We started our journey at Agnes Denes’ beautiful new sculpture,’The Living Pyramid‘,
and swung by to pick up Sarah from a beach around the corner.
Sarah is launching a performance called 36.5 in the Netherlands this summer, then traveling with it all around the world.
During the performance, she stands in one place through an entire tidal cycle. It takes over 13 hours, and is an incredible act of endurance and bravery. It also makes a really great image, which you can see in her pilot versions around the U.S..
We came into an eddy just south of Hell Gate. The current was very strong, but a huge back-surge of water held us completely still. It was a good place to talk about the tides.
“It amazes me that there are people who plan their lives around the cycles of the moon instead of the sun.” said Sarah.
That was true about us, at least for this tidal cycle.
The eddy shifted slightly and nudged us into the fast moving current.
We could see big up-swells in the current, pushing up from the bottom of Hell Gate.
Riding over them was spooky, like slipping off the top of something moving.
Without paddling, we were riding with the current at almost 5 miles per hour.
“I guess that is like a slow jog.” said Kara, putting everything into perspective.
It was hard to get a handle on what we were seeing, moving along so quietly in the shadow of a massive, roaring machine.
In the 1960’s, The Ravenswood Generating Station was the largest electric generating facility in the world.
Con Ed was required to sell it in 1999, during the city’s complicated de-regulation strategy.
Now it is owned by the TransCanada Corporation and supplies power to about 21 percent of New York City.
Long Island City rose into view.
Kara had walked down here before, and she knew about a little spot under the pier; a circular cut-out open to the sky.
We waited down there, hoping someone would see,
but no one paid us any mind.
Out from under the pier, we looked for a spot to rest.
Hunter’s Point South is slated for development later his year. One day this will look like all the blue glass towers that line the shore of Long Island City,
but for now, this prime New York City real estate belongs to weeds and trespassers.
Sarah brought ‘stroopwafel’ from the Netherlands.
It was the first time Kara had ever eaten one, and we tried to photograph her expression of amazment and joy.
We talked about Sarah’s 36.5 project and where she might perform when it comes to New York.
I thought she would want to find a place where the current was not strong, but where you could see the city.
Once during a performance in San Francisco, a huge wake from a boat knocked her off the rock she was using for balance.
She was devastated; there were hours left in the performance and she had lost her position.
But when she talked to people who had seen the performance, she realized that no one had really noticed, and it was an interesting part of the documentation.
“I realized that sometimes you just get knocked off your rock.” she said.
“And that is ok, you just keep going.”
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