Staten Island’s Freshkills Park has just been chosen as the site for the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative, an exciting competition that will create a stunning piece of public art that will produce clean energy to power New York City homes. The city is already planning to use land in Freshkills Park to build wind or solar fields, so it’s no surprise that the park’s expansive landscape was seen as the perfect empty canvas for LAGI. The detailed design brief will be released at the start of the competition early next year.
The New York City Parks Department has partnered with LAGI to host the competition. Officials say that the guidelines will be similar to the 2010 competition, which used three sites in the United Arab Emirates. The goal of the initiative is to change the way we think about what green energy generation looks like, while expanding public awareness about the potential for a renewable energy future through art. Solar fields and wind farms can be unsightly, so first and foremost, LAGI will consider aesthetics. After all, it is called the Land Art Generator, not the Land Energy Generator. The sleek black Lunar Cubit pyramids won the inaugural 2010 competition. Hundreds of designers from more than 40 countries submitted proposals.
LAGI was created by husband and wife team Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian, an architect and artist, respectively. They want to show that renewable energy can be beautiful. We think that Freshkills Park, once the world’s largest landfill is the perfect symbol of green renewal, making it a fitting choice for LAGI. We are completely thrilled that the competition is happening in our own backyard, and we’ll be following it closely to bring you all the updates.
+ Land Art Generator Initiative
+ Freshkills Park
I wonder how unrestricted is this project in terms of who gets to participate and make a design, because there are a lot of talented individuals out there who are much interested in these kinds of initiatives, like myself(studying architect)! But without doubt the project is a very cool idea and the thought of it being based in Fresh kills-park in 2012 is a stunner, the place looks great now imagine how striking it would look once it’s surrounded with them futuristic sculptures like the one i have on my mind right now and it’s very Eco-friendly, wow it’s gonna be beautiful quiet world class. I wonder how long it’s going to take to have one of those in this side of the world(Africa). As the world turns!