i was all set to check out Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfalls up close and personal.  Riding the NQBD trains everyday always allowed me to see them from afar but to be fairly honest–and I appreciated Olafur’s previous retrospective at the MOMA and PS1–from my high vantagepoint on the Manhattan Bridge, I wasn’t particularly impressed.   i had hoped however that perhaps a night view and a closer inspection would induce me to take back my initial judgement.  after determining my bike route based on the NYT recommendation, in the end i was only underwhelmed to discover that they were in fact even MORE disappointing up close because…they weren’t even turned on.

all the while, i couldn’t help but think that: (a) the roughly 15 million in money to support the work could have gone to better use; and (b) the visible structure behind the falls didn’t add to the work in a positive way.  despite the artist’s attempt to try to convey the physicality of water, that sense didn’t seem to translate to the mere viewer. all in all, it still felt like a dry town.