For a place where real estate is king, New York City sure knows how to take the paradise out of islands… Riker’s Island is home to one of the largest prisons. Randall’s Island is home to a mental hospital and sewer treatment plant. Hart Island is home to the City’s cemetary for unclaimed bodies. And Roosevelt Island is home to depressing architecture and the horror film Dark Water. Welcome to our Bahamas!

Only one island stands apart from this sad crowd. Even though its history is wrapped up in war, Governors Island is a bucolic wonderland. Green with big trees and streets named Comfort, it’s wholesome and full of exciting potential now that the City has chosen a future public park design for the former military base. Last summer I visited the Island for the first time during the public art event Figment. They’re having it again June 27-29 and the open call for art is out until June 1. Bring your comfort art or just bring your good self to NYC’s closest thing to island fun. Shabba!

Went to the inspirational Cai Guo-Qiang exhibit at the Guggenheim and was equally impressed by the thematic outdoor scaffolding to match Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic curved concrete building, currently undergoing renovations. Classy touch.

I posted the visual introduction to my thesis on improving neighborhood communication because it’s been on my mind and I’m a dork. In a built environment where citizens’ flyers are illegal yet businesses can shout about their products on an increasing number of public surfaces, how can public space be better designed so that it’s not necessarily allocated to the highest bidder but instead, reflects and facilitates the needs of communities? Until we have our own neighborhood wall space, we can use these walls thanks to a competition by Diesel.

On Punalu’u Black Sand Beach in Hawaii.

In Milan, Italy. In 2007.

This clever public art piece was created in Berlin by artist Aram Bartholl. His project Map takes the Google map marker and blows it up into real space. It’s nerdy internet mapping + Claus Oldenburg!

Photos above from Bartholl’s site datenform.de.

My public art Hours Away is officially part of the Koltsovo International Airport in Russia. Neat! Photos above from www.artpolitika.ru.

…and others don’t. The Egg Man. Capetown, South Africa.

At Pier 40, Hudson River Park. Hee hee. Transforming the word “permits” was particularly visionary.

My Sidewalk Psychiatry project has gained some more attention recently, thanks to Boingboing and some great personal sites. Emotional prodding in public space also reminds me of this fresh project from the ’90s. Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister often references it as one of the few art/design projects that has “touched his heart.” Mimicking the standard signs in New York City’s subway cars, an artist named True replaced them with some humorous and touching life instructions. A photo can be found here via LarimdaME’s Flickr.

I’ve never ridden the subway with despair, but I do enjoy a commute with some romantic melancholy. Few things are more poignant than listening to moody music in crowded places. Using a cool and simple tool called Muxtape.com, I created a mellow mp3 mixtape I like to call Ten Songs That Will Turn Any Old Subway Ride Into the Most Poignant Life-in-the-City Scene From a Heartbreaking Movie. Listen and sigh. Track list below.

1. Nico - These Days
2. Air - Mike Mills
3. Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin - Je T’aime Moi Non Plus
4. Mellow - Airplane
5. David Bowie - Space Oddity
6. Ratatat - Cherry
7. The Zombies - Beechwood Park
8. The Rolling Stones - She Smiled Sweetly
9. Sonic Youth - Superstar
10. Brian Eno - The Big Ship

Artwork above is by True and was scanned from Sagmeister’s great book Made You Look.