THE WEST HARLEM ART FUND & NEW YORK RESTORATION PROJECT BRING INTERACTIVE PUBLIC ART INSTALLATIONS TO EAST HARLEM GARDENS
East Harlem, NY…Play (LABS) is a group exhibition that will link four East Harlem community gardens together and explore the importance of play for both children and adults. This public art series will begin in mid-October and last up to Thanksgiving. Functional play objects on a large scale will be fabricated specifically for each garden and programs will also be scheduled to engage local residents and visitors.
The National Institute for Play cites studies that indicate how play for adults can increase their capacity to share a light-hearted sense of the world’s ironies, offer enjoyment to mutual storytelling and a capacity to openly divulge imagination and fantasies. “We don’t lose the need for novelty and pleasure as we grow up,” according to Scott G. Eberle, Ph.D., Vice President for Play Studies at The Strong and editor of the American Journal of Play. But in urban cities, where play is sometimes more desperately needed, the spaces for which to play are relatively small or too far in between. Play (LABS) fills that void with the East Harlem gardens we have selected. Their proximity to each other allows residents and visitors to hop from one experience to the next. Our play themes for the gardens are:
- Once Upon a Seat – Target Garden with Iliana Emilia Garcia
- Solar Fountain – Family Garden with Tomo Mori
- Triumphant Ones – Los Amigos Garden with Dianne Smith
- Yellow Brick Road – El Catano with Badder Israel
To learn more about the exhibition Play(LABS) go to link:
http://www.ehplaylabs.wordpress.com
WEST HARLEM ART FUND 