At The Same Moment

Lawrence Weiner created this work on the wooden fender-rack that guides the Governor's Island ferry into and out of its slip at the Battery Maritime Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan. The artist uses language as a medium. According to WorldFlicks, AT THE SAME MOMENT in red enamel letters invites us to consider the spatial and temporal relations between two distinct places and the ferry journey that links them together. The ferry's shuttling back and forth echoes the many populations that have come and gone from the island, from the Native Americans to the Dutch and British, the US Army and Coast Guard, and the thousands of civilians who enjoy it today. As one group departs, another arrives at the same moment. As a greeting and a farewell to visitors, Weiner's text kindles a sense of this history and fleeting simultaneity in the mind of the receiver. It provokes thoughts of what else is happening around us at the same time this artwork is viewed.