Wind Playground is possible thanks to the kind support of the Black Rock Art Foundation. Wind Playground is a site-specific project designed for Governor Island as part of the figment sculpture garden. Inspired by its surroundings Wind Playground is designed to dance and move to position itself to the wind. Using sail making technique, such as Windsurfing and Kite sail design; the sculpture looks
like a surreal multicolored, multilayered sail. Inside is a maze of funnel like tunnels channeling the wind to crate a wind microcosm allowing people to crawl, play or meditate with their surroundings while understanding wind phenomenon such as wind acceleration, turbulence, updraft and wind twisters. Wind Playground bridges art, science, architecture, physics and engineer to create a sculpture that morphs with the wind. These everlastingly changes happen due to a system of interrelated rigging the move or oppose the wind. The visitors using the same interfaces found on a sailboat can control some of these mechanisms. Operating the sculpture gives the visitor a direct contact with the sculpture and the natural element surrounding. Any one interested in playing, resting, observing and interacting with it is welcome to do so
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
Thought Manhattan has always been a hub of maritime commerce. NewYorker’s connection with the water, has eroded over time. When thinking Governors Island as one of the first navy settlement in the New York Harbor, I could not stop thinking about wind. About the pattern of the summer trade winds wrapping around the island. About the air flowing in and out the harbor like blood into a cell. Wind is sculpted by its surrounding and its surroundings sculpt it. Understanding this invisible dynamic, this constant dance of cause and effects helps us understand the ecosystem we live in. Wind Playground makes the invisible visible. Scaled down into a playground like experience, Wind Playground it is not a “new thing “ to play with, but a ludic tool to reconnect with us to our daily surrounding using the old art sailing and sail making. Reconnecting by pulling ropes and feeling the power of the wind. Reconnecting by felling the wind enveloping us and move through our skin. Reconnecting by just like the old sailor in this harbor did.
