homeland security loves artists
does anyone remember going to show in the brooklyn bridge anchorage? i went to a porter ricks/thomas brinkmann show that was off the hook. the acoustics kinds sucked, but the venue itself is so impressive. a massive vaulted cavern, vaguely resembling a cathedral, but with no windows. what some would consider a wonder of the world at the time it was built, over 140 years ago. as an available outlet for creativity, it was unique and it's only competitor, in terms of scale would probably be the herzog and de meuron designed tate gallery in london.
but the doors of the anchorage were permanently shut by "homeland security" shortly after september 11th and hardly a mention has been made of it since.
this has robbed new york of not only an important venue for the public to enjoy itself, but a world class space large enough and impressive enough to fuel creativity on the scale of some of someone like olafur eliason's larger works that need to be indoors. new york is supposed to be the cultural center of the world, but this episode is only one of a handful of events that are eroding new york's status as creative capitol.
in my mind, i have tried to asses the logic of the decision to shut it down. the only thing i can think of is that they are afraid of some kind of bomb attack.
the thing with a bomb attack is that if a terrorist was to bomb the anchorage, they wouldn't be able to do it with anything bigger than a backpack. also, if "homeland security" is so concerned with someone bombing the anchorage of an important new york city bridge, why is there a supermarket underneath the 59th street bridge anchorage in manhattan? it is as vulnerable as the brooklyn bridge and handily enough for terrorists, is open 24 hours a day, whereas the creative time space in the brooklyn bridge anchorage was only open for special events.
now one could take this 2 different ways: way number one; "homeland security" is so concerned that our future artists are in harm's way that they shut the brooklyn bridge down to prevent the possible loss of even a single patron of the arts, while not giving a rat's ass about pathetic upper east side consumers in search of haagen dazs at 2am. or, number two; commerce is more important than art.
you make the call.
more new york goodies:
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