ISCP and the New York City Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Urban Art Program are pleased to announce a new joint commission by artist Rena Leinberger. When it opens like this, up is not over, is a new temporary site-specific work installed on a 50-foot fence that conceals the Manhattan skyline at Queensboro Plaza and Vernon Boulevard, directly under the Queensboro Bridge. Corrugated fences, walls and other barricades are commonly used in urban environments to conceal functional aspects of the city. The fence utilized in Leinberger’s work obscures construction supplies along with the dramatic base of the Queensboro Bridge and a view of Manhattan.

Taking its location as a departure, When it opens like this, up is not over creates a liminal space, simultaneously real and fictive, a continuation of Leinberger’s ongoing investigations of artifice. Here Leinberger transposed images of the veiled environment behind the fence onto its face. Six photographs were shot in documentary fashion of the view beneath the bridge, which is normally gated and hidden from the public. These photographs were then re-photographed with cut emergency blankets and blue latex gloves captured in a falling state, suggesting precipitation, celebration, and elusiveness. Neither the images nor the scene can ever be viewed in entirety, partially obscured by the flurry.

NYC DOT Urban Art Program:
The New York City Department of Transportation launched the Urban Art Program in October 2008 to invigorate the City’s streetscapes with engaging temporary art installations. The Program partners with community organizations and artists to present murals, sculptures, projections, and performances on public property such as plazas, fences, barriers, footbridges, and sidewalks.

ISCP thanks the New York City Department of Transportation for their generous support.