Meeting Benches World art in all forms
What happens when you suspend a giant ball, above a city walkway, during the night? Maybe people look up from their phones, with new attention to the world around them. Says its creator (the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, known for his whimsical urban installations), that its positive artistic statement, connects people to their childhood. You need to remember that the friendly and floating Rubber Duck travels the world (has popped up in Auckland, São Paulo, and Osaka).
To bring life and color into an urban area in transition (one with huge potential to be a locus for artists and art), this project was the first step. The use of the bright colors used to repaint this Washington, D.C. church, might at first seem irreverent, but they were key to transforming the church, according to its creator Hens (a contemporary public artist and painter based in Atlanta, Georgia).
While he was in Brooklyn, he noticed that the thousands of people (who travel across the Williamsburg Bridge pedestrian), each day tended to stick to themselves. He wanted this piece to slow people down, and to spark imagination. The Minneapolis artist Hottea, wanted to create a platform for verbal communication among people, in New York City’s fast-paced environment (and that in a world in which face-to-face communication is becoming less and less common).
Observers’ visual perception is challenged and intensified. That installation in Amstelveen (Netherlands), is made from crystal, mirrors and optical glass, but also precious stones. According to Dutch artist Suzan Drummen, from a distance, the design appears orderly and clear, the eyes become disoriented by the many details and visual stimuli.
