From baseball fans to art lovers, it seems all of Saint Louis is abuzz with the new public downtown space, Citygarden. I had the opportunity to work with Assistant Curator of the Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis, Laura Fried, in assembling a program of nine international video artists for the featured video installation in the garden. With anticipation for this new and lively acquisition, videos were selected that reflect a similar excitement and curiosity.

On Wednesday, July 1st, the evening of the public opening, I was very pleased with how engaged people were with the videos. What’s great about the Citygarden space is that it reaches an audience who might not otherwise interact with contemporary art. The most common mode of communication in our everyday life is of course technology, so what better way to present art to the public than through the medium of video? What’s different about video art as supposed to a movie or television show is that there are no real guide lines or conventions to follow. While most video media is set out to entertain, video art has a different agenda; to spark an appetite and ignite a curiosity for the world around you. It does not necessarily provide a story, lesson or conclusion but rather gives way to new questions.

I hope that the video installation compliments the sculptures and atmosphere of the garden by introducing a contemporary medium to the space. Citygarden is an exciting and lively addition to the downtown area and the video installation enhances the movement and enthusiasm in this contemporary public art garden.

Featured Artists:
Wood and Harrison: England, United Kingdom
Euan Macdonald: Los Angeles, California, United States
Kathy Slade: Vancouver, Canada
Ron Tran: Vancouver, Canada
Jennifer West: Los Angeles, California, United States
Rini Hurkmans: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kate Gilmore: New York, New York, United States
Laurent Grasso: Paris, France
Alex Hubbard: Brooklyn, New York, United States

*If you’re interested in broadening your video art repertoire, I would suggest a trip to the Contemporary Art Museum before August 2nd. The main gallery exhibit is currently Belgian video artist, Chantal Akerman. Acclaimed for her documentary and feature films, Akerman has adapted her work into installations for her first museum survey.

Landscape architect Nelson Byrd Woltz successfully created an environmentally friendly space to display sculpture, preserve nature, and incorporate the city’s rich, geographical history.  A unique aspect to the design of Citygarden is the reference to elements of St. Louis’s natural history.  The landscape is divided into three bands, each representing geographic features of the area: the River Bluffs, the Floodplain, and the River Terrace.  The extraordinary sculpture garden consists of 23 modern and contemporary sculptures in all, including works by George Rickey, Aristide Maillol, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Mark di Suvero.  Visitors can explore the works as they walk along the terrace, wander down the tortuous path, or as some young enthusiasts prefer, climb over the sculptures.  On the Eastern end of the park is another magnificent sight, the classic view of the Old Court House framed by the Arch.  

West of the park, Richard Serra’s long standing sculpture, Twain, presents an interesting contrast.  Until my visit to Citygarden, I had only seen the venerated Serra sculpture from the street.  However, as I walked through the dwarfing interior, I was confronted with graffiti messages reading “get rid of this,” written across the large slabs of steel.  Twain, among many of Serra’s other works, is controversial, but walking through this sculpture offers a unique experience with St. Louis’s landscape.