Press Release (pdf) | Participating Artists | Sponsorship | Location

November 8, 2007 – September 7, 2008
At MetroTech Center in Brooklyn

Public Art Fund is pleased to present a new exhibition of contemporary art at MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn. Everyday Eden features 2 new commissions and 3 recent works by Jedediah Caeser, Tony Feher, Rob Fischer, Paula Hayes, and Nina Katchadourian. In a variety of ways, these artists' works intersect with the vocabulary surrounding today's growing interest in ecological concerns, including natural settings, constructed landscapes, decay, recycling, and preservation. Chosen with the specific conditions of the MetroTech Center in mind, the artists respond to the site as a densely populated public space comprised of both urban and natural conditions. By seeking beauty in the everyday and manifesting it in their works, these artists illuminate that which might otherwise go unnoticed. Their Eden is not necessarily a "green" one, but it is utterly relevant, present, and livable.

	Jedediah Caesar - Redwood Redwood, which appears in the lobby of One MetroTech Center, is a three-part piece formed from two kinds of wood—driftwood collected on the beaches of Los Angeles and scraps discarded from a furniture factory. In both cases the forms have been impacted by their immersion in a medium—one cultural (the factory) and the other organic (the ocean)—and then are embedded or suspended in resin to create a hybrid form. More about this project
	Tony Feher - A little bird told me. Feher's new commission A little bird told me., is comprised of groups of plastic bottles partially filled with pink liquid, that are hung ten to fifteen feet above ground in the forks of seven of the trees in the park's central triangular grove. The groupings are like jeweled nests that catch the light and create a glowing presence in the landscape. More about this project
	Rob Fischer – As Above, So Below As Above, So Below is a new commission that utilizes one of Fischer's preferred materials—a standard industrial trash dumpster—and transforms it in a number of ways, including giving it an architectural quality which both elevates it to a seemingly higher cultural status and calls to mind art historical notions of entropy and excavation. More about this project
	Paula Hayes – Medium Classic Soft Case Custom Silicone Planter in Crocus and Tray in Cherry Blossom; Large Eccentric Silicone Planter in Crocus and Tray in Blossom Paula Hayes is inspired by the natural world. She typically incorporates plants and other living elements into her work, reminding the viewer that art need not be an object, but rather may require the viewer's interaction and even care. Hayes sites two of her signature silicone planters in the lobby of One MetroTech Center, filling them with tropical, colorful plants, which results in a magical combination of abstract and natural forms. More about this project
	Nina Katchadourian - Please, Please, Pleased to Meet'cha Please, Please, Pleased to Meet'cha is a sound project inspired by the elusive task of describing birdsong. As people pass through the park, they will hear recordings of human voices in the trees, vocalizing birdsong. Because the human attempt to describe birdsong is a kind of translation problem—from aural to written, from animal to human sound—the artist asked UN translators and interpreters to interpret the sounds, suggesting that human communication might have the innate ability to cross linguistic (even species) boundaries. More about this project

Ongoing at MetroTech: Tony Matelli's Stray Dog (1998), James Angus's Basketball Dropped from 35,000 feet at Moment of Impact (1999), and Tom Otterness's Alligator (1996) and Visionary (1997), all commissioned by Public Art Fund, continue to be exhibited within the MetroTech Commons.

MetroTech Center is located in Downtown Brooklyn between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue at Myrtle Avenue. Viewing hours are dawn to dusk daily for outdoor works, Monday through Friday 8am to 6pm for Jedediah Caesar's and Paula Hayes's installations in the lobby of One MetroTech Center. Subway: A, C, F to Jay Street/Borough Hall, exit at Myrtle Promenade; R to Lawrence Street; Q to Dekalb Avenue. This exhibition is free.

Public Art Fund is New York's leading presenter of artists' projects, new commissions, installations and exhibitions in public spaces. For over 30 years, the Public Art Fund has been committed to working with emerging and established artists to produce innovative exhibitions of contemporary art throughout New York City. By bringing artworks outside the traditional context of museums and galleries, the Public Art Fund provides a unique platform for an unparalleled public encounter with the art of our time.

Recent critically acclaimed exhibitions and presentations include Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror at Rockefeller Center; Sarah Sze's Corner Plot and Damien Ortega's Obelisco Transportable at Doris C. Freedman Plaza; Sarah Morris's Robert Towne at Lever House; and Alexander Calder in New York at City Hall Park.

Since 1993, Public Art Fund's program at MetroTech has exhibited new commissions and recent works by more than fifty emerging and established artists including Vito Acconci, Liz Craft, Jacob Dyrenforth, Roman de Salvo, Rachel Foullon, Amy Gartrell, Luis Gispert, Corin Hewitt, Matthew Day Jackson, Matt Johnson, Peter Kreider, Tony Matelli, Ryan McGuinness, Dave McKenzie, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Mamiko Otsubo, Tom Otterness, Roxy Paine, Ester Partegàs, Peter Rostovsky, Valeska Soares, Do-Ho Suh, Marc Swanson and Ursula von Rydingsvard.

Sponsorship
Everyday Eden at MetroTech Center is part of an ongoing program organized by the Public Art Fund and sponsored by MetroTech Commons Associates, an organization that consists of MetroTech companies Bear Stearns & Company, Forest City Ratner Companies, JPMorganChase, National Grid, WellChoice and Polytechnic University. Special thanks to Forest City Ratner Companies and First New York Partners.

Robert Fischer's As Above, So Below is a project of the Public Art Fund program In the Public Realm, which is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Public Art Fund is a non-profit arts organization supported by generous contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations, and with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.