tinylittlemonkeys
SOS Brooklyn
Artist: Donna Cheng
Title: "Ghost Ships" (Fulton Ferry)
Medium: Video Projection
Site: Tobacco Warehouse Ruins
at the Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, Brooklyn, New York
Screenings: Sept. 25-27th, 2009
In this site-specific project, my intention is to expose the public to historical references to DUMBO’s gritty past. "Ghost Ships” is an art project in response to the gentrification of DUMBO and in support of the historical preservationists. Economic development and property claims, aided by NY State authorities, have been ongoing since the 1600s, with landfills expanding the Brooklyn coastline. Men made their fortunes on controlling the ferry transportation waterways, like Robert Fulton and Henry Pierrepoint. The richness of architectural detail of the nineteenth century warehouse buildings, such as the brick Empire Stores, confirms the prosperity of the industrial golden age of Dumbo, when Brooklyn manufacturers thrived in tandem with the shipping and rail lines. Roebling’s masterpiece, The Brooklyn Bridge, opening in 1883, and the following Manhattan Bridge, in 1909, ushered in another mode of transportation, the automobile, that led to a decline in ferry and rail transportation. The Empire Stores and Tobacco Warehouses in the ‘40s war years became a scrap metal reclaiming centers, and the DUMBO area deteriorated until the ‘70s when preservation groups stepped in. Artists revitalized the DUMBO neighborhood in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Since the late ‘90s, the transitioning neighborhood has been developing into high-priced condominiums, such as the proposed Dock Street, that also attracts trendy retailers and business offices. Inevitably, the character of DUMBO is changing, part good for the cottage design industries springing up, and part bad for the higher rents and “malling” of DUMBO that has happened in Soho and over-developed Williamsburg.
SOS Brooklyn
Artist: Donna Cheng
Title: "Ghost Ships" (Fulton Ferry)
Medium: Video Projection
Site: Tobacco Warehouse Ruins
at the Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, Brooklyn, New York
Screenings: Sept. 25-27th, 2009
In this site-specific project, my intention is to expose the public to historical references to DUMBO’s gritty past. "Ghost Ships” is an art project in response to the gentrification of DUMBO and in support of the historical preservationists. Economic development and property claims, aided by NY State authorities, have been ongoing since the 1600s, with landfills expanding the Brooklyn coastline. Men made their fortunes on controlling the ferry transportation waterways, like Robert Fulton and Henry Pierrepoint. The richness of architectural detail of the nineteenth century warehouse buildings, such as the brick Empire Stores, confirms the prosperity of the industrial golden age of Dumbo, when Brooklyn manufacturers thrived in tandem with the shipping and rail lines. Roebling’s masterpiece, The Brooklyn Bridge, opening in 1883, and the following Manhattan Bridge, in 1909, ushered in another mode of transportation, the automobile, that led to a decline in ferry and rail transportation. The Empire Stores and Tobacco Warehouses in the ‘40s war years became a scrap metal reclaiming centers, and the DUMBO area deteriorated until the ‘70s when preservation groups stepped in. Artists revitalized the DUMBO neighborhood in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Since the late ‘90s, the transitioning neighborhood has been developing into high-priced condominiums, such as the proposed Dock Street, that also attracts trendy retailers and business offices. Inevitably, the character of DUMBO is changing, part good for the cottage design industries springing up, and part bad for the higher rents and “malling” of DUMBO that has happened in Soho and over-developed Williamsburg.