Monday, November 21, 2011

Time and space on the High Line

During a recent visit to the High Line in Chelsea with artist-photographer Anne Troutman and while she explored, caressed and harnessed one frame after another my anticipated stroll slowed below an amble to an imperceptible movement barely more forward than backward. My sense of time and space thus altered I realized the magic of the High Line lies in exactly that – altering ones sense of space and time by scaling a meandering flight of stairs.
There are many flights of stairs to be sure, each one reveling an innumerable array of ever changing urban moments, but the constant is that once you are on the platform your perception of time and space, both physically and conceptually, are altered.  You realize you are in a place where you were not meant to be and you are free from the constancy of the streets. Standing in the middle of train tracks you are free of the delightful chaos of the city. History has been erased yet you know that everything you see has been there before but it all seems so different as if you have never really seen it before.
Sleek, thoughtful and versatile architectural detailing blended with authentic and exuberant botanical gardens weave through and sprinkle romance over what used to be the meanest and noisiest of blighted urban places. Has the Eiffel Tower been turned into a river that runs through New York turning the worst of the industrial revolution into a romantic ideal. Am I dreaming? Is this really possible? Dare I dream we wrest beauty remnants and valorize yet so much more?


photos courtesy of Anne Troutman