RIBBON
Client: Long Island City Partnership
Collaborator: Hive Public Space
Location: Long Island City, NY
Service: Design & Fabrication / Installation Coordination
Date Installed: 10/2021-11/2022
Features: ArchDaily, Archinect, TimeOut, Untapped New York, World Landscape Architect Magazine, Polis Magazin, and more.
Awards: NYCxDesign Honoree
Ribbon was designed by The Urban Conga in collaboration with Hive Public Space and the Long Island City Partnership as a transformative communal platform for people to connect, share, and learn each other’s versions of Long Island City. Ribbon is a part of the LIC (Re)Connects art series produced by Hive PS as a way to evoke communal connection within a multitude of areas throughout Long Island City, NY.
“Everyday I walk by the installation and see people reading the messages and using it in different ways”
Ribbon acts as a playful gesture wrapping around and framing out different moments throughout several pedestrian pathways and communal spaces within Long Island City. The piece begins to playfully disrupt one’s daily routine and encourages them to begin to look at their surrounding context in new ways. The flowing motion of the piece acts like a piece of ribbon guiding you off your path and into areas you might have not once explored. The work becomes a series of timeless landmarks that are always changing and responding to the people, the landscape, and the interactions between them. Sparking memorable experiences that keep encouraging people to come back and engage with the work, the surrounding spaces, and each other in new ways.
“I saw the work and immediately began to read the messages. It made me reflect on my life and call my mom, who I hadn’t talked to in years. ”
The work steps off the pedestal and allows users to physically engage and manipulate the pieces by rotating each of the units attached to the main structure. As one begins to move the kinetic pieces, they begin to transform not only the work itself but also the surrounding area through the manipulation of the reflection and refraction of light off the work onto the surrounding built environment. The units not only provide a filtered perspective of the space, but also contain love notes to Long Island City written by community members. These love notes are submitted by community members through a QR code on the ground at the site, and are added to the work over time. These love notes range from poems to motivational quotes written by the community and visitors and become drivers for conversations within the space. Ribbon becomes a collaborative, communal platform existing in harmony with the surrounding context that entirely comes to life through the engagement of its users. The project was developed in modular forms to allow for it to be broken down and transported into another space within the city.
“The project is a testament to the spirit, ingenuity, and cross-pollination uniquely found in LIC.”
