The New York City Waterfalls - 2008

Olafur Eliasson installed his New York City Waterfalls at four carefully chosen locations along the banks of the East River from June through October 2008.
By manipulating the normally flat river into a series of waterfalls that ranged from 90 to 120 feet tall, Eliasson offered his urban audience a new kind of experience of nature. What’s more, by leaving the frames of the waterfalls undisguised, the artist evoked the scaffolding that can be seen across the city, testifying to the dynamic, constantly-changing fabric of the urban environment.
Eliasson’s Waterfalls were made possible by the support of New York City’s Public Art Fund, a non-profit organization established in 1977. The mission of the Public Art Fund, and other similar organizations, is to bring works of contemporary art out of museums and galleries and into open spaces where they can be experienced by a diverse urban public. The Public Art Fund works with established international artists as well as emerging local artists to help them realize projects that might impact the cultural life of New York. Like Eliasson, most of these artists create site-specific pieces that respond and bring new energy to the existing environment. In this way, public art projects such as the Waterfalls prompt inhabitants of the city to look at the urban landscape in new, different, and thought-provoking ways.

Source : www.learner.org