Mar 19, 2012 - of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. About the High Line and Friends of the High
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE HIGH LINE ART PRESENTS
URI ARAN UNTITLED (GOOD & BAD) ON VIEW THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2012 – SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013
Visitors will encounter the sound installation as they stroll the elevated pathway on the High Line between West 25th and West 26th Streets. Photo by Iwan Baan.
New York, NY (March 19, 2012) – High Line Art, presented by Friends of the High Line, is pleased to announce that Uri Aran will present Untitled (Good and Bad), a playful sound installation that will turn the High Line between West 25th and West 26th Streets into an imaginary jungle. The work will debut on Thursday, April 19, 2012, and remain on view through Sunday, April 14, 2013. Born in Israel and based in New York, Aran works in different mediums, such as sculpture, drawing, and video, to investigate how language produces meaning and experience, and also how it has the ability to create a hierarchy. Aran is known for his sculptural installations that often feature seemingly chaotic arrangements of found objects installed on tabletops—a gesture which describes intricate microcosms and
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highlights problems of organization and categorization. In his drawings and videos, Aran often plays with human feelings that we project onto animals. For the High Line, Aran will present a sound work that explores how we use personification and animal metaphors to define human behaviour in our daily conversations. Working with a professional voice actor who uses a formal, slightly affected pronunciation, Aran has created a sound track that will emanate softly from the planting beds below the elevated pathway on the High Line between West 25th and West 26th Streets. The sound track features the actor reading a list of creatures, from common ones, like the household cat and the spider, to more wild ones, such the platypus and the shark, each described as “good” or “bad.” Serious and at times comical, the expressionless tone of the actor’s voice will clash with the definition of these creatures as either “good” or “bad,” sparking dialogue about the arbitrary nature of classification in language. “Uri Aran’s imaginative works have always amazed me,” said Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Curator and Director of High Line Art. “I look forward to watching visitors experience this installation and how they react to it as they walk along the High Line.” About the Artist Uri Aran lives and works in New York. His work has been exhibited internationally including venues such as the Jewish Museum of Belgium, Brussels; MoMA PS1, New York; Sculpture Center, New York; Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel; and LAX Art, Los Angeles, among others. Aran holds a MFA from Columbia University and attended Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem and The Cooper Union, New York. About High Line Art High Line Art commissions and produces public art projects that take place on and around the High Line. Founded in 2009, High Line Art has been showcasing a wide array of artworks including site-specific commissions, exhibitions, performances, video programs and a series of billboard interventions. High Line Art invites artists to think of creative ways to engage with the uniqueness of the architecture and design of the High Line and to foster a productive dialogue with the neighborhood and urban landscape. For more information, please visit www.thehighline.org/art. High Line Art is presented by Friends of the High Line and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. High Line Art is made possible by Donald R. Mullen, Jr, with additional support from Vital Projects Fund, Inc. High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. About the High Line and Friends of the High Line The High Line is an elevated freight rail line transformed into a public park on Manhattan’s West Side. It is owned by the City of New York, and maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line. Founded in 1999 by community residents, Friends
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of the High Line fought for the High Line’s preservation and transformation at a time when the historic structure was under the threat of demolition. It is now the non-profit conservancy working with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to make sure the High Line is maintained as an extraordinary public space for all visitors to enjoy. In addition to overseeing maintenance, operations, and public programming for the park, Friends of the High Line works to raise the essential private funds to support more than 90 percent of the park’s annual operating budget, and to advocate for the transformation of the High Line at the rail yards, the third and final section of the historic structure, which runs between West 30th and West 34th Streets. *** For more information about the High Line Art and please visit www.thehighline.org/art. MEDIA CONTACT: Ozgur Gungor and Henry Lyon Blue Medium Inc. T: +1 (212) 675-1800 F: +1 (212) 675-1855
[email protected] [email protected]
Kate Lindquist Friends of the High Line T: +1 (212) 206-9922 F: +1 (212) 206-9118
[email protected]
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