Saturday 23 June 2012

Flesh Cuts With Luci Westphal


The High Line Park in Manhattan is the coolest park in the world! And I don't mean the temperature, because when I filmed here on Wednesday it was the first day of an intense heat wave.

As I walked along the High Line Park in Manhattan I thought once again that there's just no place in the world I love as much as this city. The High Line Park, which is a fairly new addition to the city (first part opened in 2009, with an extension opened in 2011), is a perfect combination of what creates the NYC visuals: the old, the new, the organic: the run-down old buildings, rusty rail lines, modern high-rises, views of traffic, Hudson river, art, offices and living spaces, and people running, people reading books, people talking and flowers, trees, grass, bees and birds...

Ever since moving to New York City I've had an eye on the High Line from below - then just abandoned elevated rail lines. There were rumors of grass and apple trees... one day there would be a public park... Hoping that the city would get this one right.

And they sure did! If you ask me they did everything right about this place - the way they mixed the old with the new, the inanimate with the organic. Both interact with each other in a constant dialogue.

According to Wikipedia page, the park was designed by the James Corner's New York-based landscape architecture firm Field Operations and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with planting design from Piet Oudolf of the Netherlands and engineering design by Buro Happold.

Even when you get annoyed about the billboards popping up around it (as I did), take a closer look and realize that some of them are actually art work made to look like advertisement to turn that back around. 

Can you tell how much I love this park? Is there any other place like this?

Definitely try to fit this into your next New York visit.

Today is my mother's birthday. She's the most talented gardener I know and I can't wait to sit in my family's garden again soon. So I would like to dedicate this video to her. (Although I think my dad, who is a great photographer of roadside wild flowers, would appreciate the park just the same.)

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, Mutti!
 
Luci



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