CENTRAL PARK - THE PARK THAT HIDES THE CITY

Living the ego system of the machine era to become part of the ecosystem of the knowledge era. “Here is the ideal I propose for the architecture of the machine age…for how an ideal American architecture should develop in the image of trees” Frank Lloyd Wright It’s probably impossible to pin down the source of Central Park’s power and mystique. There is the design genius of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and their vision for the modern city: that architecture should integrate into the natural surroundings. Perhaps, it is the way they orchestrated the hidden trails and gentle streams, the massive rocks, the bridges, the vast, soothing Sheep Meadow, the reservoir, the lakes, the fountains and the monuments that populate Central Park. Or maybe it is simply the impact of tens of thousands of trees growing in the heart of the city that gives Central Park its special unique magic. Central Park is universally loved and shared by millions of people around the world. It is an inspiration to countless individual visitors whose personal memories transform this green space from public park to private personal garden. As artists and immigrants to the U.S., Central Park is a place in New York that we love very much. The deep personal affection we hold was reason alone to make the park the center of our multimedia project. But we also felt compelled to share this powerful personal experience and make it accessible to others. Our concept with this project is to break the artificial boundaries between the city and the park. We want to metaphorically and literally export Central Park, to move beyond its confined area and go outside the city, outside the country and into cities around the world. For the past three years, we have taken over a thousand photographs of the trees and landmarks in Central Park. We’ve assembled panels comprised of layered individual photographs. The result is a series of dynamic and vibrant colorful images. Our vision is to project these images onto public buildings at an immense scale that would cover entire edifices. In conjunction with the outdoor projections, there will also be indoor projections of trees inside the exhibition space, thus erasing the distinction between the natural world and the constructed world. This multi-faceted project is comprised of five primary components, which can be presented simultaneously or individually. The first component is the exhibition in which we willpresent large-format, mounted photographic prints culled from the many layered images and a video installation of the still photographic panels where we inserted small video footages and sounds from the park, will be displayed on LCD Panels screen. The second element and most public element is the Outdoor Projection of the layered photographic panels, which we envision as a kind of performance taking place for a specified time (2-3 hours) over the course of multiple nights. The outdoor projection of course necessitates that the building have surfaces conducive to this type of display. [The remaining four components can be presented at the same building or an alternate location(s).] The third component, the Indoor Projection, allows viewers to witness a smaller scale version of the outdoor projections during daytime hours and over a longer course of time, concurrent with the exhibition. Before entering the exhibition, viewers will encounter the fourth component, the Postcard Grid.At a dimension of 60x40 inches, from a distance it will appear to be one complete image. At close range, viewers will see that the image is actually a grid created from one hundred individual 4x6” postcards, placed together like digital pixels or a mosaic. The fifth component is The Tree of Light. This installation consists of 50 cylindrical sculptures in various sizes and lengths, some standing, others hanging, that combine to create the visual spectacle of a glowing forest. In a sense, The Tree of Light functions as a thread that ties together the various elements The Photographic Panels We wanted to capture the varied beauty of the park throughout the year, to give people the opportunity to see the changing seasons as they occur in Central Park: the first bloom of spring, when the elegant beauty of colorful flowers adorns the trees, illuminating the green color of the new grass; the deep green of the leaves in the summertime; the burning red-orange and yellow of the fall—the cycle of life. Even in the cold deep of winter, we see people in the park. The trails, the ponds, the lakes and meadows are covered with snow and ice. The naked bare trees look like dark thin lines against the white sky, as if nature were drawing its own portrait. We have already created over 70 panels constructed from layers of many individual photographs of trees and landmarks taken over the course of three years. We also create 12 panels, small video footages and sounds from the park combine and bland into the large still photographic panels display on LCD Panels screen The photographic panels form the basis of the entire project. Individual panels will be mounted as photographic prints for the Exhibition, The Video insallation will be desplyed on LCD screen. The Indoor and Outdoor Projections are created from panels that cross-fade and overlap. The Postcard Grid is also comprised from one of the panels. And the sculptures in the Tree of Light installation will be made of transparent paper printed with small-scale panel images. The images were shot in both color and black-and-white. We manipulated the raw images by cropping and layering them. We also reduced or increased the tones and colors to illuminate better the fractal geometry and patterning found in nature. In this way, we seek to illustrate how nature has chosen this structure and form, not only for all living creatures and plants, but for all the elements and phenomena. From crystals and lightning, rivers and mountains, to blood vessels, the nervous system and even our lungs—all share this fundamental geometry, connecting us to trees and to nature. The Prints and the LCD Panels The prints are reproductions of the photographic panels. Made on high quality art paper and with varying dimensions, Rather than ship prints to eachsite, we intend to use local fine art printers as the exhibit travels, thus building relationships with area art professionals, reducing the exhibition’s carbon foot print, and adding to the local economy.The LCD screen Panels display the videos installations: small video footages and sounds from the park combine and bland into the large still photographic panels duration: 5-10 minute. the printsand the videos installations will be available for purchase. The Outdoor and Indoor Projections “Here is the ideal I propose for the architecture of the machine age…for how an ideal American architecture should develop in the image of trees” Frank Lloyd Wright New York is known around the world for its buildings that scrape the sky. Since 1890, nearly a dozen structures in the city have alternately held the title of “World’s Tallest Building.” While we think of these tall structures as the opposite of nature, buildings in many ways resemble trees: one part is