SOS Floating Art Piece at Fort Point Channel
| Ages: | Toddlers, Kids, Teens, Adults |
| In/Outdoor: | Outdoor |
| Cost: | Free |
| Category: | Arts & Culture |
Peer out over the Congress Street Bridge in mid-October, and you might notice more than 20 orange people coasting down the Fort Point Channel in inner tubes. Except they won’t actually be people, they’ll be made of orange foam. For six weeks starting in mid-October, a floating art piece called SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) will float in the Art Basin of Fort Point Channel near The Boston Children's Museum.
Meant to evoke the global refugee crisis amid unrest abroad, the featureless swimmers of SOS will all be painted “safety orange,” the same hue used in life vests.
The marine-grade foam mannequins, all cast from a sculpted mold of a larger-than-life-size human, will fill a space of about 50 feet by 30 feet (which O’Neil says likely makes it the largest artwork by area to ever float in the channel).
They will be tied together in such a way that they move freely around the water’s surface with the currents (“like a flock of just-landed geese bobbing in the water,” according to the artists’ written description) but always point in the same direction.
A jury convened by FPAC picked the artists—Somerville-based duo Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier, of A + J Art and Design—after a public call-out earlier this year. Funding for the installation comes from the Friends of Fort Point Channel and the Fort Point Operations Board.
The project is inspired by harrowing world events, says Hirsch, a sculptor and professor whose past works include the Bill Russell Legacy Project at City Hall. But they also wanted to create something that can be appreciated from multiple angles and on multiple levels.
The installation is slated to debut alongside the three-day Fort Point Arts Community Fall Open Studios, which kicks off Friday, Oct. 14 from 4-7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 12-6 p.m.
Source: Boston Magazine
| WEBSITE | ↑ top |
www.fortpointarts.org/exhibitions/publicart/
| LOCATION | ↑ top |
Fort Point Channel, Boston, MA map
| RELATED LINKS | ↑ top |
- Profiles
- Localities
Info changes frequently. We cannot warrant it. Verify with SOS Floating Art Piece at Fort Point Channel before making the trek. If you find an error, please report it...