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SANTA MARTA: REFLECTED NIGHTS

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Lee en español

THE SEA

For me, the sea has been a magical place where I can find calm. Feeling such a deep connection with the water is curious, when most of my life I have lived in the interior of Colombia, surrounded by high mountains and green landscapes. A place very far from the sound of the sea, its smell and its colors.

Perhaps that situation has led me to choose coastal cities and cities surrounded by large bodies of water, when I have had the opportunity to live abroad. I think it is the need to be close to the water, which has driven me to move between cities whenever I have the opportunity to do so. Hence, my last trip to Santa Marta arose from an impulse, an inner need to get in touch with the sea again.

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Santa Marta’s coast during the sunset

The first time I visited Santa Marta was by car. That journey was one of those typical trips made by middle-class families from the interior of Colombia. The must-go trip to the coast. I remember that was the first time we took a long trip with my grandparents. Despite having run aground twice along the way, and all the mishaps in the plans, that trip is one of the most beautiful memories I have of my childhood.

SANTA MARTA

Between that first trip and my last visit to Santa Marta, my perception of traveling has changed quite a bit. I remember that girl who sought refuge in her parents and grandparents, too afraid to get lost in the crowd of a completely unknown place. She is now a woman looking for excuses to wander the streets aimlessly, only following the colorful facades and small cafes that catch her eye. She is always looking to escape the routine, to discover a new journey.

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Carrera 3, street of umbrellas in Santa Marta – Nighttime

In recent trips I have taken the habit of reading about the places I visit and buying books in local bookstores in those cities. I feel that the stories of these other people give a greater depth to my experience during the trips. This search led me to the book “El Desafío de las Luciérnagas” (“The Firefly Challenge”).

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Facade bookstore Grupo Andes during nighttime – Santa Marta

In this book, its author, Polidora Gómez, narrates that “the escape is the sea…”*. This phrase resonated deeply with those memories I have of losing track of time, while listening to the fresh and deep sound of the sea. While I see how that horizon between the sea and the sky becomes infinity. While I listen to conversations of locals during the walks along the boardwalk of Santa Marta. While the reddish colors take over the landscape of this city at sunset.

THE NIGHT IN THE PIER

A new part of Santa Marta wakes up at sunset. Although most people go to the coast to take advantage of the sunny hours and the hottest moments of the day, I find the cool breeze from the sea comforting, that air that reminds us that night is coming. A less hot moment, but still hot enough to enjoy a calm and leisurely walk through its streets. 

This moment of the day brings to my memory the image of the pier. During the last rays of the sun, the sky wears warm colors contrasted with the intense blue of the sea. When night falls, the deep blue of the sky mixes with the darkness of the sea and only the reflections of the water remain, to help us distinguish the limit between the sea and the sky.

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“Camellón Rodrigo de Bastidas” park during nighttime – Santa Marta

The night on the pier blends between the sound of the sea and the conversations of locals. Between the music that comes and goes in batches from some kiosks and from the “chiva”, that cannot be missed with its disco lights, to set the road parallel to the sea with color and melody.

“SEEDING STORIES”

This is the name that Polidora Gómez gives to one of the sections of her poetry book “Desafío de las Luciérnagas” (“Firefly Challenge”). Reading Polidora’s words, I find deep layers of experiences that lead me to heartfelt stories of a land that has seen everything from the most intoxicating happiness to the most heartbreaking pain. This name, “seeding stories” (“siembra de historias”) makes me think of those stories that are planted during the day and only bloom at night.

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Santa Marta’s streets during nighttime – City center

I believe the night often welcomes us in its shadow, to give us permission to do what we don’t dare during the daytime. And this is why in many cities the night is between extremes. From spaces that radiate party sounds and lights, to completely uninhabited places. In many cities, it seems that the night does not have those intermediate scenarios that the daytime has. Moments of calm, contemplation and recreation are rarely experienced at night.

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Santa Marta’s streets during nighttime – City center

In Santa Marta I walked through lively streets full of colored lights and people, to find a few blocks away, desolate streets in which the shadows of bushes are confused with those of people who find in the streets the only place in which to sleep. Although Santa Marta presents these extremes, this city also has had the ability to create the intermediate scenarios.

"WHAT DOES THE NIGHT HAVE?"

