NEW YORK - A fountain of tears, an anthropomorphic pine and a gigantic pigeon are three of the twelve finalist works for the Plinth of the High Line: the competition for the installation that will occupy the pedestal where today the spectacular bust of a woman is located "Brick House "by Simone Leigh is on its way home.
The High Line is a disused section of an elevated railway that ran along the Hudson: crowded with tourists before the Covid pandemic, it can still be visited these days with limited access south of 23rd street and narrow-gauge.
The Plinth, located on a bridge overlooking Tenth Avenue and 30th Street in the northernmost section nicknamed "the spur", is inspired by the Fourth Plinth of Trafalgar Square: the pedestal in the northwest corner of the London square empty of centuries and from 2005 Deputy for the installation of publicly funded works of contemporary art.
Brick House will remain on the Plinth of the High Line until spring 2021 when it will be replaced by the still unannounced work that won the second commission: among the finalists there is also the Italian Paola Pivi.
The finalists of the two new editions have been selected from a 'long list' of 80 works by a jury of experts and with the help of the public: the two winners will occupy the Plinto for 18 months each in 2022 and 2024 respectively.
The artists - Iván Argote, Nina Beier, Margarita Cabrera, Nick Cave, Banu Cennetoğlu, Rafa Esparza, Teresita Fernández, Kapwani Kiwanga, Lu Pingyuan, Pamela Rosenkranz, Mary Sibande and Andra Ursuţa - come from ten countries on five continents.
They will now have to produce scale models of their proposals which will be exhibited starting in January on the High Line.
The twelve works invite reflection on major themes such as climate change and war, immigration on the border between the United States and Mexico, colonialism and human rights, spirituality and the natural world: the Colombian Argote's pigeon has dimensions 'oversize' of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and is titled with a hint of irony "Dinosaur".