Landscape to Art - Waterfalls
Boris Kalendariov
Change occurs every second, every minute, every day. It happens everywhere and always. Change occurs at the infinitesimally tiny level and the immeasurably grand level. This year’s theme for the Macaulay Honors College is “change.” What we see and do today will not be the case tomorrow or, realistically speaking, in a few years. I can relate to this year’s theme because I came into the program in what I might call a slightly narrow-minded state. I was frankly reluctant to enrich myself with different activities that New York has to offer, whether in the arts, theatre, and special events. My outlook, however, changed as I opened my mind to these cultural treasures and allowed myself to be engulfed in the aesthetic banquet that the city has to offer. The phenomenon that opened this up for me was the NYC Waterfalls project.
I was at a meeting at work the night of the NYC Waterfall activity and was upset that I had to cut it short in order to watch what I presumed to be some mechanical apparatus that tries to portray a waterfall like action. I ran down to the Seaport and made it just in time to buy a quick “Nature’s Valley” oats bar – these bars are my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was actually relieved to see my classmates waiting in line with Professor Tenneriello. As we boarded the ship single file, with Dong-Hyoek in the beginning and the Professor in the back, we started to take profuse amounts of pictures of every single object even if it had no significance to our purpose. As time passed we became serious and actually started taking some good pictures. I was not only able to bond with my classmates outside of the classroom environment, something that most students do not get to appreciate but I was also able to get some alone time. This was very important as the bonding allowed for us to engage in jokes and informal conversation. The solitary time was also great because I had a rare opportunity to listen to the river’s serenity, an unusual perspective on a city that never sleeps. It was robust and still at the same time.
As the boat ride came to an end I noticed two things while aboard the ship, traveling along the river. The skyline was beautiful at night and it struck me that I took this great city for granted, never really appreciating the architecture of the buildings or bridges. The second thing I noticed was that I was actually enjoying this activity. A sense of change was able to flow through me allowing me to want to engage myself in all cultural enriching activities that I may encounter or that I would like to partake following this one. The artist responsible for the Waterfall project, Olafur Eliasson, had a simultaneous exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Its title sums up the change in my attitude: “Take Your Time.” And this change bought to me a composed sense of happiness.
