Thames. Perhaps you can spot the next Banksy whose prices have been consistently rising into the stratosphere (blame it on the Jolie-Pitts, who own several of his pieces).

Sudeley Castle For the past three summers, Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, a director of Gagosian Gallery, has curated a fabulous outdoor exhibit at Sudeley Castle (located outside of London in the Cotswold countryside). This year’s showstopper—well-worth the two-hour drive from the city, particularly if you’re traveling with children—showcases some of the world’s leading artists and architects’ interpretation of a playground. Highlights of the specially commissioned pieces for play include a flying machine by Carston Holler, a tree house by Henry Krokatsis, oak-and-steel ping pong table by Rolf Sachs and a giant slide by Zaha Hadid. Through Oct 31.

Read more about what’s on in London this summer.

PARIS

Serra in Paris American artist Richard Serra has infiltrated the classic cityscapes of Paris with his Clara-Clara sculpture, on view in the Jardin des Tuileries, Named after the artist’s wife, the piece that consists of two massive C-shaped steel slabs, whose curving lines are perfectly placed so that you see the Concorde’s Obelisk looking through the sculpture on one side and the Musée du Louvre on the other. Through June 15, you can also catch his monumental exhibit in the Grand Palais for which the sculptor created huge steel sculptures, each rising 56 feet into the air and weighing more than seventy tons. They are all differently angled, transforming the Palais into a brilliant spectacle of shifting shadows throughout the day.

Spectacle à Versailles The stately châteaux, an easy train or taxi ride outside Paris, always hosts concerts and performances during the summer, but this year’s line-up is particularly impressive (and modern): Star ballerina Sylvie Guillem pays homage to the late Maurice Béjart, performing a series of modern pieces with the Tokyo Ballet (July 1 and 2); lighting genius Groupe F (who are responsible for making the Eiffel Tower flicker every hour) designed a fireworks spectacular around the Neptune Fountain and the Academy of Equestrian Arts, headed by famous artistic director Bartabas, is premiering a new show on August 29. Finally in September, contemporary artist Jeff Koons was invited to take over parts of the chateaux (both inside and out) and will display more than ten of his whimsical, large-scale pieces bound to dazzle in the opulent setting. The show kicks off in early September and runs through 10.

SAN FRANCISCO

Chihuly at the De Young Glass artists Dale Chihuli takes over San Francisco this summer, with a large-scale retrospective at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and several site-specific installations at the Legion of Honor and in the De Young’s garden. There’s free admission during the opening weekend of June 14-15. Approaching the De Young Museum, you can’t miss Chihuly’s 30-foot Saffron Tower, an intricate neon sculpture next to the museum garden’s Pool of Enchantment. For the Legion of Honor, the artist created a three-tiered glass chandelier in cobalt blue and a yellow orb called Sun, which is installed in the exterior courtyard. At the museum, eleven galleries will be dedicated to tracing the long career of Chihuly, perhaps best-known for his colorful glass installation at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

LOS ANGELES

Hollywood Bowl Picnicking at Los Angeles’ famed music venue while enjoying concerts is certainly nothing new, but the line-up this year is particularly fabulous, especially for a great mix of classical, jazz and rock. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will host a swing night on July 16; Thiervery Corporation and Bebel Gilberto perform on June 22, Feist on July 20, Gnarls Barkley with Deerhof on July 27; violin virtuoso Joshua Bell performs on August 19 and Radiohead will fill the Bowl on August 24 and 25.