Free For All On The Water

Socrates Sculpture Park

By Josh Parish

Getting Started

Anna Craycroft’s Lo! The Fiery Whirpool, on its way to placement at the park. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen

The only museum in the borough that won’t be checking coats this winter (the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum just down the street recently renovated itself to accommodate visitors comfortably year round), Socrates Sculpture Park is completely outdoors. It sits on the banks of the East River in Long Island City.

The park’s entrance is at the intersection of Vernon Blvd. and Broadway. If you come by car, don’t pull into the gravel road inside the main gates; it’s for park vehicles only. (Parking isn’t provided at Socrates, but drivers should have no trouble finding space on the street.)

Admission to the park is free year-round. If you’re looking to support the programs here, literature on how to make a donation can be found inside the park’s administrative offices just across the street from the main gates. Entering the park, you’ll notice the forest green plaque that designates an official New York City park; Socrates is a little bit public and a little bit private.

Digging In

The Wind Gamelan, a permanent exhibit at Socrates Sculpture Park, sings on windy days. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen

This part of LIC is a unique place-industrial parks side up to city parks, scrap heaps mingle with playgrounds (and with the sculptures inside Socrates) along the shores of the river. The park itself was a riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986, when the budding Long Island City arts community formed a coalition to transform it into what it is today: an open-air studio and exhibition space for ambitious sculptors, and a city park for neighborhood residents.

Stepping into the park proper, the first sculptures you’ll spot are among the only permanent residents at Socrates. These works by sculptor John Ahearn are three very unextraordinary figures: a black-hoodied boy with his dog, a rollerskating girl in a Batman t-shirt, and a shirtless basketball player leaning against his boombox.

But look just beyond them and you’ll catch a glimpse why they symbolize more than just the recreation side of the park; the boxcar studio spaces here house art classes led by local artists for the public. Socrates takes great pride in its open-to-everyone attitude, and they take great pains to keep it that way. Chances are, artists and students will be at work any day of the week you drop in.

Don’t skip peeking into the fenced area near the river; old pieces of installations make the grounds resemble a sculpture graveyard.

Make sure you schedule your visit when an exhibit is up and running though, or may find yourself in a naked field. The sculptures in the park take time to install, and there’s usually a gap between exhibits.

Finishing Up

If you act quick, you can catch the last night of films in Socrates’ Outdoor Cinema 2005 fest. The summer-long event celebrating Queens’ ethnic diversity wraps up Wednesday, Aug. 31, with a double feature: Zorba the Greek, Anthony Quinn’s legendary role as larger-than-life peasant Zorba, and Take Care of My Cat, the 2001 South Korean coming of age story about five young women in the port city of Inchon. The films roll at 7 p.m.

You’ll also need to hurry to catch the final two days of FLOAT, a combo of performance projects and temporary installations by artists in and out of the borough. (This Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 27 and 28, are its last.)

On tap are sound presentations exploring the acoustics of radio broadcasting by Kabir Carter, a poetry-on-pennants installation by Soledad Arias, and video presentations by Monika Goetz and Sabrina Gschwandtner (Goetz will present a video on the park’s wall at each sunset—of each morning’s sunrise.)

A BMX bike performance by Ryan Humphrey will launch at 6 p.m., literally; the artist will cast cheap bikes into the park’s landscape in a demonstration inspired by Evel Knievel and the “Ghost Rider” comics.

There will also be two interactive pieces by Michelle Rosenburg (an audio listening device inspired by the human ear) and Chrysanne Stathacos (an observer-contributed series of images concerning wishfulness). Claudia Joskowicz and Akiko Ichikawa will also give their individual takes on t-shirt making, with photos and text from the surrounding neighborhood and kanji-translated American slang.

If you miss FLOAT, you might want to wait to visit Socrates until Sept. 10, when the annual Emerging Artists Fellowship Exhibit opens again. The show features local up-and-coming sculptors and other weather-resistant artists.

Socrates Sculpture Park
32-01 Vernon Blvd.,
Long Island City
(718) 956-1819
www.socratessculpturepark.org

10 a.m.-sunset, open daily.

FREE, donations accepted.