Carlos Vives is one of the most recognized singers in Colombia and has a song called “What does the night have?”* (“¿Qué tiene la noche?”). This song awakens in me a mixture of feelings between the connection with the warm atmosphere of the coast, through the sonorous feeling of its melody and the magic that Bogotá has. This city in which I now live, which despite its chaos and rainy months, finds ways to inspire me.

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Santa Marta’s streets during nighttime – City center

Unlike Bogotá, in Santa Marta I find those intermediate scenarios during the night, which I have not been able to experience in Bogotá. I’m not sure if this is due to the climate, the culture of the people, the scale of the city or a mixture of all these factors. In Santa Marta, I was surprised to find urban spaces like the pier, with so much urban vitality at night.

A vitality that has nothing to do with the party or the hustle and bustle. Santa Marta’s pier has spaces to walk quietly by the sea and to watch the night from the benches that extend along the linear park. Also, it has playgrounds for girls, boys and adults, where local families enjoy at night. Added to this scenario are some local businesses that make the urban night more dynamic.

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“Camellón Rodrigo de Bastidas” park during nighttime – Manhattan

In addition, it has activities such as the film festival to the sea, in which the public space becomes the stage to project films and hold talks. These proposals not only allow for a diverse night, but also prolong the use of public space and thus the access of its population to new forms of recreation.

LIVE THE NIGHT

After spending several nights in Santa Marta, I found in this city a place where I felt free to enjoy the night. I felt welcomed by a much friendlier night than I am used to in Bogotá. Although Santa Marta continues to have contrasting areas between bustle and loneliness, this city has bet on intermediate scenarios for urban life at night.

Although Santa Marta continues to have contrasting areas between bustle and loneliness, this city has bet on intermediate scenarios for urban life at night.

Walking along the pier among people of different ages, who dwell in the public space in a recreational way, made me feel safe. I went back to walking calmly, giving myself time to listen to the sea and to feel the refreshing breeze at night. I experienced a feeling of freedom and safety being surrounded by people, who even if they were strangers, accompanied me on my journey . 

 

In the end, I felt more welcomed at night in Santa Marta than I have ever felt at night in Bogotá, after more than a decade of living there. So, what does the night of Santa Marta have that Bogotá’s doesn’t?

Night-time traveller

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NEW YORK: “HIGH LINE PARK”

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Lee en español

REPURPOSING SPACES

The night brings a sense of intimacy to those who dare to seek it. That was the feeling I got when I went to High Line Park for the second time. A more intimate perception and quite different from the first time I walked there. Light and darkness provide contrasting emotions regardless of whether the spaces in which we live those emotions are the same.

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Amphitheater at nighttime, 10th Avenue Square & Overlook at 17th St – High Line Park

The first time I visited this linear park, I started my walk in Lower Manhattan at the Meatpacking District. That day I was enjoying a beautiful summer afternoon. The place was full of people walking in both directions. At that moment, I felt the idyllic scene sold in the typical advertisement about New York City. A scene where anyone can enjoy New York’s bonanza no matter where they come from or who they are.

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Amphitheater at daytime, 10th Avenue Square & Overlook at 17th St – High Line Park

On my way, I crossed paths with locals laying on benches enjoying a Sunday afternoon and groups of tourists taking pictures of the renowned buildings. As I went, I found beautiful corners of the Manhattan landscape that can only be seen from the elevated walkways of the old train tracks.

AFTER FORGOTTEN

Nowadays, this linear park has become one of the most interesting viewpoints in New York. This change has been remarkable, since this space was abandoned from the 80s until the beginning of the 2000s. This is the perfect example of how forgotten places can bring vibrancy to cities’ urban life again.

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Manhattan’s street art seen from the High Line Park – Nighttime

The High Line Park extends parallel to the Hudson River from the Meatpacking District until the Vessel at Hudson Yards.

This translates into more than 2 kilometres of a linear park bordering Manhattan’s borough. That extension combined with an elevated view of the city is the perfect mix for a successful urban intervention and an ideal place to enjoy the city from an elevated platform 30 feet high.

As I went on my walk, I was able to see and hear the river from the distance, admire incredible perspectives of open roadways in Manhattan, appreciate iconic buildings as the only construction made in New York by the renowned architect Zaha Hadid located at 520 W 28th Street and also, to have a great look of New York emblematic street art.

