tn_jankees

Apparently, I got the ambience of the atrium of 60 Wall St. all wrong. So, to be fair and even-handed, I give to you the description of the atrium offered by the LowerManhatten.info site:

The Atrium at 60 Wall Street is one of the city's privately-owned, 24-hour public spaces, POPS. ... Complete with tables and chairs, as well as 532 linear feet of benches, the Atrium offers climate controlled respite from the financial district's busy streets. It also features an array of plant life, sculptural water fountains, an elaborate mirrored mosaic ceiling and food shops such as the Country Café, Le Glacier and Neuchatel Chocolates. ... Now occupied by Deutsche Bank, 60 Wall Street was once home to J.P. Morgan and the Bank of New York.

In addition, I don't seem to have much feeling for the meta of the artwork either. Here's the description of the (cough) artwork from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Looking Up: The Human Face,
The Human Race Machine and Truth
by Nancy Burson

What’s in a face? Nancy Burson has been exploring that question photographically for over 25 years. Looking Up features two monumental portraits that hover above visitors and commuters in the 60 Wall Street Atrium. The male and female renderings are composites derived from a database of facial images generated by the infamous Human Race Machine of the artist’s own design. Burson uses morphing technologies to combine portraiture with census taking, blending individual faces with current population and gender statistics. Mirroring the collectivity of public space, the resulting images echo the artist’s belief that we are all one, all connected.

Also on exhibit is the Human Race Machine, an interactive device that invites visitors to envision themselves through a computer-generated program as members of another race. With the facial characteristics of six different races mapped onto their own image, the Human Race Machine allows participants to metaphorically step outside their own skin.

The artist is also presenting a new video work, Truth, a slowly falling dove feather that is projected onto the windows of the 60 Wall Atrium storefront. The feather, an international symbol of peace, creates an ambiguous reminder of world events amid the flow of daily life on Wall Street. “Downtown in particular is the appropriate place to ask the bigger questions,” says Burson.

With compassion and wit, Burson mixes art, science and technology, raising questions about our perceptions of material existence, beauty and health. In addition to creating other software for “genetic alchemy,” the artist has photographed healers, people with cranio-facial deformities, inexplicable orbs of light, and with a special gas discharge camera, even emotions themselves. Her work has been shown worldwide, and Burson has lectured and taught internationally. Burson's new book, Focus: How Your Energy Can Change the World, is a written continuation of the artist's visual priorities, reminding us that we live in an electromagnetic universe, and showing us how to expand our vision. Focus was published by ibooks and is available on line and at bookstores. www.nancyburson.com

There you have it! Come to your own conclusions. (But I mean, com' on Focus: How Your Energy Can Change the World! Ok, ok, I know! I'm trying not to editorialize here. Just ignore the parenthetical rumblings.....and please! "slowly falling dove feather?!" "ambiguous??" you think? Wish I had seen it. Would I have even recognized it as a "dove feather?" Ok, ok, really, I'm stopping now. no more parenthetical noises. as I said, you decide!)