"Borders" at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza

"Borders" at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
New York City

Facebook “friend” and real-life cousin Bob Vicencio tipped me on the display of some alien-looking statues at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on 47th and 2nd so I went there despite the rain. I took these photos -- tripod-mounted -- under an umbrella.

Which worked out I think. Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, billed as the “Gateway to the United Nations” because the UN building is just around the corner, is IMO always “too busy” for photography. “Busy” in photospeak means there are too many objects around a scene that it is hard to take a shot without these objects getting in the frame and distracting the viewer away from the main subject.

If you want to know what I mean, take a look at the photo in the plaza's website. The photographer had to separate processing for the sculptures (through Photoshop layers, I imagine) from the background to make them brighter. Otherwise, you might miss the sculptures altogether.

I will point out objects that make the scene “busy” as you go through the pics.

But at least with the rain, there were no people around to add to the plaza's “busy-ness”.

Anyway, according to the plaza's website, the display is called “Borders” and the sculptures are by Icelandic artist Steinunn Thorarinsdottier. It will run till September 2011.

Click on a picture to enlarge.

Bright orange panels on the building steal the show from this shot.

If not for the rain, this place would have been crowded.

In this picture is an example of the plaza's

Dag Hammarskjold Plaza is a place where rallies, activism, and maybe indoctrination against certain global turmoils with the UN Building as backdrop that, depending on the political climate, you may or may not agree with, regularly occur. So, if in case you're looking for some peace and quiet in a deep sense, the

Another trash can -- just can't avoid them.

It stopped raining two days later so I went back for more pictures. The UN Building can be seen on the right.

BACK TO: Home Gallery