Battery Park City Landfill, 1973
In the early seventies one of the few large open spaces in Manhattan was the landfill that has become Battery Park City. Approaching the site from the north, the visitor saw nothing at first. Five insubstantial billboard-like structures were placed fifty feet apart across the site. As the viewer walked to the front of these plank walls the project materialized: the unimposing structures held a series of clearly articulated concentric circles descending into the ground. It appeared as though a column of air was being defined as it tunneled into the ground; the circles are marking out the distance to materialize the space. All the bulk of a traditional monument or monolith had been cut away from this temporary work. The viewer was engaged in the making of the piece; movement was necessary for it to become visible.
5.5′ by 12′ sections at 50′ intervals