ARTLANTIC: wonder

ARTLANTIC: wonder Fact Sheet

Curator:                                 Lance Fung

Artists:                                  Robert Barry, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, John Roloff, Kiki Smith

Project Description:            ARTLANTIC: wonder is the first curated public art installation that will open on the Atlantic City boardwalk at two different sites as part of the five-year, multi-phase public art installation that is being undertaken as part of a partnership between the Atlantic City Alliance (ACA), the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) and Lance Fung of Fung Collaboratives

First Installation: The Barry, Kabakov and Smith installation is on a seven-acre site that will have two open spaces with two sculptures walled by 14-foot-high undulating terraces covered in indigenous grasses and wildflowers. The Kabokov sculpture is a large, plywood pirate ship. Opposite the ship is a life-sized version of “Her,” a self-portrait in bronze by Smith surrounded by a red-themed garden. Embedded in the landscape surrounding both open spaces is Robert Barry’s illuminated text piece. The landscape design is by New York-based Balmori Associates

Second Installation: Étude Atlantis, on a 8,500 square-foot site, is an elaborate illusionistic space. Bold linear stripes converge into a spiral pattern that leads to the center of the space, where an embedded cistern appears to be alive and weeping suggesting a pathway into the Indian Ocean. The landscape design is by Philadelphia-based Cairone & Kaupp, Inc.

 

Budget: $3 million

Project Sponsors: Funding is provided by the Atlantic City Alliance (ACA) and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA)

Location and Size of Sites: First Installation: Seven-acre site located on Pacific Avenue between South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and South Indiana Avenue

Second installation: 8,500 square-foot site located at the Boardwalk between South California Avenue and South Belmont Avenue

Hours and Admission:       Free and open to the public year-round

Fung Collaboratives Team:

  • Lance Fung, Curator
  • Layman Lee, Project Director
  • John Talley, Director of Operations
  • Jamila Glapion, Assistant Director of Operations

Landscape Designers:   Balmori Associates, Inc. and  Cairone & Kaupp, Inc.

 

Key Dates:

  • March 2012: Lance Fung makes first visit to the sites in Atlantic City
  •  August 2012: Artists submit finished project designs
  •  September 2012: Work begins on ARTLANTIC: wonder
  •  November 10, 2012: ARTLANTIC: wonder previews to the public.

Project Facts:

  • ARTLANTIC: wonder is the first public art project of its kind in Atlantic City.
  • ARTLANTIC: wonder is the first public art commission for the Kabakovs in the U.S.
  • ARTLANTIC: wonder, the first in a series of five public art installations is evocative of Atlantic City’s rich history and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, and highlights specific elements of the city’s past and present.
  • Several local unions have provided significant labor to facilitate the opening of ARTLANTIC: wonder including the South Jersey Building Construction Trades Council, The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, UA Local 322 Plumbers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 351, Sheet Metal Workers Local Union No. 19, International Union of Operating Engineers Local Union 825, Wharf, Dock Builders, Pile Drivers, House Movers, Underpinning, Shoring and Caissons Local Union 454.
  • The terraced mounds on the seven-acre lot were created using 4,475 tons of dense graded aggregate.
  • Plantings with red berries, red flowers and red leaves for the Kiki Smith garden are designed to ensure blooms occur during each season.

 

  • Monordo Didyma (red bergamot)
  • Ocimum Basilicum Purpueeum (purple basil)
  • Perulla Frutescens (red sisho)
  • Imerata Cylindrica “Red Baron” (Japanese blood grass)
  • Berberis Thinbergii (Red Japanese barberry)
  • Cornus Sericea “Cardinal” (Red twig dogwood)
  • Nandina Domestica “Firepower” (Heavenly bamboo “Firepower”)
  • Malus “Cardinal” (Cardinal crab apple)
  • Acer Palmatum ‘”Atropurpurea” (Japanese maple)
  • Rhus Aromatica (fragrant sumac)
  • Heuchera “Plum Pudding” (coral bells)
  • Black Pines and low growing salt and wind tolerant vegetation was used for the Étude Atlantis installation which will also offer WiFi accessibility to visitors, reinforcing the global connectivity of the exhibit
  • Open Space Partners: Ace Gaming, LLC (First Installation) and California Avenue Ventures, LLC (Second Installation) have made these privately owned spaces available for these temporary installations until alternative private investment opportunities arise.

Artist Information:

  • Robert Barry is a conceptual artist whose work is concerned with the immaterial nature of ideas. He lives in Teaneck, N.J.
  • Ilya and Emilia Kabakov are the most important Russian conceptual artists to have emerged in the late 20th century. The Kabakovs live and work in Long Island, N.Y.
  • John Roloff is known for large-scale environmental and gallery installations investigating geologic and natural phenomena. He hopes to create a reciprocal piece in Australia completing the link between the two works and the two hemispheres. He is based in San Francisco.
  • Kiki Smith is a prominent international artist whose prints, installations, and textiles explore the human condition, the human body and the realms of spirituality and nature. She grew up in South Orange, N.J.
  • Lance Fung is an international curator of intellectually rigorous and stimulating large-scale public art exhibitions
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