In New York, a Quartet of Waterfalls Makes a Splash

$15.5 Million Project Will Be Up for 4 Months

NEW YORK -- For a prime view of the newest wonder of the New York world, go to South Street Seaport and walk out onto the pier, past the vendors selling pretzels, pizza, Shoelaces You Never Tie, postcards, I {heart} NY bags and Statue of Liberty sunglasses.

And there it is: an array of four towering waterfalls cascading down into key points on the East River and New York Harbor -- a $15.5 million public arts project that opened yesterday and will run through Oct. 13.

"It's pretty," said a hostess at a seaport restaurant. "I thought it was a hydroelectric project at first, but it's pretty."

The New York City Waterfalls are the creation of Danish Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, who is known for his nature-related installations -- for instance, at London's Tate Modern, a giant sun made with 200 lamps, mirrors and mist; and his current retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art here, which includes falling water lit with strobes so the drops appear frozen in midair. The waterfalls are the city's biggest public arts project since 2005, when Central Park was draped in saffron-colored fabric for Christo's "The Gates."

"I wanted to do something appropriate in scale and fitting to the city," Eliasson said at a news conference at Pier 17 yesterday. While much of Manhattan's ethos is about consuming space, he said, this project is meant to encourage reevaluating relationships with space and with nature. At his side, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the falls symbolize "the energy and vitality that we have been bringing back to our waterfront."

The waterfalls are built on separate scaffolds that range from 90 to 120 feet tall, and together they churn 35,000 gallons of East River water per minute. The engineering is straightforward: Water is pumped up to fill a sort of tray, from which it plummets back down into the river. A mesh-covered filter at the intake ensures that fish and other organisms -- not to mention random East River garbage -- don't take the ride over the falls.

They'll run from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., except Tuesdays and Thursdays, when starting time is 9 a.m. At sundown, the falls will be lit by light-emitting diodes.

The massive project involved 20 permits from 30 city, state and federal agencies, 270 tons of scaffolding, and work from engineers, scientists, divers, riggers and environmentalists, and was paid for almost entirely by private funds. The mayor said he anticipates the project will bring the city $55 million in tourism revenue.

Narrating an inaugural Circle Line tour of the cascades, Eliasson said he purposely made the mechanics a visible part of the installation. "The scaffold is very much about the culture, very much a part of New York City," he said. "I'm not trying to make a magic show, but show how the trick is done."

Among the first-day viewers on shore, some thought the lack of magic made the falls seem industrial, dreary, disappointingly unspectacular.

"Anything the city can get to give people an opportunity to pause and reflect is worthwhile," said the Rev. Ayana Teter, 31, from Long Island, strolling around the seaport with her family. "But I got to say, there's a water park near us called Splish Splash, and this kind of looks like one of the rides."

"I've never seen a waterfall, but this is not what I imagined," said Christian Chuqui, 25, a waiter originally from Ecuador. "I imagined it more beautiful, you can swim under it, you can touch it. If you put some flowers and some trees, that would help. That would be nice."