An Installation, a Mural, and a Sculpture Vie for Attention on Lower Manhattan’s Streetscape
There are still a few days to play with an outdoor public art installation at Fosun Plaza (28 Liberty Street): “Domino Effect,” created by Montreal-based design studio Ingrid Ingrid and sponsored by the Downtown Alliance.
“Domino Effect,” which is on view through Wednesday, March 6, invites visitors to compose music spontaneously and collaboratively, through a life-size variation on the traditional, tile-based game. The installation consists of 120 giant dominos spread over 12 tables. Each tile has a color and a sound, prompting guests to create an orchestra of audio and visual sensations through interaction with the pieces and with each other.
A few minutes walk away, on the north side of the World Trade Center campus (near Vesey and Church Streets), a new mural is on display by highly regarded painter Georgie Nakima, whose work fuses geometric patterns with vivid colors to underscore the symmetry and beauty of nature.
A presentation of the ongoing World Trade Center Mural Project, this originally untitled piece was later given the name “Learning From My Mistakes,” by Ms. Nakima, who says of the female face at the center of the image, “is she ancestor or unborn child, is she self or separate, angel or prodigy? My response is always the same—she is you.”
“The patterns in the background are a colorful interpretation of yin and yang,” Ms. Nakima says, “demonstrating a multi-dimensional experience for our protagonist.”
In a separate development, another piece of public art inspired by the age-old game of Jacks has become a focus of legal controversy. Titled XO World, and located near the corner of West and Vesey Streets, this sculpture is comprised of more than 20,000 pounds of stainless steel wrought into the shapes of a globe and a giant Jacks piece. The work is meant to summon the innocence of childhood. Artist Daniel Anderson is suing the shipping company that transported the piece from South Korea, shortly before its installation at the World Trade Center site in 2021. He alleges that negligence by the shipper caused almost half a million dollars in damages, a charge that the company disputes.