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High Line Park during nighttime – Manhattan

This elevated platform can be described as an open-sky museum. This museum presents an exhibition of iconic urban pieces, including some original elements of the train tracks, while walking through various plant species that are harmonised with landscaping.

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES

A week after my first ride, I decided to check out  High Line Park at night. Since at the time I was working as an intern at the studio that did the lighting design for this place, L’Observatoire, I wanted to experience being in a public space that had been purposefully designed to give users a nocturnal urban experience.

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High Line Park during nighttime – Manhattan

Previously to my visit, I had seen some drawings and read about the concept of the project. In that text, designers explained how the lighting design in this project had been focused on the lower plane. This means lighting fixtures are located at the height of the hips of an average person to the floor. So you can find light integrated into benches and railings and placed among some shrubbery along the path.

My experience when I was walking the catwalk during the night was that for much of the way people’s faces faded away among the shadows. In general, the lighting was directed at the ground giving the park a warm and soft atmosphere. This brought me a sense of intimacy opposite to what I felt during the daytime. That first night, even though the place was crowded, I felt a sense of anonymity knowing my face couldn’t be noticed either.

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High Line Park during nighttime – Manhattan

As I continued exploring the High Line, I kept experiencing places where people’s faces faded away and other places where their faces appeared again tinted by the colour of the light coming from the surrounding facades. That was an interesting way of interacting with strangers. I was immersed in a corridor where their faces vanished and appeared as I walked.

“SEE AND BE SEEN”

“See and be seen” is the second of the “Principles of Cities Work” developed by The City of Montreal. This is a principle that I experienced vividly at  High Line Park. As I walked through the catwalk, I felt some kind of anonymity that made me feel strangely comfortable, while walking alone at night. Although my invisibility also meant other people’s invisibility, I also felt safe in that place.

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High Line Park during nighttime – Manhattan

Even though, in general, being able to identify people’s faces gives me a sense of security, especially in public spaces, in High Line Park the reflected light from the facades and the interior of some buildings was enough to make me feel comfortable walking along the path. The transition between the lightest and darkest sections of the linear park was smooth enough for my eyes to adjust smoothly between them.

For me, the perception of safety was connected to the presence of other people in this space. As Jane Jacobs mentioned about urban surveillance with her concept of “eyes on the streets”, the perception of security is based on how we can rely on others and how we perceive a space. This idea of being able to get help from other people in case I feel uncomfortable or threatened always strengthens my perception of security, no matter where I am.

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High Line Park during nighttime – Manhattan

After many years, I became conscious of all those thoughts and steps I take before enjoying public spaces at night. These are self-defence mechanisms I have learned and developed with the passing of time and I know many girls and women also do it. In the end, although urban spaces’ physical configuration contributes to having more friendly environments for women, the principal challenges continue to be socio-cultural ones.

WOMEN AND THE NIGHT

After some thinking about my experience exploring cities during night, the major difference I find walking along at night between the city I currently live in, Bogotá, and other cities abroad such as New York, is that in these last are more women walking and dwelling at night. Definitely, I find the presence of other women in public spaces comforting.

…I find the presence of other women in public spaces comforting…No matter if I know or not those women, the mere fact of their presence makes me feel safer.

No matter if I know or not those women, the mere fact of their presence makes me feel safer. It is because of this situation that I have felt more comfortable in foreign cities at night than in my own city. I hope one day to have that same feeling of freedom in the city I live in every day.

Night-time traveller

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NEW YORK: “THE GIRL PUZZLE”

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Lee en español

CONNECTING THE PIECES

New York by itself is a puzzle. This city made of islands and a portion of mainland -at the Bronx- is connected by diverse means of transportation that joins its pieces. These include the subway system, vehicular streets and tunnels -in which buses, taxis and cars transit-, ferry systems and even an aerial tramway. The latter being the one I most wanted to meet.

My idea about going to Roosevelt Island was to take the aerial tramway and have the opportunity to see a different side of Manhattan. I wanted to see all of New York’s pieces from a different perspective. In short, I wanted to experience the city in every possible way. And that was the feeling I had when I was inside the tram car.

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Roosevelt Island during summer

Even though there were too many people in such a small space, I had an amazing view of the city. In the 360 degrees of that little tram car, New York unfolded in all its splendour. As an architect, I love aerial photos of cities and even better when I discover opportunities like this to see the city as a full-scale model.

