"Canstruction" - Food Can Sculpture Exhibit And Food Drive At Lower Manhattan's Brookfield Place World Financial Center

Canstruction® is an extraordinary annual design competition and a unique food charity  in the world. Now on exhibit are the structures made entirely of unopened cans of food. Teams of architects, engineers, contractors, and the students they mentor created these sculptures for the competition. After public public viewing, they are dismantled and donated to City Harvest for distribution to those in need. Admission is free, but visitors are asked to bring a can of high quality food to the exhibition’s collection station. The exhibit runs through November 13 at Brookfield Place World Financial Center at 220 Vesey Street.

New Palm Trees at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden

New palm trees have been planted inside one of the city's most beautiful interior spaces, the public atrium in the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center. The old palm trees that were planted during the 2002 rebuilding of the Winter Garden after the September 11 terrorist attacks, had grown to 60 feet, too large to allow for further growth in the space. About a month ago, the old trees were chopped down and converted to mulch for use in gardens at local hospitals “to honor their role in the Winter Garden that made it both a place to meet and a place to rest,” according to the complex owners, Brookfield Properties. Sixteen new trees, about 35 feet tall, have been planted to replace the overgrown palms trees. They are Washingtonia robusta trees, the same type as the previous trees,” according to Brookfield.

Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration at the World Financial Center

Earlier today, the New York Chinese Cultural Center sponsored the Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration at the World Financial Center. Several gravity-defying acrobatics, folk dances, lion dance, and festive musical ensembles were featured in the celebration. Prior to the program, young audiences learned traditional techniques of paper cutting, dough figurines, face painting and calligraphy.

"Seeing The Blues" - The Photography Of Linda & Jack Vartoogian

Linda and Jack Vartoogian have photographed musician, from the greatest stars of the day, to the most unnown and offbeat performers heard around the globe. On exhibit at the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center last week were some of their favorite images picked from a collection of photographs taken over the last 50 years. These photos show the Vartoogians' skills in capturing the great musicians at intimate, passionate moments.

World Financial Center Winter Garden's FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS AND SOUND

During the holiday season, the World Financial Center's Winter Garden in downtown Manhattan holds a month-long Festival of Light and Sound. The Winter Garden is filled with 100,000 lights that make the garden look like a snow globe. I made these images during last week's Santa's Winter Garden Weekend. 

The festival events this year include the dynamic acoustic Klezmer music of Beyond the Pale December 14; ETHEL Annie-B Parson re-creating their acclaimed performance piece, Wait for Green, December 18; and Ase Dance Theatre Collective celebrating Kwanza December 28. Santa's Winter Garden was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, December 11, 12 and 13 (see times below). Voices of Gotham, the NYC-based a cappella group, performs favorite holiday carols in the Winter Garden, December 3, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 21 and 23 at midday. The World Financial Center Winter Garden is located at 220 Vesey Street.

CANstruction 2010: Sculptures Made From Cans of Food at the World Financial Center

"Cups Can Only Spill" by Gilsanz Murray Steficek, LLP (5,180 cans)

"Comida Cubes" by GACE Consulting Engineers PC (2,6980 cans)

"philANThropy" by HOK (1,200 cans)

"The Candard Hotel, New York" by DeSimore Consulting Engineers (4,056 cans)

"The BabushCAN" by Thornton Tomasetti (3,472 cans)

"CAN Mario 1-UP Hunger?" by Severud Associates Consulting Engineers (3,600 cans)

"CAN Mario 1-UP Hunger?" (back view)

"Can'truck'tion: Delivering a Thanksgiving Meal" by RAND Engineering & Architecture (4,054 cans)

"Mr. Potato Head" by STV Inc. (4,104 cans)

"Building Blocks Against Hunger" by WSP Flack+Kurtz FXFOWLE (7,644 cans)

Canstruction is a unique design competition for teams of architecture and engineering professionals to create structures made entirely of full cans of food. The entries are now in display throughout the World Financial Center in downtown Manhattan near the World Trade Center site through November 22. Above are just some of the entries. At the end of the competition, the structures are dismantled and donated to City Harvest for distribution to families in need.  

FOREST - Miniature Landscape Made of Fabric

FOREST is an art exhibit at the World Financial Center Winter Garden featuring a landscape of "bonsais" created from used clothing by artists SUZANNE and MATHILDE HUSKY.  The miniature landscape "embodies the beauty and drama of nature." The viewer would be inspired to visually meander this forest, and discover peace and beauty in the fabric patterns creating textured foliage, tree branches, grass and rocks. FOREST is part of "NY's GREENEST," a collaborative effort by Battery Park City's cultural institutions to present Earth Day event and activities aimed at inspiring awareness, education and appreciation for our environment.

"This work replicates nature not only by creating an actual forest, but also in its ever cycling of materials into new life by reusing fabric, and in the uniqueness and singularity of each creation. The hand made piece is in direct opposition to the manufactured object. We choose to depict a place where biodiversity still happens, where seeds are not expected to perform like machines. Ironically, despite the wild subject, the fabrication process asserts an ephemeral and fictional control over nature similar to a formal garden. At the same time, the process of quiet, domestic activities like sewing, ultimately embody the seductive wildness of untouched land." - Suzanne and Mathilde Husky.

The exhibit runs through May 12.