Let another summer of outdoor art installations commence! A just-announced new project, called Tree Wood and located inside Long Island City's Socrates Sculpture Park, should get added to the must-visit list. Designed by Japanese architect Toshihiro Oki and his colleagues, this large-scale cage-like construction is partially buried amid the trees?which, we promise, will soon have leaves on them like in the pretty "after" rendering above.
Out of 161 entrants, Oki won the Folly 2013 contest for up-and-coming architects hosted by the sculpture park and the Architectural League of New York. Organizers received 40% more submissions this year than in the inaugural effort last year, when the winner was Curtain, also a porous, geometric structure. Tree Wood opens on May 12 and will stay up until August 5.
Obscured by foliage, inside the wooden box hangs a blingy chandelier, meant to offer a contrast between natural and manmade entities. Kids, and grown-ups who act like kids, will be sad to hear that they can't climb all over this sorta jungle gym. However, you are allowed stick your head inside, but no monkey business. It's art, folks. One more shot of the installation:
As stark and pretty as the "before" version of the exhibit looks, we would like to lodge a formal plea with the powers that be: Weather, please warm up, and sun, please start shining more, and leaves, please grow faster?so we can all go outside without coats and enjoy this greenery-shrouded piece to the max.
· Official site: Folly 2013 [Socrates Sculpture Park]
· Toshihiro Oki Architects Win 2013 Folly Competition at Socrates Sculpture Park [Archpaper]
· More public art coverage [Curbed]
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