The spigot on Olafur Eliasson’s NYC Waterfalls art project will be turned off today for good. The exhibit, which opened in late June, caused controversy as its salt water spray is being blamed for tree damage in Brooklyn Heights. Today’s NY Times delivers the Falls’ eulogy:
NY Times: Waterfalls Exit: Ben Corman, 21, a valet at the River Café, said that if he did not work so close to one, and go home smelling like the East River, he would probably like them. Stacy Pisone, 44, a restaurant owner at a playground near the waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge, said she would be sad to see them go. “As soon as they went on today everybody went ‘Aah, look, the waterfalls are on,’ ” she said.
But Gene Kezena, 67, a retired engineer who lives in Brooklyn Heights and was relaxing Sunday on the Promenade, described them as “kind of ridiculous.”
“It was almost like a Coney Island sort of thing,” he said. “I looked at it and said, ‘It’s not exactly Niagara Falls.’ ”