NOBUHO NAGASAWA
LUMINESCENCE, PUBLIC LAND ART PROJECT
HUNTER'S POINT SOUTH WATERFRONT PARK
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY
PERMANENT INSTALLATION
Westwood Gallery artist Nobuho Nagasawa was selected in 2017 for a public land project at Hunter’s Point Long Island City, NY and created a permanent site-specific art installation entitled, Luminescence.
Her concept was inspired by the connection between the water, moon, and revitalized public enjoyment of the area. The seven moon craters placed in a spiral on the ground provides visitors an experience to view the work in a natural setting, or to see it aglow at night, as a representation of the seven phases of the moon.
Nobuho Nagasawa
Luminescence
portland cement with integrated phosphorus particles and pigment and reflective silicon carbide grains
seven 6 feet diameter dome-shaped mounds
On permanent view at Hunter's Point, Long Island City, New York
In her words the work is:
“a symbolic tribute of the lunar influence on the tidal rhythms of the East River. Using NASA topographic survey data collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the surface of each moon depicts an artistic accurate representation of the moon’s surface of craters, mountains and valleys. At night, each phase is illuminated by a phosphorescent polymer integrated into the moon’s surface. The placement of the moons creates a natural vista where people may observe the water, the sun, the moon and the sense of time passing against the Manhattan skyline.”
Nobuho Nagasawa’s installation was part of a larger project for Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park planned by the New York Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Parks & Recreation, SWA/Balsley, Weiss/Manfredi and ARUP.
“In 2018, a lunar landscape arrived in Long Island City: Nobuho Nagasawa’s ‘Luminescence,’ in which seven concrete domes represent the phases of the moon and double as seating on the peninsula lawn of Hunter’s Point South Park, offering a stunning view of Manhattan from across the East River.”
— The New Yorker