The park is situated in the proximity of three of the biggest housing estates of NYC and as much as it is a place of culture, it still primarily functions as a place to walk the dog or to have a stroll for people from the neighborhood. Historically, the location used to be one of the city’s least attractive ones, and generations of artists – from Isamu Noguchi to Matthew Barney – have ended up here in their search for an affordable studio space. But for a lot of its local visitors, the Socrates Sculpture Park
is also the first, and often the only, contact with (contemporary) art.

An interesting and challenging position for a cultural organisation, and one that can be addressed in different ways. The team members behind the Socrates Park decided they wouldn’t go for the common denominator and let their curatorial decisions be influenced by their audience. But their is a belief that whatever cultural knowledge one brings with him, the art on display can respond to it in relevant way.

There is also the other side of the equation: since the artworks are installed during the opening hours of the park, this often results in artists being challenged by questions from the local visitors. Some artists like it, some get aggravated… the spirit of Socrates is never far!

As an exhibition, do it (outside) functions as an exchange and transformation of ideas: written instructions by over 60 artists (a.o. Paul McCarthy, Pedro Reyes, Christian Marclay, Ai Weiwei, Erwin Wurm etc.) are being interpreted and brought to life by performers, community groups, general public and the artists themselves, resulting in installations that range from the explicitly sculptural, to the performative and from poetic to the absurd. Socrates Sculpture Park will produce a digital publication to accompany the process.

We really loved this exhibition. It demonstrated how a group of artists captured a big question of the époque they lived in and postulated a creative answer. The next 20 years can be seen as an exploration of their initial idea, influenced by new evolutions in society, technology, culture, etc… but still very true to their initial belief in separating matter and ideology.

This understanding brings us to an interesting question: Which artists explore through their work answers on the big questions of today?

While reading this interesting article about a new breed of art patrons from Silicon Valley, we discovered Bay Lights, a public artwork created for the San Francisco Bay Bridge by Leo Villareal. The “master of light” Villareal created a stunning computer-programmed show, which uses 25 000 LED lights forming various moving patterns
across the bridge. The world’s largest light sculpture first lit up on March 5th and is now running every night, from dusk till 2am, for a period of two years.

The artist said: “This was a whole I.T. job, which you wouldn’t associate with a monumental piece of public art.” We can see his point and totally get the appeal such work must have have for the Silicon Valley techies.

Even if you don’t make it to SF till 2015, you can watch the nightly live stream on a long distance. In case you live in New York, you can see another of Villareal’s latest light installations (titled Hive) at Bleecker Street subway station. And if you’re in London, Leo Villareal is one of the artists currently showing in the brilliant Light Show at Hayward Gallery.