'Waterfalls' art project roars into New York (First pics)

Source: USA Today

NEW YORK — If they pay attention to it at all, many people view the water off Manhattan's East Side as a flat, even boring expanse stretching under a series of bridges.
Not this summer.

When the spigots are turned on this Thursday, four mammoth waterfalls will spring into existence, freestanding cataracts roaring down into the East River and New York Harbor in a multimillion-dollar engineering feat designed by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson.

"Here in New York, water is everywhere. We take the water for granted," Eliasson said in an interview. "I want to suggest — now, it's not about the land, now it's about what's between the land."

First pics of NYC's Waterfalls in action set to launch fully tomorrow

more pics here…


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-06-25-new-york-waterfalls_N.htm

Wish I could be there to see it in person.

An artist named Peter Lewis did pretty much the same thing almost 30 years ago.



http://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_278_217_0_43/http%3B/CMSServer/COEWeb/about+edmonton/attractions/The+Great+Divide+Waterfall.htm

I grew up in Niagara Falls. It's just not the same.

Check it out on Canada Day.

i found the bridges to be amazing when i was there.

Seriously though... pretty but what a waste.

But if it makes New York more humid.....that wouldn't be so good.

x(

how about spending that dough on fixing it.

research how this is paid for - it isn't DOT funds.

ART HAS QUALITATIVE VALUE THAT CANNOT BE QUANTIFIED.

A project of the Public Art Fund, the falls required $13.5 million in private donations, including a big gift from Bloomberg LP., and the remainder was paid for by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06262008/news/regionalnews/pumped__falls_open_today_117219.htm

The falls will be turned on every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and illuminated after sunset.

They will roar off Governors Island in the harbor and into the East River at the Brooklyn base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Pier 35 near the Manhattan Bridge and off the Brooklyn Promenade. The highest will stand 120 feet tall, or almost the height of the Statue of Liberty, minus its pedestal.

They will be visible from the Brooklyn and Manhattan waterfronts and from the pedestrian and bike lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge.

And I can not wait!

According to the report on the television, Green power is being used to pump the water.

so that you can drive through the cascading sheet of water.

fuck public safety- it would be way cool.

It's kind of like giving the Statue of Liberty a new outfit.

Other than that, it does offer a nice aesthetic touch to a sttucture people usually take for granted.

And to all the haters: take off your hairshirts, and do your research before you chime in with some joy-killing post.

but at other locations as well.

I still think it's neat as all get-out.

the bridge is beautiful all on its own