BROOKLYN — Another sculpture with a message is coming to Brooklyn Bridge Park.
A new 25-foot-tall rotating, ruby red neon sculpture that says “UNDERSTANDING” will be on display at Pier 6 from May 4 to Oct. 23, the Public Art Fund announced Friday.
The bright red sculpture will be visible from Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge.
The sculpture’s steel letters will be highlighted by red neon lights and affixed to a ziggurat-like base where park visitors can sit.
It will spin at varying speeds, sometimes slowly and other times quickly, at a rhythm determined by a computerized program of artist Martin Creed’s design.
“Martin Creed is a poet of the everyday,” said Public Art Fund Director & Chief Curator Nicholas Baume in a press release. “‘Understanding’ is a simple word with complex meanings; we might, for example, show understanding on an emotional level, even while not understanding what somebody has said or done… Both literally and figuratively, Creed offers us a new vantage point to see the world.”
“UNDERSTANDING” is the largest in Creed’s series of rotating word sculptures.
It’s not the first time the London-based artist leaves his mark in the city. One of Creed’s most famous pieces, another neon message that read “EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT,” appeared on the Hilton Times Square in 2000, according to the Public Art Fund.
Another laconic sculpture made its debut at Brooklyn Bridge Park late last year. Deborah Kass’ yellow OY/YO sculpture says “OY” if you’re in the park facing the Manhattan skyline, or “YO” if you’re seeing it from across the river in Manhattan.
