Whitney gets going on Gans ‘ghost pier’
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
The day has come for work to
start on David Hammons’s novel
“Day’s End” large-scale sculpture.
On Tues., Sept. 17, the Whitney
Museum of American Art celebrated
the groundbreaking of “Day’s End,” a
permanent public-art project by New
York-based artist Hammons.
Slated for completion in fall 2020,
the project was developed in collaboration
with the Hudson River Park Trust,
the state-city authority that is building
and operates the 4.5-mile-long Hudson
River Park.
The sculpture will be located in the
park, along the southern edge of Gansevoort
Peninsula, directly across from
the museum, within the footprint of the
former Pier 52.
“Day’s End” derives its inspiration
and name from Gordon Matta-Clark’s
1975 artwork in which he cut openings
into the existing, abandoned Pier 52
shed, transforming it into monumental
sculpture.
An open structure — resembling a
three-dimensional drawing in space
— that precisely follows the outline,
dimensions and location of the original
Pier 52 structure, Hammons’s “Day’s
End” will be a “ghost monument” to
the earlier work by Matta-Clark and allude
to the history of New York’s working
waterfront.
“Day’s End” is designed to coexist
with the Trust’s planned park at Gansevoort
Peninsula and to bring visitors
down to the water’s edge, according to
the Whitney.
The celebration took place at sunset
in the Whitney’s third-fl oor Susan and
John Hess Family Gallery and Theater,
overlooking Gansevoort Peninsula.
Adam Weinberg, the Whitney’s director,
paid tribute to Hammons, an
internationally acclaimed artist with
longtime ties to the museum and deep
roots in New York, and thanked the
project’s funders and collaborators
A rendering of the planned “Day’s End” public-art project, by David Hammons, looking west from Gansevoort
Peninsula.
during the evening’s remarks.
The commencement of the installation
was heralded by a presentation on
the Hudson River by the Fire Department’s
Marine Company 9 and their
fi reboat.
Weinberg also announced that the
Whitney will present an exhibition,
drawn from the museum’s permanent
collection, related to Matta-Clark’s
seminal work that inspired Hammons’s
sculpture. Titled “Around Day’s End:
Downtown New York, 1970–1986,”
and on view from July 2020 through
October 2020, it will include roughly
15 artists, in addition to Matta-Clark,
who worked in the Downtown New
York scene of the 1970s and early
1980s.
“The Whitney’s collaboration with
David Hammons, one of the most infl
uential artists of our time, represents
Artist David Hammons and Adam Weinberg, the director of the Whitney
Museum, at the celebration at the museum on Monday night for the
groundbreaking of Hammons’s “Day’s End” sculpture at Gansevoort
Peninsula.
our profound commitment to working
with living artists and supporting their
visions intimate or grand,” Weinberg
said.
“We are deeply grateful for the support
‘Day’s End’ has already received
from New York City, as well as neighborhood,
arts, historic preservation,
L.G.B.T.Q., commercial and environmental
groups, and we look forward to
the ribbon-cutting in fall of 2020.”
“This inspiring project will celebrate
the historic waterfront and perfectly
align with our newly designed park on
the peninsula,” said Madelyn Wils, the
Trust’s president and C.E.O. “We’re incredibly
appreciative of this collaboration
with our neighbors at the Whitney
COURTESY GUY NORDENSON AND ASSOCIATES
COURTESY OF THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
and look forward to seeing the project
take shape at what will certainly be one
of the most visually dynamic spots in
all of Hudson River Park.”
In tandem with the project, the
Whitney is developing rich interpretive
materials, including the Whitney’s fi rst
podcast series, videos, neighborhood
walking tours and a children’s guide.
These will take Hammons’s “Day’s
End” and Matta-Clark’s original “Day’s
End” (1975) as jumping-off points for
exploring the history of the waterfront
and the Meatpacking District, the role
of artists in the neighborhood, the diverse
cultural and ethnic histories, its
L.G.B.T.Q. history, the commercial history,
and the ecology of the estuary.
PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
In an interview a year ago, Adam Weinberg, the Whitney’s director,
showed a scale model of Gansevoort Peninsula with David Hammons’s
planned “Day’s End” sculpture.
Schneps Media TVG Sept. 19-25, 2019 3