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The Community Board 12 Executive Committee passed a resolution this week in opposition to a recent “Percent for Art” program installation proposed as part of a renovated design for the open air market La Plaza de las Americas, on W. 175th Street between Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue.
The resolution is scheduled to be addressed by the full board on Tue., June 28.
CB12 members had vocally opposed the art during a joint meeting of the CB12 Traffic & Transportation and Parks & Cultural Affairs Committees on June 6, arguing that it was selected without enough input from the community. They also assert that local artists were not properly made aware of the opportunity to participate. The artist selected is from Brooklyn.
Members of the board argued that the proposed sculpture, a group of four water towers decorated with textile-pattern mosaics, bears no contextual relationship to the site and does not otherwise provide artistic “sense of place.”
The resolution calls on DOT to work with members of the board as well as the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) and the Washington Heights and Inwood arts community to identify a more fitting piece of art to be sited at the new Plaza de las Americas.
“The CB12 Executive Committee, did not support the Las Plaza Project based on several factors, including an artist selection process that we believe should have focused on local artists in a more dedicated fashion,” said CB12 Chair Pamela Palanque-North, in an email. “We are also suggesting that in the future NYC involve the Community Board and district artist cooperatives at the front-end of the planning for the project. CB12 believes that this was not the case with Las Plazas de Americas.”
CB12’s next general meeting is scheduled for Tue., June 28 at 7 p.m. at the Columbia University Medical Center Russ Berrie Science Pavilion at 1150 St. Nicholas Avenue between W. 167th and W. 168th Streets.
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