MAD. SQ. ART, PART OF MADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERVANCY, TO PRESENT
ANTONY GORMLEY: EVENT HORIZON—
FEATURING 31 SCULPTURES TO BE INSTALLED IN MADISON SQUARE PARK AND ON ROOFTOPS THROUGHOUT NEW YORK CITY'S FLATIRON DISTRICT
Internationally Acclaimed British Artist Makes U.S. Public Art Debut
First-Time Ever Mad. Sq. Art's Programming Expands From Park
Into Surrounding Neighborhood
On View March 26 – August 15, 2010
New York, December 4, 2009—Mad. Sq. Art, part of Madison Square Park Conservancy, will present a landmark public exhibition of Antony Gormley's artwork in New York City, on view March 26 through August 15, 2010. In Event Horizon, thirty-one life-size body forms of the artist cast in iron and fiberglass will inhabit the pathways and sidewalks of historic Madison Square Park as well as the rooftops of the architectural treasures that populate New York's vibrant Flatiron District. Event Horizon will mark Gormley's United States public art debut; a milestone for an artist whose work has garnered worldwide acclaim over the past 25 years; as well as the first time Mad. Sq. Art has exhibited works outside of Madison Square Park.
According to the artist, "The installation connects the palpable, the perceivable and the imaginable, creating a relational field in which the passerby as well as the aware viewer is implied in a matrix of looking and being looked at." A fascinating intervention into the urban environment, Event Horizon explores the relationship between the public, as it moves throughout the installation neighborhood, and the art object—the human form. Four figures will be placed at ground level, tangibly interrupting the course of daily life within Madison Square Park as the epicenter of the district-wide installation. Twenty-seven works will be placed on rooftops as high as 55 stories up and on parapets around the Park, including such architecturally noteworthy buildings in the area as Daniel Burnham's The Flatiron Building, Cass Gilbert's New York Life Building, The Clock Tower Building (formerly the MetLife Building), and 200 Fifth Avenue (formerly known as The Toy Building). Viewers will be encouraged to journey throughout the area, to take in views of all thirty-one of Gormley's sculptures and the city's urban landscape from both nearby and afar. Event Horizon will be on view March 26 through August 15, 2010, and will be seen by millions of New Yorkers and Madison Square Park visitors.
Founding board member of the Madison Square Park Conservancy and Mad. Sq. Art founder Danny Meyer states, "One of the most compelling aspects of Mad. Sq. Art is how the art creates a conversation between the park and its surrounding historic Flatiron neighborhood. The art encourages one to experience trees, architecture, people, light, and even sound in very fresh ways. While Madison Square Park will remain the bulls eye from which to view the art, Gormley's Event Horizon will mark a high point in Mad. Sq. Art's seven-year history, extending art for the first time out of the park's parameters and into the urban landscape of New York."
"Innovative public art projects contribute so much to New York's dynamism, and to our identity as an international destination," said Kate D. Levin, Commissioner of New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs. "Antony Gormley's Event Horizon will transform the way residents and visitors see Madison Square Park and its neighborhood – and, by extension, our urban landscape citywide."
Antony Gormley originally created Event Horizon for London's Hayward Gallery as part of the Blind Light exhibition in 2007. The sculptures were installed on bridges, rooftops and streets along the South Bank of London's Thames River. Adapted for the awe-inspiring Manhattan skyline, Event Horizon will introduce the American public to this celebrated British artist in dramatic fashion. With an expanse of pedestrian-level green space bordered by the many architectural treasures of New York's Flatiron District, Mad. Sq. Art is uniquely suited to host this celebrated body of work.
Antony Gormley will join distinguished and emerging artists presented by Mad. Sq. Art. Since its inception in 2004, Mad. Sq. Art has presented work by artists Richard Deacon, Mark di Suvero, Tadashi Kawamata, Mel Kendrick, Sol LeWitt, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Roxy Paine, Jessica Stockholder, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and William Wegman.
Event Horizon is presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy, in partnership with Time Out New York, NYC & Company, Flatiron 23rd Street Partnership, Ace Hotel New York and Sean Kelly Gallery, New York.