Seeing Water in a Different Way in NYC

Well, we might be in a drought situation in Georgia, but New York City has no concerns. Starting this summer (July to be specific) four giant waterfalls will be erected in the city that never sleeps.

The waterfalls, including one that will fall from the Brooklyn Bridge, are the concept of Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. "It's about seeing water in a different way," Eliasson told a news conference on Wednesday, unveiling plans for the waterfalls, which will range in height from 90 to 120 feet -- around the same as the Statue of Liberty from head to toe.

Three of the waterfalls will cascade into the East River and New York Harbor from free-standing scaffolding towers that Eliasson said were part of his artistic vision, mirroring the scaffolding towers that sprout up throughout New York. The falls will be in place from mid-July to mid-October.

The Circle Line Downtown boat company will offer free and discounted trips to give visitors a closer look at the waterfalls.

Eliasson said the tour boats would not be able to get as close to the water as tourist boats do to New York state's most famous waterfall, Niagara Falls, on the Canadian border. "It's quite a lot of water, it would not be good to go under," Eliasson said. The scaffolding will have a floating barrier at the bottom to stop small boats going underneath and a "shark cage" under the water to stop fish being sucked into the pumps that will take the water to the top. The pumps will be powered by renewable energy sources and the falls will be lit only by low-level lighting at night that Eliasson said would be "not Las Vegas-style." (thank God)

The waterfalls project will coincide with a retrospective of Eliasson's work, called "Take Your Time," which will run at the Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 between April 20 and June 30.

Eliasson is known for creating immersive environments that take their inspiration from nature and play tricks with viewers' perceptions. With "The Weather Project," Mr. Eliasson used mist, mirrors, and 200 monofilament light bulbs to create an image of a glowing sun in the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. In a work called "Green River," in 2000, he poured nontoxic dye into a river in Stockholm, turning it green. In an early work called "Beauty" (1993), he created a rainbow in a gallery by projecting light across a fine mist of water.

Born in Copenhagen to Icelandic parents, Mr. Eliasson has long been interested in waterfalls, which form an important part of the landscape of Iceland. A piece called "Reversed Waterfall" (1998), which will be included in the P.S.1 exhibition, uses a system of pumps and basins to send water jetting uphill. In 2005, he created a 20-foot outdoor waterfall as part of an exhibition at Dundee University in Scotland.

Mr. Eliasson is one of a number of contemporary artists working on a scale that requires vast work spaces and fleets of assistants. According to a 2006 profile in the New Yorker, he has a 15,000-square-foot studio in a former train depot in East Berlin and employs about 40 people there, including mathematicians, technicians, lighting designers, and architects.

Can't wait. I didn't get to see Cristo's "The Gates" but I'm not missin this one. Imagine how cool it will be at night.