east river art snark
September 26, 2005 10:53 AM   Subscribe

Christo's The Gates meets Robert Smithson's Floating Island. Literally.
posted by Armitage Shanks (23 comments total)
 
Dammit...I was just writing a FPP for that. You scooped me, Shanks.

However, that picture of the gate chasing the island still cracks me up.
posted by Alison at 10:57 AM on September 26, 2005


That's the coolest thing I've ever seen.
posted by bshort at 11:01 AM on September 26, 2005


Hah! That's awesome! Kinda sad the artists themselves seem to take it so seriously:
"We were laughing about it," she said. "But they weren't laughing."

Dorks.
posted by freebird at 11:03 AM on September 26, 2005


Yeah, I can't tell what's funnier: the grouchy, unamused tugboat captain, or the humorlessness of the art students who orchestrated the whole thing. Sounds like everyone is straight out of central casting, "The Simpsons" style. I'm just sad they couldn't get any quotes out of the art students.
posted by availablelight at 11:08 AM on September 26, 2005


I almost did a spit-take when I saw that picture. Simply hilarious.
posted by potch at 11:10 AM on September 26, 2005


rotfl
posted by VulcanMike at 11:10 AM on September 26, 2005


That picture made my day.
posted by smackfu at 11:13 AM on September 26, 2005


There is no energy shortage, as long as we've got enough fuel to tow barges of conceptual art around Manhattan.
posted by beagle at 11:19 AM on September 26, 2005


Dorks.

That's a bit harsh. They did come up with the stunt, so they can't be totally humorless, right? And I'll bet they were laughing before the graphic designer got there at the very end. And who knows what kind of seething resentments were going through the graphic designer's head as she watched these "art studenty" types enjoying their freedom from the 9-5 office grind and then told the Times, "They weren't particularly friendly!"

I mean, as long as we're jumping to conclusions about stock characters from central casting and all.
posted by mediareport at 11:24 AM on September 26, 2005


awesome.
next week, jet skis will dart around it, snapping photos.
posted by Busithoth at 11:27 AM on September 26, 2005


Would be much better looking if they didn't need the boat in front to make it move. Maybe make the barge itself a boat, or use a boat transformed into an island. A randomly moving island is cooler than a randomly towed island-barge.
posted by cleverusername at 11:33 AM on September 26, 2005


F'ING AWESOME
posted by gwint at 11:33 AM on September 26, 2005


My friend told me about this last night at a bar, and it sounded hilarious... and lo and behold it is! That's a great photo.

As for the "dorks..." I have to stand by the dorking. These "art-studenty" kids were humorless, I think, coming at this with a "This is our statement" attitude and not a "wouldn't it be funny if" one.

And cleverusername, we just had a random floating desert island complete with bedraggled suits, so there's that. It actually broke free from its anchoring and floated away though, so they had to abandon it.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:43 AM on September 26, 2005


I just hope they don't start allowing joggers on the tugboat.
posted by jonson at 11:57 AM on September 26, 2005


[this is awesome]
posted by grouse at 12:07 PM on September 26, 2005


coming at this with a "This is our statement" attitude and not a "wouldn't it be funny if" one.

I don't see how those are inconsistent. It's a great, simple stunt; there's not much words could add. But that doesn't mean they didn't think it was funny. The Times reporter's statement that, "apparently, this joke was not meant to be funny" is based one report from one person who got there as the thing was winding down and didn't see the group laughing; it strikes me as needless sniping at the folks behind a hilarious performance. Whatever. Folks who want to use that to call them dorks, go ahead.
posted by mediareport at 12:29 PM on September 26, 2005


"When I saw the kind of rig he was running, I didn't want him getting no closer. Joker like that? In a motorboat? I don't need that."

They weren't dorks. They were jokers.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 12:47 PM on September 26, 2005


Literally? Seems like it's there, quite actually.
posted by pmbuko at 1:04 PM on September 26, 2005


That's what literally means, pmbuko.
posted by grouse at 1:13 PM on September 26, 2005


I can't think of anything I enjoy more than floating islands.
posted by MotherTucker at 1:13 PM on September 26, 2005


I want to be your tugboat captain
posted by Phantast at 1:38 PM on September 26, 2005


That's what literally means, pmbuko.

<pedant>
It's literally there, but it's not literally The Gates, rather a tiny replica. So the real complaint with "literally" is the opposite, I think.
</pedant>
posted by Armitage Shanks at 1:43 PM on September 26, 2005


Yes, but the meeting actually occurred (even if one part of it was not literally The Gates). Oppose this with the more figurative meeting of "meeting."
posted by grouse at 2:59 AM on September 27, 2005


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