Anish Kapoor Rips Open Urban Fabric with First New York Sculpture
(archrecord.construction.com - 09/15/2006)
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| Courtesy Performance
Structures and Public Art Fund |
As the song suggests, “Autumn in
New York will lift you up when you’re down.” Between
September 19 and October 27, sculptor Anish Kapoor’s
concave, 35-foot-diameter Sky Mirror will attempt a similar
feat at Rockefeller Center, where it will reflect Fifth Avenue
life in inverse. This is the first New York public artwork
for Kapoor, whose works include the popular Cloud Gate at
Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Sky Mirror will rest freely on a platform,
with its convex side hovering a few feet from the concrete—reflecting
passers-by and yellow taxis of Fifth Avenue as floating objects
in a seamless stainless-steel surface. The concave side of
the 23-ton mirror will face 30 Rockefeller Center, turning
the Art Deco landmark on its head. Adi Shamir, the recently
appointed executive director of the Van Alen Institute, calls
it “a powerful urban intervention because it offers the
opportunity for passersby to find and see themselves engaged
in an elusive public space.” Sky Mirror is organized
by the Public Art Fund and hosted by Rockefeller Center owner
Tishman Speyer Properties.