As soon as we crossed the river, to my surprise, Roosevelt Island greeted us with a calm atmosphere contrasted to the noisy Manhattan I had just left some minutes ago. Here, I spent my time walking around the island without a route traced. From the afternoon until the sunset, I just admired Manhattan’s waterfront. After a while, when the night was approaching, I arrived at the north tip of the island. There, in the further corner was the Lighthouse.

INCOMPLETE BEINGS

As I entered the Lighthouse Park in Roosevelt Island, I saw in the distance giant shining faces. In the middle of the night these shimmering pieces stood out as stars in a clear night sky. That place was “The Girl Puzzle Monument Honoring Nellie Bly”. When I was approaching the sculptures, I felt mesmerised by the scale of the faces and all the reflections around me. Among these giant faces I could see parts of myself on the shining surfaces. I was part of the exhibition.

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Lighthouse and “The Girl Puzzle Monument Honoring Nellie Bly” – Roosevelt Island

I walked for a while seeing myself and other people reflected on the surface of urban sculptures. At some point, I felt very vain for admiring my multiple reflections. At that moment, I remembered when I was a little girl and I was told not to look at myself too much in the mirror. It wasn’t right to be a vain girl.

After some years, I learnt that seeing my reflection in the mirror was not always vanity. Looking at myself in the mirror became an exercise to remember me how far I had come, how much I had changed. Seeing myself through my own eyes and having positive thoughts about myself has helped me embrace all the parts of my being, including the imperfect ones.

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“The Girl Puzzle Monument Honoring Nellie Bly” – Roosevelt Island

When I was seeing these urban sculptures, I realised these were an invitation to see all the pieces of ourselves and embrace them one by one. As you walk inside the park, all of the reflective spheres show you a part of yourself and these images change as you move through the sculptures. This place transforms with each person. In the end, as you explore it, your reflections become part of the puzzle.

REFLEXES ON OTHERS

The “Girl Puzzle Monument” is composed of five faces. One of them, casted in silver bronze, honours Nellie Bly. Bly was an American journalist who championed other women’s causes and injustices. The other four faces represent a young child, an african American woman, an older woman and member of the LGBTQ community and an asian woman. These last sculptures are casted in bronze and show us people who have historically been invisible.

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Nellie Bly’s sculpture – Roosevelt Island

I believe this place makes us remember that each one of us has a unique voice and each one of these voices deserves to be listened to. In this way, Nellie Bly gave a voice to many people who had no chance to be heard and that was the root of her incredible impact and legacy. In the end, these urban sculptures resemble the way we are connected with the people who surround us, even though we are not always conscious about it.

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African American woman sculpture – “The Girl Puzzle Monument Honoring Nellie Bly”

We see part of ourselves in others, and also cast part of our essence in others. So as the materials of these sculptures show to us, we are always in a fluid exchange of reflections. Some of these are physical, which in general, in the case of women, society has reduced to beauty. But we also perceive immaterial reflections such as wisdom and affection, acts that are reflected in our actions. In the end, all these reflections are part of our own puzzle.

CONNECTED STORIES

I believe that urban places are weaved by uncountless stories and in this case of uncountless reflections. Thus, in each place we inhabit we leave pieces of ourselves. In this exchange, we lose some pieces, but gain others. We destroy and rebuild ourselves. As this exhibition describes, the sculptures are “…rendered in partial sections that appear like giant puzzle pieces, show a depth of emotion and complexity of being broken and repaired.”

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“The Girl Puzzle Monument Honoring Nellie Bly” – Roosevelt Island

I find beauty in people who have been broken and who have had the courage to gather their pieces and build themselves stronger. Because it is in our darkest moments when we really see how resilient we are. As in life, I see in the darkest moments of cities an opportunity to embrace its true self. Every night is an occasion to see the essence of a city and simply love it for what it really is.

As in life, I see in the darkest moments of cities an opportunity to embrace its true self. Every night is an occasion to see the essence of a city and simply love it for what it really is.

In the end, as these sculptures show us we don’t need to be perfect to be complete. And that is the beauty about life, we are continually looking for new pieces to add to our puzzle.

Night-time traveller

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NEW YORK: “EXPLORATORY LABYRINTH”

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Lee en español

HIDDEN URBAN GEMS

One of the things I love about New York is that this city always has one hidden gem to surprise you. Among all the types of places and according to your mood, you can find uncountable night spots to enjoy the urban life. From wide open lawns when you want to relax or having a picnic, to interactive spaces which make you feel as if you were at urban museums in open skies. New York urban design never disappoints. An example of interactive spaces is the exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3.

