Alter/Altar was an experiment in ephemeral public memorial art:
It’s said that you’re a New Yorker when that which is gone becomes more real than that which took its place. This event is an homage to hyper-local elements of the city, including but not limited to communication, transportation, personal memory and happenstance.
In the wee hours of Friday morning, a number of artists have installed altars in unsanctioned spaces around a section of Downtown Manhattan. These site-specific, ephemeral funerary and/or homage shrines are dedicated to memories, systems, events, or people once in existence.
We invite you to join us on a 90 minute Sunrise and/or Sunset Tour of some of these altars. You will have a docent to help explain the significance, context and intention of each of the installations en route. The Sunrise Tour will end at Sara D. Roosevelt Park where we will provide bagels and coffee for suggested donation. The Sunset Tour will end at The Chai Spot on Mott street.
