Seen & Heard: Musical Swings and Inflatable Birds

May 10, 2016 Arts & Culture, Construction, Restaurant/Bar News, Shopping

••• Jehangir Mehta’s Graffiti Earth restaurant, inside the Duane Street Hotel (where Mehtaphor was), now opens May 19 instead of May 11.

••• I would love to know why some construction sites create a pedestrian passageway and others don’t. Below: 456 Greenwich, which is taking over Desbrosses and Greenwich (and possibly Washington) sidewalks; does it really need both (or all three)? Pedestrians yesterday were just walking on Greenwich, nearly getting sideswiped by cars. And don’t get me started on 111 Murray.

••• Aero, Thomas OBrien’s store at  419 Broome, is moving uptown in mid-June. Until then it’s having a big sale; I nabbed a few items from the 75% off shelves but there’s still a lot left to check out.

Aero sale shelves••• This is (also) a bit out of my usual jurisdiction but there’s a new two-level restaurant called Miss Paradis at the corner of Prince and Mulberry. Everything about that signage, but especially “architectural concept [by] Philippe Starck,” is a red flag. And now I have this song stuck in my head, but that’s OK.

Miss Paradis••• A Brookfield Place ad in Time Out New York—Adam got me a subscription for Christmas (“so you can find things for us to do”)—details four upcoming art exhibits/events there:

The Swings: An Exercise in Musical Cooperation (June 10 to July 7): “Swing, and experience collective music-making in this interactive art installation.” From the Arts Brookfield website: “Each swing represents one of four instruments—piano, harp, guitar, vibraphone—and triggers sound when participants swing back and forth. As certain melodies emerge through cooperation between players, The Swings fosters a sense of community and ownership of public space.”

Air Pressure (June 27 to September 12): “More than 150 inflatable fabric birds, activated by air, flap their wings at Brookfield Place in this kinetic sculpture installation designed by artist collaborative Studio F Minus.”

Lowdown Hudson Music Fest (July 12-13): “Giants of the music scene take the stage at Brookfield Place’s unique summer music festival.”

Rooftop Films (July 28-30): “Three nights of cutting edge cinema with NYC’s acclaimed outdoor film festival.” Is this instead of the Tribeca Film Festival Drive-In screenings?

The Swings

 
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2 Comments

  1. anne
    May 10, 2016 • 3:34 pm

    I assume the amount of space that Brookfield cordons off for the swings will be offset by the ‘sense of community and ownership of public space’.

  2. Bob
    May 12, 2016 • 9:14 am

    I agree 1,000% with your comment “I would love to know why some construction sites create a pedestrian passageway and others don’t. ……. Pedestrians yesterday were just walking on Greenwich, nearly getting sideswiped by cars. And don’t get me started on 111 Murray.”
    There seems to be no limit to the amount of public space which a construction site can subsume for their operations. The fact that Church Street, Barclay Street & Park Place have been severely restricted for nearly two years for the construction of one of the ugliest buildings designed in this area is just another example. There are many, many more. Almost any time I go out in this area there is another sidewalk or street taken up by construction. Do they pay for this storage space? Don’t people matter at all?