Socrates Sculpture Park is the only site in the New York Metropolitan area specifically dedicated to providing artists with opportunities to create and exhibit large-scale sculpture and multi-media installations in a unique environment that encourages strong interaction between artists, artworks and the public.  The park’s existence is based on the belief that reclamation, revitalization and creative expression are essential to the survival, humanity and improvement of our urban environment.

Socrates was an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986, when a coalition of artists and community members, under the leadership of sculptor Mark di Suvero, transformed it into a waterfront open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents. Today it is an internationally renowned outdoor exhibition venue and artist residency program that also serves as a vital New York City park, offering a wide variety of free public programs.

On October 5th, Socrates Sculpture Park is pleased to present Gap Ecology (Three Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms) by David Brooks, as part of Marfa Dialogues/NY.  Brooks’ sculptural intervention, Gap Ecology, will serve as the setting for a panel discussion between urban designer Claire Weisz, artist Mary Mattingly and David Brooks, on issues of urban environmental action and intervention. 

GAP ECOLOGY by David Brooks
A NEW INSTALLATION AS PART OF MARFA DIALOGUES/NY
OPENING ON SATURDAY, OCT 5, FROM 12:00-3:00PM
PANEL BEGINS AT 1:30PM

WHERE:
Socrates Sculpture Park
32-01 Vernon Boulevard (at the intersection of Broadway)
Long Island City, Queens

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:

Socrates Sculpture Park is pleased to present Gap Ecology (Three Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms) by David Brooks, as part of Marfa Dialogues/NY.  Gap Ecology at Socrates consists of three “cherry pickers”, or aerial boom lifts – common pieces of heavy machinery that tend to live on job sites throughout the duration of large construction projects. Placed at Socrates – an urban landscape that has undergone a visible infrastructural development, as well as a building dormancy, and adaptations that account for development’s affect on a neighborhood – Gap Ecology acts as a beacon to passersby of the ongoing change and evolution in their built and natural environment.

The opening will take place from 12:00-3:00PM.  Beginning at 1:30, Brooks’ sculptural intervention, Gap Ecology, will serve as the setting for a panel discussion between urban designer Claire Weisz, artist Mary Mattingly and David Brooks, on issues of urban environmental action and intervention.

Also on view in the park will be tree wood by Toshihiro Oki architect pc, a Broadway Billboard by Wangechi Mutu, and the 2013 Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition, featuring 15 new commissions by emerging artists.

 To learn more about Gap Ecology, visit:

www.socratessculpturepark.org/exhibitions/exhibition/gap-ecology

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Special Thanks

Ballroom Marfa
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
Plant Specialists
The Public Concern Foundation