This weekend, the populist playground known as Governors Island opens for the 2011 season. Located approximately 1/2 mile from Manhattan’s Financial District, it is accessible via a quick ferry ride [currently free].
The island served military purposes for over 200 years, most recently as the Coast Guard’s largest installation, which closed in 1995. Eight years ago, 150 acres of the island were transferred to the people of New York for $1 with the stipulation that the land be used for public benefit, and the remaining 22 acres became the Governors Island National Monument.
Plans are in the works to transform the island into a park but, right now, it is in a kind of limbo, open to the public and featuring many temporary amenities and displays among [and also within] its many old military buildings.
What’s really amazing is that a short ferry ride from Manhattan yields such a new and different experience, or actually several different experiences. There are many quiet places on the island, especially among the shuttered buildings, and there are also concessions, art installations, and a bike rental program. Free concerts and other special events take place throughout the season, but there’s plenty to see and do aside from that.
These photos are from last summer; I’m curious to see how this summer’s spectacle will be different. I’ve read criticism of last year’s programming, especially the claim that the art installations weren’t of high quality. I really appreciated the randomness of what I saw — the inconsistency in approach and site [and yes, quality] yielded a fun experience that wasn’t wrapped up in the usual slickness of New York’s contemporary art scene. Much of the art was interactive or participatory, and all of it was surprising.
Rotterdam-based West 8 is leading the design of the new public space; learn more about that plan here, and check out an interview with the firm’s founder Adriaan Geuze here.