I found this exploratory labyrinth by accident. This happened at the end of a summer afternoon during my last day in New York City. That day, I decided to have a long and liberating walk across the Brooklyn Bridge crossing from Manhattan to Brooklyn. While I was walking over a bridge surrounded by tourists trying to capture the best photos and locals jogging in both ways, I had mixed feelings. I felt relief after finishing a month of unstoppable working days at Chinatown and nostalgic for leaving such an exciting city.

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Brooklyn Bridge during summer

As I crossed over the East River, I felt the echo of my footsteps, that was the same path I walked during my first day in the city. This time my walk was kind of meditative and a way to give closure to an alternative route that I had decided to try in my life, just to realise that was not my path. At that day I felt I was finally coming to myself, I had regained the power of my time. I was going at my own pace and making time for what I enjoy the most, wander at foreing cities during the night.

EXPLORING THE NIGHT

At the end of my walk there was Dumbo as crowded as always, so I decided to go head to Brooklyn Heights crossing in between neighbourhoods to see the sunset from a quiet spot. I had taken this route many times over the summer and getting a chance to feel a quiet neighbourhood vibe, after a full day of hustle and bustle in Chinatown was always refreshing. As the sunset was beginning I decided to take a break in my walk to admire the landscape of lower Manhattan from Pier 5. Between the soccer fields and the border of the river there is a line of benches where you can have a quiet time to enjoy the calming sound of the East River while the buildings in the distance start to light up. Here, I felt mesmerised by how the night emerged in the waterfront while the soft summer breeze refreshed my body.

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Entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3 – South walkaway

When the night turned into a deep blue I decided to come back to Dumbo but this time bordering the river. While I was wandering around the riverside, I felt attracted by an entrance framed with lighted columns which shaped square arches at Pier 3. Those columns guided what in the distance looked like a quiet natural park. So I entered the park guided by the vertical light that bordered the park. Somewhere in the middle of the walkway there were stairs leading up to a bowl-like lawn area. I went up feeling a little bit cautious since this place looked darker and lonely compared to the walkways around it. 

As I entered the bowl-like lawn area, I discovered an open space guarded by shrubs which framed an amazing view of lower Manhattan waterfront. When I was in the lawn I realised how the dimmed lig​ht allowed visitors to feel as spectators in an urban theatre and the waterfront became the stage. The darkness in this spot made me feel as if I had all the place to myself. Then, I continued walking through the lawn feeling the soft grass under my feet. During this short journey I couldn’t take away my gaze over the night view of the buildings mainly lit by the light coming from indoors. Together those lights shaped the night silhouette.

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Lower Manhattan view from the bowl-like lawn at Pier 3

While I was approaching the waterfront the light became brighter. I went down again to the walkway. There I found a young man riding his bike in circles over the paved surface while a young woman was contemplating the night landscape from the bench area. As I was walking by the border of the river I saw again a line of lit columns guiding the path, this time with the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop.

HOW TO FIND A LABYRINTH

I continued bordering the park at the north boardwalk with the intention to leave Pier 3 when I saw a small path going inside the park. This time the trees around the path looked thicker and the light more dimmed than in the lawn area. Even though at the beginning I felt the path was not so welcoming, there was something about the shadow pattern casted by the leaves of the trees and a shining light at the end of the path that aroused my curiosity. So, in the same way Alice in Wonderland followed the white rabbit, I followed the patterns of light and shadow guided by my instinct.

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Exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3

As I progressed on my walk I began to see more luminous areas where small white norays appeared grouped in different places. These elements contrasted with the dense foliage of trees lined up as a backdrop. As I got closer, these small norays shone as if emerging from the shadows. To my surprise, I found more people on the trails than on the park’s wider walkways, even though those areas were wider and more lit. After some time exploring the labyrinth and adapting my eyes to lower lighting levels, I perceived this place as a cosy and protected urban space where children, parents and young people walked and enjoyed every corner.

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Exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3 “outdoor rooms”

As I followed the path I found what I perceived as urban living rooms and urban dining rooms. Those areas were small and open rooms divided by shrubs and furnitured with wooden logs and dining tables which transformed a park into a display of almost private rooms for all people’s public use. Even some rooms had stone sculptures which added character to the place and other spots had kind of bugles which unfortunately were not active at that moment.

