DUMBO

CAP – September 26
7-9pm
13th Annual DUMBO Art Under The Bridge Festival

The Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) held its 13th Annual DUMBO Art Under The Bridge Festival this weekend. Festivities started Friday and lasted until Sunday. These included public art installations, art and music performances, venders, and open studios. Myself and some friends attended the festival on Saturday evening and walked around D.U.M.B.O. (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Brooklyn. We started at the intersection of Jay and York Street traversing towards Brooklyn Bridge Park and Empire Fulton Ferry State Park. Our destination was to watch a 45 minute performance by Abby Donovan “These The Heavens Of My Brain” which was taking place in the parks. On our way we watched a band performing under the Manhattan Bridge, where almost directly above them was a looping video projection that consisted of footage of trains/cars quickly rushing by- a vignette of what could be happening on top of the bridge. It wasn’t accompanied by any prerecorded sound, but rather the sounds of cars rushing past in real time became the sound track for the recording of the past.
As we continued past art venders and random metal sculptures, we stumbled upon a long archway with a vaulted ceiling. In this tunnel-like archway there were three large scale video projections across the length of the ceiling. The videos were of a design oriented graphic animation of flowers slowing morphing into different organic shapes, types of flowers, and changing color. Through this large archway people were sprawled out on their backs staring up at the ceiling. We sat for a while in serenity watching the organic forms morph.
As we happened into Washington Street, we made it to the DAC where artists Wade Kavanaugh and Stephen B. Nguyen filled the area with their huge site-specific installation “The Experience of Green” made entirely out of red kraft paper. They transformed the space into a forest like labyrinth, which resembled gnarled trees, twisted roots, and smaller orifices where three people at a time could walk into. In certain areas the smaller spaces began to feel as though you were in a womb or even amongst intestines! As you twisted around the texturally rich area you continuously found something new and intriguing about the topography, whether it was smaller niches or as a result of light conditions. With the area completely covered in red (even the walls were painted over) it was curious that they would name the installation “the experience of green”. However we later found out that it was because of the color green “persisting as an optical after imaging “ when the participant blinked or closed their eyes!
As we entered the parks near the East River waterfront we encountered this old brick structure that no longer had windows, doors, or a roof, and in which certain parts of the walls were missing. As you walked into this structure there were three extremely large glowing piles, two of which were green and one white. On inspection they were plastic “Have a Nice Day” bags replete with smiley faces as well as a bunch of “I (heart) NY” plastic bags which were filled with green or white balloons.
On the side of a brick building in Wodiczko-esque fashion, artist Ed Purver projected a video of arms, which looked as if they were coming out of a row of windows. These hands would move around, interact and hold on another as they took turns spelling out messaged using sign language. Some of the messages included: “Will I ever be enough?” “There is music inside you” “We love you more than you can measure” “The earth delights to feel your bare feet” and “Pause here and look at the sky”.
In the park was a playground, which was made to resemble a ship. In “These The Heavens Of My Brain” Artist Abby Donovan stood atop this mock ship accompanied by a hand made wooden fishing pole and two large briefcases. Below her on the ground were three women; all three including the artist wore headlamps. The performance began as the artist opened the first briefcase-which was lined with foil. Inside the case was a bright light and hand crafted letters covered with glow-in-the-dark paint. Abby began by attaching the letters one by one onto her fishing pole, lowering them below to the three girls. As she lowered the letters, the girls would slowly move the letters to re-expose them to fresh light. Sporadically the artist would use her cell phone to call the three girls below, giving them instructions on how to arrange the letters on the ground. As time progressed, the girls- with the assistance of the artist’s cell phone calls- slowly rearranged the letters on the ground to spell out a message- while continuing to use their lamps to re-expose the letters with light. Once all the letters were removed from the suitcases the artist left the playground. The girls arranged the letters to spell out “These The Heavens Of My Brai” – the final “n” was missing. One of the girls received a call telling her to meet the artist on the side of the playground. The girl returned with the two briefcases, and after opening them, all three began to deconstruct the message. After all the letters were enclosed in the suitcases they picked up the cases and left the area.