Art in the Parks

The use of ornamental gates and fences serves as a metaphor for security and gated communities, insecurity, the incarceration of Black men, the detainment of illegal immigrants, policing, and William Blake’s concept of “Mind Forg’d Manacles” — self-created barriers to personal and societal growth and freedom, built by fear, division and perceptions of difference. These gates, whether they are to keep others out or keep someone in, act as reflections on the separation of people, both physically and psychologically. Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds, while not strictly site-specific, creates, connects and amplifies a conversation about the sculpture and the monuments and buildings around it that currently reside in Columbus Park. The viewer is encouraged to be “site conscious” when looking at the work and its location, exploring issues of justice, freedom, slavery and mass incarceration.

This exhibition is presented by More Art and is made possible by a grant from the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo Art Fund, led by Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Dumbo Improvement District as part of New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Community Heroes aims to bring together residents in the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Farragut, and celebrate those who empower and nourish these neighborhoods. Individuals were selected as representatives of the community, or heroes, from a pool of nominations collected during a community outreach process. Community Heroes seeks to tell the stories of the neighborhoods’ unsung heroes through the collaboration of newer residents and long-time residents, often people of color whose families have lived in the community for generations. Community Heroes continues to collect nominations for heroes and seeks photographers to take their portraits.

Community Heroes aims to bring together residents in the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Farragut, and celebrate those who empower and nourish these neighborhoods. Individuals were selected as representatives of the community, or heroes, from a pool of nominations collected during a community outreach process. Community Heroes seeks to tell the stories of the neighborhoods’ unsung heroes through the collaboration of newer residents and long-time residents, often people of color whose families have lived in the community for generations. Community Heroes continues to collect nominations for heroes and seeks photographers to take their portraits.

Raised_The Floating Playground in an assemblage between handmade rafts and playground toys. Inspired by the park’s position overlooking New York Bay, the sculpture reflects on migration by sea and humankind's inherent nomadic condition. Eirini Linardaki draws inspiration from her childhood playtime, creating vessels from household objects, referring to family displacement at a crossroad between ephemeral construction and a life-altering journey.

The project was created under the auspices of the Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Culture and Sports, The Red Sand Project, and SHIM Art Network.

The Underground Sound Project is a soundwalk and interactive public art installation based on a series of underground acoustic recordings made by artist Nikki Lindt. Along a wooded trail, starting at a trailhead by Dog Beach, visitors will encounter features, such as a stream, a maple tree, the forest floor, wildflowers, and many more. Via a sign with a QR code at designated locations along the walk, visitors will be able to experience the corresponding subsurface sounds in a series of one minute videos accessed on The Underground Sound Project’s interactive website.

This exhibition is presented by the Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Program, organized by the USDA Forest Service and The Nature of Cities, and presented in partnership with the Prospect Park Alliance.

The Need You Know It Is A Letting Light is a set of three abstract wooden sculptures and an accompanying mural that together expand the artist’s exploration of communication between external and internal psychic space. The mural’s colors, sourced from the natural beauty of Prospect Park, both draw viewers in and radiate out from the Bandshell and stage into the park, reflecting the function of the bandshell to expand voices. Sculptural abstraction, for Brook, is based on a commitment to create spaces for queer, gender non-conforming, and trans folks to experiment with embodied perception, encouraging and affirming a multisensory experience of being whole in the world.

This exhibition is presented by BRIC and Prospect Park Alliance.