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Exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3, “walk-in kaleidoscope“

After some labyrinthic paths between rooms, I found myself in the middle of a clear area seeing a set of mirrors facing each other like the mirror mazes at amusement parks. After a while, when I was reading about this place, I discovered that this area is called a “walk-in kaleidoscope”. I walked around this space trying to gather my thoughts and asking myself how did I end up in that surreal place? At that moment I felt again like Alice but this time in what I experienced as Wondernight. Who had created this immersive scenario that made me embrace the urban night with the curiosity of a little girl?

Some weeks after I found this place, when I was searching for the history of this park, I realised most of the pictures displayed at websites -if not all of them- were taken during the day time. As I was going through those pictures I realised there was a lost in the mystic of the place that only can be appreciated during night. All the layers of shadow that I experienced at night in the labyrinth sank deeper into my experience of the place. I hope more people and especially more women dare to explore public spaces during night and embrace the whole urban experience.

At that moment I felt again like Alice but this time in what I experienced as Wondernight. Who had created this immersive scenario that made me embrace the urban night with the curiosity of a little girl?

OPEN SKIES CLASSROOMS

When I found my way out of the labyrinthic I felt transformed by the experience of the space. My perception of what an urban place is was expanded. That night brought me more inspirantion than many months working on my laptop and having work meetings. After having visited many urban spaces in different cities, I find dwelling in urban nighttime is the most stimulating classroom. 

Since my sense of direction is pretty bad, I hope to continue getting lost at foreign cities to find myself in inspiring places such as the exploratory labyrinth. Do you dare to get lost in the urban night?

Night-time traveller

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NEW YORK: “FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA”

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AN URBAN HOUSE

Ephemeral lighting installations have a magnetic power to transform the way we perceive space and how we interact with it. In essence with these kinds of interventions, an invasive infrastructure is not needed to modify passers-by’s spatial perception. Artists use more subtle elements such as colours, reflections, shadows and light to play with our sense of the space and arouse mixed feelings as we navigate their artistic work.

As Uli Beutter Cohen mentions in her book Between the Lines: Stories from the Underground, “How we see our surroundings makes all the difference”. In this case, the artistic proposal is intertwined with our own experiences, with our way of inhabiting public space. For me, urban installations are the most exciting art expressions, as they are a meeting point between endless stories and ways of dwelling in urban nights. They appeal to a more intuitive feeling that is more connected to the way we interacted with our environment during our childhood.

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Temporal installation “From Sea to Shining Sea” Nighttime

The first time I visited the installation From Sea to Shining Sea by Tom Fruin, I saw a little girl spinning inside the small house built with colourful plexiglass and steel. The little girl didn’t even notice my presence when I arrived. She was mesmerised by how the tinted plexiglass pieces reflected a rainbow of colours all over the place and over herself. At that moment she was the owner of that space. After a moment she stopped spinning and started walking around the house with a playful sense as when children do in playgrounds. That curiosity resembles the emotion that is generated when physical and emotional places intermingle.

In the end, that is the power of ephemeral interventions, the ability to recall our inner child and allow us to immerse ourselves in a new perception of physical spaces. The colours, the shadows, the reflections and the light make a call to connect with a deeper space, with an emotional place. That perception is what allows us to engage in a deeper way with our environment.

FEELING AT HOME

Feeling at home in a public space is even possible? Many people say that the difference between a house and a home is that home is an emotional place which involves feelings, and memories, and engages our heart. So in that way our home can travel with us wherever we go, we don’t need to be in the same physical space to feel at home and urban spaces can become part of that concept of home. I believe that just as people say you make the path as you go, a home is made by inhabiting spaces, whether physical or emotional.

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Temporal installation “From Sea to Shining Sea” Daytime

Keeping that in mind, when I explored the installation From Sea to Shining Sea I had the feeling of being immersed in the beating of a heart. During the day, this house focuses all the energy within its walls and each piece of plexiglass frames various views of New York City by adding a rainbow of colours above the waterfront. In contrast, at night this house physically expands around itself through its colour-tinted reflections. At that moment, the environment felt as if the house allowed itself to be part of something bigger and the concepts of inside and outside blurred their differences.

