LANDMARK

About

Once an industrial landfill and illegal dumping ground, Socrates has transformed itself into New York City’s preeminent sculpture park and social space for public art, community engagement and urban discovery. LANDMARK directly addresses the idea of place as intimately tied to social and ecological structures, to maintenance and stewardship, and to evolution over time.

LANDMARK features eight different artist projects including a newly commissioned major earthwork by Meg Webster. Additional artists in the exhibition include Abigail DeVille, Brendan Fernandes, Cary Leibowitz, Jessica Segall, Casey Tang, the curatorial collective ARTPORT_making waves, and a Broadway Billboard by Hank Willis Thomas. Since its inception in 1986, Socrates and the surrounding area of Queens, New York has rapidly changed. Whether by engaging directly with the land or commenting on the neighborhood’s cultural and economic shifts, each artwork in LANDMARK reflects historic transformations in the making.

At 70-feet in diameter, Concave Room for Bees, a new earthwork by Meg Webster is a living sculptural installation that will evolve over time. The circular earth bowl, comprising more than 300 cubic yards of fertile soil reaching five-feet high, is planted with flowers, herbs, and shrubs that attract pollinating creatures. Visitors are encouraged to enter the work and experience it, confronted by a multisensory mix of botanical aromas, insect hums, dewy air, and vibrantly colored flora. After the exhibition, the soil will be dispersed across the landscape, addressing the park’s urgent need for nutrient rich topsoil.

With: ARTPORT_making waves , Abigail DeVille, Brendan Fernandes, Cary Leibowitz, Jonathan Odom, Jessica Segall, Casey Tang, Hank Willis Thomas, Meg Webster