Next to Madison Square Park, surrounded by thin looming buildings, is a small cleared-out area surrounded by the brightly colored shops of NoMad. In this small clearing, you can stumble upon an interactive public art exhibit that uses multiple senses: hearing, sight and touch. It consists of three-cylindrical structures with lights shooting up the sides, making them seem more hexagonal; these are “Les Diamants” by Alexis Laurence and Franic Laporte of Perséides Studio. The large cylinders can actually be spun around, which causes the multicolored lights to shoot up and down the structures while they play a short melody. Each of the structure’s lights and melodies are specific to themselves, so when all three are spun together, it creates a beautiful waltz.
Across the street are these arching metal poles with lit-up mesh wires forming a bowl-like shape. The blue, green and pink lights of these structures feel reminiscent of tulips, a nice break from the wind and the snow of a New York winter. In the middle of this field of soaring metal tulips is a long tunnel of metal rings standing on a metal stand. The rings are held up at eye level. Upon coming closer to inspect, the metal rings are lit up by noise. The noise can come from pedestrians interacting with the exhibit or even the wind and the sounds of the bustling city around it, sending it from one side of the tunnel to the other, the lights on the inside lighting up as the sound passes. On one side, it sends through pale orange waves as sound moves through, and on the other, it is sheer white. Similarly to the other, when two people talk to each other on either side of this exhibit, the lights are sent back and forth, slowly passing by each other as they move to the other side. This piece, called “Spectrum,” was created by Mirari to break apart language and sound. Simply watch as the sound travels through the art piece; the importance of language is lost to sound.
Both “Les Diamants” and “Spectrum” necessitate more than one person to see the true beauty of the art piece. While one person alone is capable of creating either sound or light, more than one person creates something truly beautiful. One of the main goals of this public piece according to FlatIron-NoMad is to bring the community together, and these art pieces do it in the most literal sense in its requirement for multiple people.
This bringing together of people is the importance of public art. While art is oftentimes considered inaccessible and something meant only to be enjoyed by those who can afford it, public art challenges this. It brings art to the masses, putting everyone on the same level. Public art has often been a way for information to be brought to larger groups of people, as seen in murals, which is something that New York has a lot of. It can also be a way to brighten a community by having a physical representation of the beauty within. It can bring communities together and rally them for a cause or simply make them interact with a stranger on the street to create a beautiful waltz by spinning a lit-up metal cylinder on a random Saturday night in February.
In the case of the “Winter Glow” exhibit, it was meant to bring the community together. Along the parkway where the exhibit is located are small pop-up shops such as an Eataly and a small cafe hut where you can buy a warm drink and sit on a bench nearby. Next to the “Spectrum” exhibit is a sign advertising a nice planned walk. The sign offers a map of the Flatiron-NoMad area with different categories of activities such as dining, experiences, sightseeing and shopping. The sign offers a wide variety of offerings within its smaller categories, attempting to include diversity in the community. While this public art exhibit is pretty, it stands for the larger goal of trying to turn Flatiron-NoMad from simply a place to live and exist into an integrated community.