This is how when night falls all the walls of this small house project colourful textures around the public space. At this moment it doesn’t matter if you are inside or outside the house, in both places you feel how this intervention embraces you and challenges your perception of the space. From a close view at pier 17 this intervention brings a playful feeling to the public space and from a distant view, the house becomes a lighthouse that modifies the urban profile facing the waterfront. 

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Temporal installation “From Sea to Shining Sea” Nighttime

EVERY HOME HAS A STORY

I believe a beautiful thing about homes is that the same physical space can tell as many stories as the people who live in it. Added to this, these stories transform with the past of the time as our life evolves. Homes grow with us, and our sense of home changes over time in the same way that From Sea to Shining Sea changes during the different moments of the day. It is like this intervention evolves with us at a speeder pace to remember us of our own transformation.

After my visit to this place, I was curious about the name of this installation and how that name was connected with the feelings I experienced when I was going around this installation. After a short research, I found out that Johnny Cash did a conceptual album called the same as this intervention. In this album he described his home, referring to a bigger place than a house, he wrote about his homeland, the United States of America. Also, the first song of the album has the same name and by coincidence -or not- the lyrics of this song are full of memories, colours and places, such as homes.

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Temporal installation “From Sea to Shining Sea” Nighttime

From that album, I can deduce that one home can be and collect many memories and an urban home has an even greater emotional charge. We call home to physical houses, venues, cities, countries -as the concept of homeland- and even conceptual places. I’m not sure that Tom Fruin selected the name of his installation inspired by this album, but just like in homes, in the imaginary place of my mind, all of this is connected.

“HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS”

When we travel, even if we have waited excitedly or planned a trip for a long time, during the journey we still experience a homesick feeling, especially if we have been abroad for a long time. But if we are brave enough to allow ourselves to go with the flow and enjoy the present, we can find in foreign cities places that make us feel at home or that become our home.

Sometimes as we explore new cities we are lucky enough to feel at the right place, and in some cases, this feeling becomes stronger when we are abroad, even if our physical house is really far away. This feeling is well summarised in the proverbial saying “home is where the heart is”.

There is something about walking the city in a woman’s shoes who dares to explore the urban night alone, that makes me feel like I am challenging my own culture and the limitations I grew up with.

This is the feeling I experience when I freely explore the night. I feel more at home than when I am inside my own house. There is something about walking the city in a woman’s shoes who dares to explore the urban night alone, that makes me feel like I am challenging my own culture and the limitations I grew up with. Those thoughts make me feel like I’m in the right place. And this is a feeling that I am learning to embrace without regret.

EXPLORE!

If you are living or visiting New York at this moment, don’t lose the chance to visit this urban installation. For me, this is a must-see, especially if you are exploring New York at night. This installation started in May and ends in September 2022. From Sea to Shining Sea is located at the entrance of Pier 17. If you have the chance to visit it, let us know, did you feel at home?

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NEW YORK: BEYOND THE BLINDING LIGHTS

by
Lee en español

THE COLOUR OF THE NIGHT IS NOT ONLY GIVEN BY SHINING BILLBOARDS

Beyond Times Square’s renowned blinding lights and crowded streets, New York has a fantastic variety of places to explore at night, and believe it or not some urban spaces can be calming and peaceful. 

New York offers from colourful ephemeral interventions, which bring an extra inspiring feeling, to local parks where mainly residents and some lost tourists, such as myself, spend their leisure time seeing amazing sunsets during the summertime and the city’s skyline reflected on the water from instagrammable spots with the sound of the river as a soundtrack.

Temporal installation “From Sea to Shining Sea”

New York City has an amazing variety of natural environments mixed with the best services and goods a city can offer and all of this can be found just some blocks apart. On one of my walks after getting off at a random metro station in Brooklyn, I found myself mesmerized by fireflies hidden in some corners of the Harbor View Land close to the old Pier 1. Those beautiful fireflies brought me memories of my childhood when I lost the sense of time admiring the flashes of light of these small and powerful insects at my grandparents’ house in the countryside in Colombia.

After many random and unplanned walks, I discovered how easy it is to lose the sense of time in New York, especially during the summertime. From my perspective, the urban environments are the best places to engage with the city’s endless offer of activities and get lost between a list of catching places to continue exploring one park more. By enjoying New York as a pedestrian during the night falls, you feel captivated, corner after corner, by gorgeous spots full of colours, textures, shadows and light. 

