Two 12 foot (3.6 meters) sculptures change shape with the tide, from a cross to an “X”, & a “Y” to a cross. Easy to see from Vernon Blvd. The tide advances 45 minutes everyday, so if your schedule brings you here everyday at the same time (commuting to work), you’ll always see a different form.

Video:

PLAF – Hallet’s Cove from MOMO on Vimeo.

Pictures:

Thanks Victor for the pictures.

These models were used to work out the final designs for “Hallets Cove”.

Models for “Hallets Cove” from MOMO on Vimeo.

This piece is visible from the East River State Park in Williamsburg, but it’s much closer to the center of the East River. Its Marionette inspired design centers around a giant block of wood that’s concealed in the water below. As it floats and sinks with the tide, its substantial weight pulls on ropes, changing the sculpture’s shape.

When we began this project we looked for pre-existing “tide marker/signalling” systems. It seems basic. In the history of humans working around the water, there must have been similar signs announcing the tide. We weren’t able to find them. In our design the “X” sign announces low tide, the flat sign announces high tide.

Video:

PLAF – East River State Park from MOMO on Vimeo.

Pictures:

6 hours time laps from low tide to high tide:

PLAF – Eltono & MOMO – East River State Park, Brooklyn, NY from Eltono on Vimeo.

These models were used to work out the final designs for “East River State Park”.

Models for “East River State Park” from MOMO on Vimeo.

Wave/wind/tide balanced pendulums in Gantry Plaza State Park, on the East River in Long Island City. These are very relaxing to watch. They move constantly with the waves, while shifting from horizontal at high tide to upright at low tide. Again, their paint job is inspired by our research into a maritime aesthetic of fishing bobbers and buoys.

PLAF – Gantry Plaza State Park from MOMO on Vimeo.

Time laps, 6 hours, from low tide to high tide:

PLAF – Gantry Plaza State Park, LIC, NY from Eltono on Vimeo.

Pictures:

Thanks Rafa for the pictures

These models were used to work out the final designs for “Gantry Plaza State Park”.

Models for “Gantry Plaza State Park” from MOMO on Vimeo.

The Broadway Beach project was meant to be a single day outing with one raft, a couple paints, and a drill.

If we pushed half the driftwood, styrofoam, and rope found on-site, into the water, we would create something visible from the Williamsburg Bridge above us. We painted driftwood for visibility, based on this Maritime aesthetic we’re exploring (think of the colors on fishing bobbers & buoys).

What’s left to chance then is the way this gathered garbage will move on its own with tide and current. The possibilities reminded us of a certain dime store novelty toy… The one where a loose chain creates a cartoon character’s profile (we tried to recreate/demonstrate this toy in the video).

Video:

PLAF – Broadway Beach from MOMO on Vimeo.

Pictures:

Thanks Aiwey for the videos and Victor for the pictures.

Randomly composed artwork of Eltono, MOMO, and all of New York City. 2008. One day we saw a collection of very interesting and colorful trash amassing along the West Side’s Hudson River Park. There were tennis balls, toys, a condom, a seat, a traffic cone all sorts of drinking bottles, caps, and containers, as well as driftwood, styrofoam and a dead fish.

The elements came together in one place magically that day for us, but it was hard to find the same event again. After several weeks observing, Marie informed us the Hudson flows upstream for a 100 miles during high tide! The best we could figure was that one hour before high tide, the Hudsons’ backing up with sea water is what causes the collection to form. This proved generally true (check this chart, for Chelsea Piers: subtract an hour, and try for yourself).

The first Trash Island was ephemeral; it floated away. In “Trash Island 2” we fished the sculptures out, so you can see them at the Anonymous Gallery show.

Thrash Island one:

Thrash Island two:

Hanging on the wall – these shapes make interchangeable compositions, strung from the same line we used to hook and fish them from the Hudson River.

The aesthetic for this project came right from the practical considerations, such as how can these sculptures resist, function and be seen. Looking at everything from fishing rods to light houses to tug boats and life jackets, for engineering clues, we found a curiously similar visual style, that besides resembling the graphic colorful work we already do, seemed practical and proven in this environment. This style looks cool. But it should also help it be seen, as a fishing bobbers’ colorful design is readable from a great distance and communicates information easily.

We reduced our shapes to just a few, our colors to even less, and then combined them in the “MOMO Maker” scripting tool that MOMO has been experimenting with for a year – resulting in “PLAF Makers”. Click the images below to visit a web page that’s busy creating several million artworks from our PLAF inspiration. They’re large (1622px x 828px) so maximize your browser window and make popcorn.

> PLAF Maker version 1
> PLAF Maker version 2

Next we created a series of prints based on the same design and functioning of the PLAF Maker. 78 were winners and made available through Anonymous Gallery.

Inspiration Slideshow:

Some favorite results:

Print process:

(Click the pictures for detail and captions)

PLAF – Gantry Plaza State Park from MOMO on Vimeo.

PLAF – East River State Park from MOMO on Vimeo.

PLAF – Broadway Beach from MOMO on Vimeo.