Check out our new look!

www.thehighline.org/blog

A bell in Herald Square recorded for A Bell for Every Minute, courtesy the artist and Creative Time

Details for a  major new art installation, going in on the High Line this summer, have been finalized.

Building on the success of  Spencer Finch’s installation in the Chelsea Market Passage, we’re once again partnering with public art superstars Creative Time and the public art wing of the Parks Department. This time, we commissioned a site-specific multi-channel sound piece from artist Stephen Vitiello, entitled A Bell for Every Minute. The piece will be installed in the 14th Street Passage, another semi-enclosed space where the High Line runs through a former industrial building.

To create the piece, Vitiello made sound recordings of bells from all over New York City and beyond. Sounds range from the iconic rings of the New York Stock Exchange bell, the historic Dreamland bell days after it was discovered in the water off Coney Island, the United Nation’s Peace Bell, and  more everyday and personal sounds of bike bells, diner bells, and neighborhood church bells.

During park hours an individual bell will ring each minute from speakers placed throughout the tunnel, the overtones fading out as the next bell begins. A chorus of the selected bells will play at the top of each hour, filling the space. The sources will be represented on a physical sound map that identifies the location of each bell, allowing the listener to follow the geographic journey of the recordings.

As a key figure in the worlds of sound art and experimental music, Vitiello has helped shape the field of sound in New York and globally. By exploring his native city through an auditory map in A Bell for Every Minute, Vitiello provides a unique take on the New York experience from both the communal and intensely personal perspectives that only sound can provide.

Still from "Night Falls on the High Line".

This video is helping us ease into our week.

Daniel Turkewitz has woven together a series of shots on the High Line–clouds passing over the Hudson, delicate grasses fluttering in the breeze, sky changing from gold to inky blue, and ethereal images of people as they travel through the park.  It’s a  beautiful, dreamy video.

Happy Monday,  New York.

Jan Gilbert's "Sur la ligne/On the line" at 571 Projects.

571 Projects in Chelsea is now showing a High Line-inspired work by artist Jan Gilbert. The New Orleans native makes her debut in New York with a piece entitled Sur la ligne/On the line. In the gallery’s press release, Gilbert states that the High Line “serves as a superb viewing pedestal of this vibrant, quirky, industrial layer of the city.”  Her photographic works combine multiple perspectives on views from the High Line, and the images are embalmed in a transparent membrane.

Detail of Jan Gilbert's work set on one of the High Line's handrails.

Sur la ligne/On the ligne is mixed-media featuring photographs taken from Gilbert’s journey that began in France and ended on the High Line.  Gilbert’s work will be up at 571 Projects through March 20. More info on the gallery’s web site.

All the snow we’ve had lately has made us see the High Line’s landscape in a new way. Drifting snow changes the shape of the planting beds and pathways. The monochromatic palate of the landscape makes the skeletal forms of grasses, trees and other landscape elements really pop. Railroad tracks retain heat and melt through the snow while the white blanket covers the rest of the beds.

One of our favorite surprises has been the way L’Observatoire‘s lighting elements interact with the falling snow. Patrick Cullina, our Vice President of Horticulture and Park Operations, shot some footage of snow falling at night. We encourage you to come up on a snowy night to see for yourself — with 2 to 5 inches expected by the end of the day, tonight might be the night.

The Chelsea Grasslands this fall. Photo by Bjoern Amherd.

Now that spring is approaching, our gardeners are beginning the cutback process, which will provide space for new growth during the warmer months.  In a traditional garden, plants are cut back when their stalks begin to dry during autumn.   In keeping with planting designer Piet Oudolf’s belief that a plant’s dried seed heads are just as beautiful and important as its flowers, the High Line’s vegetation was left in its natural state.

Prior to the recent snowstorm, our gardeners began cutting back the cool season grasses, which grow earlier in the year than the High Line’s other grasses.  In the picture below, High Line gardener Maeve Turner demonstrates a STIHL brushcutter in an area just north of Section 1 (waterproofing of Section 2 in the background).

Cutting back grasses to make room for spring growth.

The gardeners will use brushcutters on thicker-stemmed plants, and smaller tools like scissors, pruners, and shears on most other plant.  Trimming by hand allows for cleaner cuts and less mess, which is important in a small space like the High Line.

Cutback of the cool season grasses will resume once the snow melts.  The remaining grasses will be cut back in March, when the weather grows warmer and more spring blooms begin to appear.

While this week’s snowstorm turns brown, slushy, and inconvenient on street level, it’s still clean and beautiful up on the High Line.  There’s quite a bit of snow left–come up and enjoy it this weekend!  (Perhaps even make it part of a romantic date on Sunday?)

Weather permitting, we’ll be open for regular winter hours, 7:00 AM – 8:00 PM, with the last entry at 7:45 PM.  Check our Web site for updates.

Gardener Johnny Linville clears a path through the Chelsea Grasslands.

Come see the High Line in its stylish white coat! After the snow stopped falling early this morning, our Maintenance and Operations team spent several hours using snow blowers, shovels and an eco-friendly de-icer to clear the High Line’s paths and stairways. The park is now open south of 16th Street, and we expect a complete opening very soon. UPDATE: The entire park is now open!

Gardener Andi Lawton and Director of Horticulture & Park Operations Melissa Fisher work to break up ice on the High Line's Sundeck.

The snow on the High Line usually sticks around quite a bit longer than snow on the streets, where plowing and chemical de-icers quickly transform it into that delightful brown slush we all know so well. With temperatures projected to hover right around freezing for several days, the High Line’s winter wonderland should be in place through the weekend.

Photograph by Tim Schenck

We love this shot by Tim Schenck of Silman Associates, the High Line’s structural engineering firm. It shows the progress, and the context, of the new access point at 30th Street, what will be the northernmost point of Section 2.

Earlier: Section 2 Construction: 30th Street Entrance

Dawn bondant viburnum in bloom.

February is unexpectedly interesting for blooms on the High Line.  This month features three plants: witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Pallida’), Dawn bodnant viburnum (Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’), and sweet box (Sarcococca hookeriana).

The rose-colored buds in the picture above are the beginnings of blooms on a Dawn bodnant viburnum, a shrub that flowers during the bleakest part of the winter.  Its clusters of flowers have an excellent fragrance in late winter/early spring.

Witch hazel beginning to bloom in the Washington Grasslands.

Witch hazel is another unique flowering shrub that blooms during winter months.  Its long, narrow petals have been described in many ways–from the shape of a spider to strips of shredded paper.

More witch hazel blooms unfurling.

In the past, European settlers in North America believed the plant possessed a magical ability that caused its branches to bend when near water.  ‘Witch’ comes from the Old English wych, or ‘bend’.  Hazel, another plant believed to have the power to reveal water, grows commonly in Europe.

Daffodil foliage emerging in the Chelsea Grasslands.

The spring blooms are slowly beginning to reveal themselves, like the daffodil foliage in the picture above.  Stay tuned!

View a complete list of plants in Section 1 here.