Some examples of Site Specific work on our school campus.

1. Site Specific Art Project
MLK Educational Complex

2. WILLIAM TARR (b. 1925)
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
MEMORIAL
1973
CorTen STEEL
28' X 28' X 28'
Soon after the 1969 assassination of
spiritual and civil rights leader the Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr., a New York
City public high school, planned for
construction using weathering steel next
to Lincoln Center in Manhattan, was
chosen to commemorate the great
American thinker, activist and orator.
Already commissioned for a major
sculptural fountain at the school,
sculptor William Tarr suggested his
contribution be redesigned as a
memorial to Martin Luther King.

3. WILLIAM TARR (b. 1925)
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
MEMORIAL
1973
CorTen STEEL
28' X 28' X 28'
In 1973-4 the huge weathering steel
sculpture was fabricated and erected
around the primary HVAC air intake at
the corner of 66th Street and
Amsterdam Avenue. A 1968 sculpture,
perhaps Tarr’s masterpiece in
weathering steel, already stood at the
entrance to a Harlem grade school.

4. MLK Cube
WILLIAM TARR (b. 1925)
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
MEMORIAL
1973
CorTen STEEL
28' X 28' X 28'
First introduced to the U.S. market in
1933 as “U.S. Steel CorTen,”
weathering steel received special
attention as an architectural and civil
engineering material during the period
ca. 1960-1975.
By the middle 1960’s weathering steel’s
rich patina colors had entered the
lexicon of sculpture. Today practical and
aesthetic factors have tempered earlier
enthusiasm, but this very interesting
material is still widely employed.

5. “I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to
segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to
religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic
conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to
the few. I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism,
to self‐defeating effects of physical violence.”
--Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963

6. WILLIAM
TARR (b. 1925)
Rejected Skin
1970
CorTen STEEL
Water Street and
Old Slip, NYC
William Tarr (1925-2006) was an American
artist best known for sculptures in NYC such as
the monumental Martin Luther King Jr.
memorial, one of the largest welded-steel
sculptures in the world and the 77 Water Street
outdoor sculpture. His work is in the permanent
collection of The Whitney Museum of American
Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.

8. http://publicolor.org/

9. http://publicolor.org/

10. http://publicolor.org/

11. Nick Kozak
Spectrum of Visible Light
2014 http://nickkozakart.com

12. Nick Kozak
Spectrum of Visible Light
2014 http://nickkozakart.com

13. Nick Kozak
Spectrum of Visible Light
2014
http://nickkozakart.com

14. Myra, Jesus, Darelis, Ivy
Reaction to Darkness
2014
Plastic trash bags, hallway

15. Myra, Jesus, Darelis, Ivy
Reaction to Darkness
2014
Plastic trash bags, hallway
Video!

16. The Aristocrats
2013
By Nina
(sophomore)
Performance
Art Unit

17. Orlando
On a typical morning, a core group
of Art History students arrived early
to install a fake metal detector in
front of the school’s main elevator.
As teachers entered the school they
were directed by a group of student
security guards to empty their
pockets and go through a cardboard
“scanner” they had built.
When teachers passed through it, a
student would press a sound effect
button on a nearby laptop, making
it seems as though the metal
detector had gone off. Teachers
were also required to register their
cellphones with a small pink post-it.
Scanning Project
2014 mixed media

18. Orlando
Teachers who normally enter the building with ease were
confronted with a lighthearted version of the frustration that
students go through on a daily basis.
Orlando could not have pulled off this project without the help of
his classmates: Kylana, Mariley, Alex (Loco), Francheska,
Luis, and Eliza.
Scanning Project
2014 mixed media

19. Orlando
What is potentially
problematic about a
project like this?
• Raian: This wasn’t to piss them off…it was bring awareness to what
holds students back in the morning so maybe they’ll be a bit more
understanding.
• Dolfo: Whether or not teachers would want to participate or not.
Some just participated because it was student led.
• Dolfo; Your commute in the morning is your own responsibility.
Perhaps the whole experience is “selfish.”
• Alex: We would need the principal’s permission to do a piece like
this.
• and we did get his permission.
• .Alex: The students need to arrive way early.
• KT: Orlando should have emailed the teachers, so it would have led
to more participation.

20. Orlando
What is potentially
problematic about a
project like this?
• Sean: Making the teachers mad won’t accomplish anything. And
besides, you have to see that teacher later.
• Camila: the whole point is not to piss off the teacher, the point is to
show students what they have to deal with.
• Angel: All these site specific art pieces have been interactive
because of the participation they’ve had. If you push someone to the
point where they don’t want to participate, it won’t help your art.
• Tash: When WE get mad, we hold a grudge…and if we want to
achieve empathy we have to treat others the way we want to be
treated.
• Cailan: This gives the teachers an idea of the infuriation that
students go through. Now they know how we feel.

21. Begin.
Think.
Consider.
Look.
Observe.
Write.
Ponder.
Question.
Allow yourself to imagine an artistic
intervention at a site in our school.
Begin.

22. What about our School? Our
building?
Our neighborhood?
What are the spaces that seem
to crave artwork being placed
in them?
• The “Honeycombs” on the ceiling. They have potential for site
specific work.
• KT: The giant cube in the front. The MLK cube.
• Chess: the stairways, they’re so bleak.
• Raian: The windows, there’s potential to show a HUGE picture on
them. Other buildings can’t do that.
• Anna: the terrace(s) have potential for….ART!
• Anna: Lincoln center has a lot of site specific art…it wouldn’t look
“good” in a different place.
.

23. What about our School? Our
building?
Our neighborhood?
What are the spaces that seem
to crave artwork being placed
in them?
• Riddles: The metal framework…reminds me of a prison.
• Cailan: The ceiling outside with all the colors.
• Jess: The exterior terrace with those cubes of plants.
• Michelle: the MLK Cube!! It’s so drab and dark…we wanna give it
some color. (Cor-Ten Steel) and the lunch room.
• Anesia: The stairs leading up to the terrace.
• Camila: the interior hallways.
• Tash: The lobby….
• Michelle: Boring classrooms….we gotta spruce it up.
• Anesia: Our school has plants around the windows.
• Jess: I love the windows. They’ open up the space and bring light in.
.

24. Territory
Borders
Boundaries
Divide