DISCOVERING NYC AT NIGHT

I have to admit, the first time I visited New York I didn’t connect with that general feeling of being in the most exciting city in the world. But the summer of 2022 was different. My time in the city was longer than the first time and my appreciation of New York grew slowly but constantly.  

In one of ARUP’s articles about the urban night, I read the concept of “layers of experience” but wasn’t until this trip, that I could get the meaning of this concept. To understand it, you have to vividly feel the urban experience. For me,  the “layers of experience” can summarize my time in New York. With each walk and journey through the city at night, I slowly allowed myself to get immersed in the city’s essence through all my senses. I felt connected with that energetic feeling that makes you want more, and New York always gives more.

This summer of 2022, I found in New York a place which aroused my curiosity about the urban night again. After a really long and almost unbearable lockdown, this was my first trip abroad. While I was walking trying to get into New York’s true essence, I rediscovered my essence, that inner impulse which had been minimized by the long periods I was forced to be indoors.

I remember walking at a slower pace…the sound of the river becoming louder than people’s conversations and many buildings quietly disappeared as it got dark, only to allow the most iconic landmarks to shine through.

I have always believed that discovering a city by walking is an intimate journey. The act of walking unveils the city’s core and gives a glance at how its citizens dwell and connect with the world around them. Walking the cities at night gives you a deeper sense of intimacy since you must stop relying just on your sight to connect more with your other senses. I have no clear memories of people’s faces. In my mind, most faces are blurry images mostly covered by shadows, but I remember walking at a slower pace at night than during the day, the sound of the river becoming louder than people’s conversations and many buildings quietly disappeared as it got dark, only to allow the most iconic landmarks to shine through.

As Dolly Parton refers to the feeling she experiences being at stardom “…more than a place, it was a feeling, it was a fantasy, it was a world that lived with inside of my own head and inside my own heart” this is the feeling that the urban night of New York woke up in me. When I walked in urban spaces at dusk, the entire environment, including strangers, became part of the story that I wrote in my mind as I walked.

AN ALWAYS DIVERSE NIGHT

During my night walks in the city, I explored three areas of New York: Manhattan, Brooklyn and Roosevelt Island, each one with its own identity. In Manhattan, I found from colourful spaces such as a temporal installation called “From Sea to Shining Sea” between Pier 16 and 17 to long catwalks parallel to the Hudson River, over an old railway transformed into the High Line Park. Manhattan is a borough that is always full of tourists but a place which still has some intimate spaces to offer, especially at night.

Then in Brooklyn, I found many parks full of locals which gave me a sense of neighborhood life far from the usual sightseeing shown on social media and travel blogs. Although Brooklyn has many tourist attractions, there is still a sense of community. On weekends you can find families having picnics in the late afternoon and people reading books on benches across the waterfront of the East River with Manhattan’s skyline as the backdrop during the sunsets.

Exploratory Labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3

Also, you can find unusual urban spaces such as the so-called exploratory labyrinth at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 3. An urban place that invites you to discover small spaces from urban dining rooms to a “room” of mirrors to play with your friends or just entertain yourself with your reflections. Brooklyn is a borough that I would definitely love to return to.

Last but not least, exploring Roosevelt Island was an experience far from what I was expecting to feel in New York. Starting with the Tramway that gives you a panoramic view of the Upper East Side of Manhattan until the quiet streets that surround the Island from where you can have amazing views of the city landscape when the night falls.

One of the places that captivated me was “The Girl Puzzle Monument Honoring Nellie Bly” which is located next to the Roosevelt Island Light House. This is a place where you can challenge your sense of space, try a different perspective and play with reflections. As a young adult that enjoys nighttime, I found New York urban spaces as my favourite playground.

As a young adult that enjoys nighttime, I found New York urban spaces as my favourite playground.

COME BACK

In the end, New York offers a variety of places that you can explore according to your mood and spirit of adventure. It is a city that never sleeps and has as much to bring at night as during the daytime or even more. I am sure I discovered only a few places of all that New York has to offer. For sure, this is a city I want to return to and be able to stay for a longer time just to walk and allow myself to get lost in the city.

I hope this blog finds people with who I can share this continuous search for exploring urban places at night and at some point have a Nighttime Travellers’ community. By now let’s start by sharing, what is your favourite night spot in New York?

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