rooted deep inside the ground, while the other reaches high to the sky. Both buildings and trees provide habitat to life and creation. The Indoor Projection is more low-tech and can be played independently throughout the duration of the exhibition. Inside the space, the projections will look as if the park were growing on the walls and an exterior surface of the building. The projections will be on the exterior of the building as well as inside a gallery, museum or similar closed indoor space. Essentially a video installation of still images, the projections will allow viewers to see the various panels from different seasons and experience the gradual change of the different color variations. The Outdoor Projection will cover the whole edifice and create the feeling of trees enclosing the building. The outdoor projections require more equipment and production staff and as such will be presented for a limited time as a special event. We are also aware of the output of energy for a projection of this magnitude and will take measures to offset the environmental impact of such a large-scale project. The Postcard Grid From a distance the entire postcard grid will look like one 60”x40” image of a photographic panel but is actually constructed from one hundred individual 4”x6” postcards. Part of our mission is to make art accessible to the public and to share the Central Park experience with as many people as possible. Postcards are inexpensive and can be sent anywhere in the world. Visitors can choose to take the whole set of 100, several parts of it, or even just one postcard, which they can keep or send as they wish. The structure of the postcard stand is designed so that each partition holds a small stack of a given card. This way, the overall image will always look complete and whole throughout the day, even as visitors purchase various cards. The stand can also be refilled on a regular basis as more popular postcards are depleted. The Tree of Light. This installation consists of 50 sculptures which can be easily printed and produced locally. We start by printing the photographic panels onto translucent paper. The paper is hand-formed into cylindrical shapes and held together by tabs and cut-outs, giving it the three-dimensional shape of a tree trunk. Like the trees in Central Park, the sculptures will vary in size and height, mimicking the organic dynamic of trees in nature. LED light panels placed inside the paper columns will illuminate them from within, creating a forest of light sculptures. Depending on the logistics of the space, the Tree of Light can begin at the entrance of the gallery space and continue winding its way through the various elements of the exhibition. In the same way that in Central Park, we experience clusters of trees and clearings, the sculptures can be distributed with varying density throughout the space. Like the prints and postcards, the light trees will also be available for purchase. From the outset, we envision this as a global project. After the first New York cycle, our hope is to export Central Park to major world centers such as Washington, Milan, Paris, Barcelona, Moscow, Abu Dhabi, London, Tel Aviv, Berlin, and the United Arab Emirates. Ideally, we would like to remount the full installation in each city. But there are many ways to “export” Central Park, including virtual exhibitions using widely accessible existing technology. We are also aware that New York City has several “sister cities” in other nations and we can utilize these existing relationships to facilitate international exhibitions. The global installation will emphasize the idea that our common life experience is global by its nature. Artificial territorial divisions are political by nature, not natural by nature. The earth is a living organism that provides conditions for life to exist and flourish: the air and wind are global; trees have neither religion nor nationalities. Without trees, the earth would be a barren desert and life would be unsustainable. Central Park is a symbol of human ingenuity and a reminder of our ability to design harmony between technology and nature. We want to create a strong visual installation that will change the environment of the city and open people’s eyes to see their immediate surroundings in a new way. We also want to spark a discussion and much-needed awareness about the role of the environment and the deep psychological impact that nature and trees have on our soul. How should we develop our vision of cities in the future using the knowledge and technology available today? How can we increase our understanding of nature’s evolution while contributing to the cycle of life on our planet? What are ways communities in the future will blend seamlessly with the natural world, using natural resources without causing damage to the environment but actually helping to balance the fabric of life on earth? Why are we drawn again and again to the wildness of Nature, brimming with life and creation? Even while we take the environment for granted, we respond to it emotionally and unconsciously. It is not just the ecstatic beauty that attracts us to Central Park. It is the life force of the trees, reflected through the cycle of the seasons, which draws us to new creation bursting daily. We are connected to nature because we are nature, and yet we build cities that are a triumph of human ingenuity and ego, skyscrapers made from iron and glass, suffocating our soil, landscape, and sky with concrete. It is only now that we begin to see how we can direct the power of our imagination, creativity, and ingenuity to work with our environment, to find the balance between nature and technology. The cities of the future will no longer look disconnected from nature as it was at the beginning of the industrial revolution but will draw from the wisdom of nature, connecting nature to technology. In the future world, we envision there will no longer be a division between the parks and the cities, as all will integrate into the natural surroundings. Today, we have unprecedented access to knowledge and can explore the universe from deep vast space down to the smallest basic particles. We can even see our own planet from space. It is a privilege previous generations could only dream about. But strangely enough, we don’t always take advantage of this remarkable era of knowledge to expand our vision and deepen our understanding of the true scale of our existence. We don’t always take time to acknowledge how fragile and beautiful our home is, how unique and rare life really is. This installation is an homage to those pioneering architects who were able to “see” with their intuition: the poetic visions of Frederick Law Olmsted, Calvert Vaux, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Environmental prophets, they were able to see and foresee the problems of the modern era. They saw what we are only now beginning to understand. They aspired to create cities inspired by nature. They created parks and buildings, utilizing organic forms in the designed construction and integrating them into the surrounding landscape. They left the ego system of the machine era to become part of the eco system of the knowledge era. All contents of this site