New Work: ‘Event Horizon’

We’ve been feeling a little lonely since the figures of Event Horizon, this summer’s blockbuster public art installation in and around Madison Square Park, packed up and left town over a month ago. A new exhibition catalogue published by the Madison Square Park Conservancy and its Mad. Sq. Art program commemorates the visitation of Antony Gormley’s 31 life-size figures to the park and the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

The book, produced in a limited edition, includes over 70 photographs by James Ewing of the installed sculptures and candid reaction shots of New Yorkers on the street encountering them for the first time. The book also features an original short story by Man Booker-prize nominated novelist Colm Tóibín and reflections by an array of New Yorkers, including NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, area restaurateur Danny Meyer, architects Deborah Berke and Hugh Hardy, and Pentagram’s own Paula Scher and Nazim Ali, superintendent of our building at 204 Fifth. Scher designed the book using the graphic identity she created for the exhibition and the park.

The limited edition catalogue goes on sale tomorrow, Wednesday, September 29. Get your copy here.

A look inside the book after the jump.

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Goodbye, Gormley

It’s almost time to say farewell to a friend: the figure installed on the rooftop of our New York office for the past several months will be leaving when the Event Horizon exhibition closes on August 15.

Event Horizon is the U.S. public art debut of the acclaimed British sculptor Antony Gormley, presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy as part of its Mad. Sq. Art series. The installation of 31 life-size body forms of Gormley cast in iron and fiberglass has inhabited the streets and skyline around Madison Square Park since March. While some initially feared the figures might be mistaken for naked jumpers—only in New York, kids—the sculptures quickly became a popular addition to the Flatiron District. Indeed, soon after our silent visitor arrived and was properly welcomed, he became part of the Pentagram family.

Nazim Ali, the building superintendent at our New York office, came to know the Gormley figure especially well. He shares his thoughts about the sculpture and exhibition in an interview that will be included in the Event Horizon catalogue, out later this month from Mad. Sq. Art:

I remember getting an email from my building manager informing us about the project, and that we would have one of the sculptures on our building. I read about Antony Gormley and his exhibition in England, along the Thames River, so this was exciting to me. I like art—I have children, and I take them to museums. But a museum is a place you have to go to see art, and I prefer this, out in public. This way seems more natural to me—like you can see the artwork in nature, in a more natural state.

I can see many of the sculptures from my building and the park and I like to look at the other ones, but mine is my favorite. He’s a part of my life now, I never really forget about him. I come up here three, four times every week to check on him, to make sure he is okay, to make sure nobody abuses him. In a way I feel lucky to stand up here, next to him. Sometimes I like to look down at the people below on the street; they’re talking and pointing, asking questions, wishing they could come up here. They observe him, and he observes us.

Sometimes I wonder what he is thinking, or what he would be thinking. To me, it’s very simple—it’s just a person looking out at the world and announcing: “I am here.” But every person has a different exposure to this; everyone on the street has different questions and thoughts. People always say a picture is worth a thousand words and these sculptures are the same way—maybe more so.

Celebrating Antony Gormley and ‘Event Horizon’

On the evening of March 24, Pentagram welcomed the sculptor Antony Gormley and his installation Event Horizon with a party at our offices at 204 Fifth. Event Horizon has placed 31 life-size iron and fiberglass figures of the artist in and around Madison Square Park, 27 of them on rooftops and parapets of area’s historic buildings. Pentagram’s friends and clients shared drinks with the artist on the beautiful spring night, viewing the sculpture on our roof and taking in the others in the skyline around the park. The installation remains on view through August 15.

Party pictures after the jump.

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Antony Gormley’s ‘Event Horizon’ Installed at 204 Fifth

We have a new staffer here at our offices at 204 Fifth Avenue; he doesn’t say much, and spends most of his time up on the roof, gazing at the skyline. We are excited to be part of Event Horizon, the U.S. public art debut of the acclaimed British sculptor Antony Gormley. Presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy as part of its Mad. Sq. Art series, Event Horizon is an installation of 31 life-size body forms of Gormley cast in iron and fiberglass that will inhabit the streets and rooftops around Madison Square Park from March 26 through August 15.

The figure on our building is the first to be installed and will be joined in the coming weeks by 26 others placed on rooftops and parapets as high as 55 stories up on landmarks including the Flatiron Building, the New York Life Building, the Clock Tower Building (formerly the MetLife Building), 200 Fifth Avenue (formerly the Toy Building) and the Empire State Building. Four more figures will be installed at ground level in the park. (Complete map of locations here.)

Antony Gormley originally created Event Horizon for his Blind Light exhibition at London’s Hayward Gallery in 2007. The sculptures were installed on bridges, rooftops and streets along the South Bank of the Thames, and the exhibition became one of the most popular installations of public art in the city’s history.

Madison Square Park hosts an impressive range of exhibitions, performances, festivals and food (hello, Shake Shack!), all right at our doorstep. We’ve been designing the graphics for the park and its programs since 2003.

Pics of the installation after the jump.

Continue reading "Antony Gormley's ‘Event Horizon’ Installed at 204 Fifth"