April 20, 2004
Sunshine and Ruin
On Saturday I went to the Brooklyn Museum to look at Alexis Rockman's mural, Manifest Destiny. It's a painting of Brooklyn in 5004, and it presents a cross-section of the city submerged in oily red water. In it, seals and rats and giant jellyfish swim freely next to the Brooklyn Bridge. There had been a lot of publicity about the painting in the weeks leading up to the unveiling, so a large crowd had gathered to look at it.
The artist had obviously spent a lot of time on his research. The animals he depicted were the heartiest and most likely to survive an ecological disaster. The foliage that grew above the waterline was native to the city and recognizable. He had even hired an architect to conceptualize the Brooklyn skyline 3000 years hence. And it was all ostensibly painted in the style of the Hudson Valley School.
The painting had calming effect on the crowd. The audience stood around and pointed at the sites they recognized. Parents had hushed talks with their children about heat-death and global warming. No one seemed upset about the future. If anything they seemed relieved that the apartments they suffered endlessly over would one day be rendered uninhabitable. I got the sense that people were glad to see that Brooklyn would still be around in 3000 years, even if it was underwater. "Look, they built a tunnel," a woman said to her husband. "And there's a baseball stadium," he replied.
Soothed by the dismal future, Angie and I went outside to sit in the grass and watch the crowds and have pretzels and orange drinks. It was a nice day. The sun was out. We had some time to kill.
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Here are some pictures of the new entrance to the museum.
