Bike The Falls
Olaf Eliasson's "New York City Waterfalls" is installed along the East River in Lower Manhattan until mid-October. The fastest and most fun way to see all four waterfalls is by bike. The NYC DOT has produced a "Bike the Falls" guide, featuring a map of viewing points and written directions to ensure that seeing the falls by bike is as easy as it is fun. Yesterday, Janette Sadik-Khan lead a "Bike The Falls" ride with New York City cycling advocates along the marked route.
[intro music]
Olaf Eliasson: [00:03] My name is Olaf Eliasson and I’m the artist who did the New York City waterfalls.
[music]
Dani Simons: [00:12] We’re here today with the DOT Commissioner and we invited a bunch of folks from different bike clubs and bike advocacy groups to join us and all have a nice little ride together.
Janette Sadik-Khan: [00:21] This is a great opportunity to highlight some of the great stuff that we’re doing in New York City, and marrying quality art with great transportation doesn’t get any better than this.
[music]
Janette Sadik-Khan: [00:36] We’re going to go across the Brooklyn Bridge and then we’re going to head around to the Brooklyn Esplanade, and then we’re going to wander around the streets on our bike route.
Dani Simons: [00:45] DOT put together this route map and we have these little symbols on the ground that people can follow.
[music]
Noah Budnick: [00:58] It’s nice to see this cross-pollination of initiatives from the city where there’s public art on the one hand, but they’re saying we’re also promoting biking at the same time and here’s a great opportunity to combine these two things, gives some people something new and as a reason to go and ride their bikes.
George Arcarola: [01:15] It’s a good way to look at the Falls, kind of do it slowly instead of just zipping past it like you do on a commute.
Jesse Brown: [01:20] Now we are native New Yorkers but people who come into the city and rent bikes could enjoy doing the ride. I think they’re much more attractive though after nightfall.
[music]
Olaf Eliasson:
[01:32] If you now look at the East River, we have a tendency to take
that space forgranted as a sort of negative space. You look right
across it looking at the skylines and my idea was to use this work of
art to kind of suggest that there is a volume to this space. This
space is actually there and you can engage in it.
[music]
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