Water Tower in its original location
About five years ago I featured the installation on my web page. And even though I heard about it too late to see it in person, I have mixed feelings about its resurfacing at MoMA. While this does enable me and many other people to see the resin tank -- which I described as "a quiet glimmer in the city's visual cacophony" and as simultaneously an object and non-object -- its removal from its original context is ultimately disappointing.
Visible from the corner of West Broadway and Grand in Soho, its initial incarnation sat in an area not only dotted with functioning water tanks but an area partly defined by this presence, almost as much as the landmarked cast-iron facades. By putting it in an area with fewer (visible) tanks, its context changes and so does its presence. What I found appealing about the work was its double nature, the way it existed as an object while also disappearing. This effect was not only due to the translucent container but also to its location alongside other working tanks. One might be looking towards the artwork but never really pay attention to it or realize that it's different, due to the conditions of light and/or its not-out-of-place shape. This will be missing at MoMA. If I find myself in New York and in Midtown, I might look up at the Water Tower, but I'll still wish I saw it in Soho.
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