Photo by Timothy Schenck.

A Bright Pink Tree, the Third High Line Plinth Commission, Will Be on Display from May 2023 through Fall 2024

High Line Art, which organizes public art programming and installations displayed along the High Line, yesterday announced that acclaimed Swiss artist Pamela Rosenkranz’s vivid sculpture Old Tree is now on view as the third High Line Plinth commission. Changing every 18 months, the Plinth is one of the only sites in New York City for artists to realize large-scale contemporary artworks. Old Tree is on display on the High Line, over the intersection of 10th Avenue and 30th Street, through Fall 2024.

Newly installed on the Spur, Old Tree is a vibrant 25-foot-tall pink and red sculpture made of man-made materials. Old Tree was among 80 proposals shared with the public in 2020, with many people remarking during the commenting period on the excitement and optimism that the work evokes. Rosenkranz’s commission follows Sam Durant’s Untitled (drone), installed in 2021, and Simone Leigh’s Brick House, which inaugurated the Plinth program in 2019.

“Old Tree comes alive on the High Line, amid the park’s foliage and the surrounding architecture,” said artist Pamela Rosenkranz. “I look forward to seeing how visitors further activate the sculpture.”

“Pamela Rosenkranz’s Old Tree is stunning, and mirrors the High Line’s complexities as both a natural landscape and a built structure,” said Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art. “We’re thrilled to bring Old Tree to life as the third High Line Plinth commission.”

“Whether experienced up close or seen at a distance, Old Tree serves as a beacon of possibility and renewal,” said Alan van Capelle, Executive Director of the High Line. “The High Line’s commitment to an exceptional public art program has never been stronger and Old Tree is a testament to that commitment.”

Old Tree is a vibrant pink and red sculpture that animates myriad historical archetypes of the tree of life that connects heaven and earth. With its striking colors and form, the sculpture resembles the branching systems of organs, blood vessels, and tissue of the human body, inviting viewers to consider the indivisible connection between human and plant life. Old Tree evokes metaphors for the ancient wisdom of human evolution as well as a future in which the synthetic has become nature. On the High Line—a contemporary urban park built on a relic
of industry—Old Tree raises questions about what is truly “artificial” or “natural” in our world. Standing in stark contrast to the buildings around it, the work provides a social space, creating shade while casting an ever-changing, luminous aura amid New York’s changing seasons. The exhibition of Old Tree on the High Line will be activated by public programming around themes of botany and anthropology, with more details to be announced.

Pamela Rosenkranz creates sculptures, paintings, videos, and installations that reflect on the human need to anthropomorphize our surroundings in order to understand them. In doing
so, she investigates the codes through which people give meaning to the natural world. Her projects center synthetic materials created in the image of nature: a swimming pool filled
with viscous fluid, collections of mineral water bottles filled with silicone, or a kitchen faucet streaming water colored with E131 “sky blue” synthetic dye. Color is paramount for Rosenkranz, who employs fabricated colors intended to reflect unblemished and idealized nature. She elaborates on the condition of the body as a malleable system. Questioning the worldview that centers human beings, Rosenkranz addresses our relentless attempts to domesticate and tame the other living beings around us, as well as our own bodies.

Old Tree’s installation precedes the opening of the Moynihan – High Line Connector later in Spring 2023. The location of the Plinth on the High Line’s Spur is adjacent to the forthcoming pathway that will lead pedestrians over 30th Street and Dyer Avenue towards Moynihan Train Hall.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Pamela Rosenkranz (b. 1979, Uri, Switzerland) lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland. She has held solo exhibitions at institutions including Kunsthaus Bregenz (2021), Kreuzgang Fraumunster, Zurich (2018), GAMeC, Bergamo (2017), Fondazione Prada, Milan (2017), Kunsthalle Basel (2012), Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2010) and the Swiss Institute, Venice (2009). Rosenkranz has participated at several major international group exhibitions, including the Okayama Art Summit (2019) and the 15th Biennale de Lyon (2019). Her project Our Product was selected for the Swiss Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale in 2015. Recent group shows were held at Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2021), Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2021), Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah (2020), MMK – Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2019), Garage Museum for Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2019), Musée National d ́Art Moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2019), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2018), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (2017) and Museo Espacio, Aguascalientes (2016).

ABOUT HIGH LINE ART

Founded in 2009, High Line Art commissions and produces a wide array of artworks on the High Line, including site-specific commissions, exhibitions, performances, video programs, and a series of billboard interventions. Led by Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, and presented by the High Line, the art program invites artists to think of creative ways to engage with the unique architecture, history, and design of the park, and to foster a productive dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood and urban landscape.

For further information on High Line Art, please visit thehighline.org/art.

ABOUT THE HIGH LINE

The High Line is both a nonprofit organization and a public park on the West Side of Manhattan. Through our work with communities on and off the High Line, we’re devoted to reimagining public spaces to create connected, healthy neighborhoods and cities.

Built on a historic, elevated rail line, the High Line was always intended to be more than a park. You can walk through the gardens, view art, experience a performance, enjoy food or beverage, or connect with friends and neighbors—all while enjoying a unique perspective of New York City.

Nearly 100% of our annual budget comes through donations. The High Line is owned by the City of New York and we operate under a license agreement with NYC Parks.

For more information, visit thehighline.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

SUPPORT

Lead support for High Line Art comes from Amanda and Don Mullen. Major support for High Line Art is provided by Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, The Brown Foundation, Inc., and Charina Endowment Fund. Project support for High Line Art is provided by Charlotte Feng Ford, Scintilla Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Vivian and James Zelter. High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council
on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council.

Major support for the High Line Plinth is provided by members of the High Line Plinth Commit- tee and contemporary art leaders committed to realizing major commissions and engaging in the public success of the Plinth: Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros, Elizabeth Belfer, Suzanne Deal Booth, Fairfax Dorn, Steve Ells, Kerianne Flynn, Hermine Riegerl Heller and David B. Heller, J. Tomilson and Janine Hill, The Holly Peterson Foun- dation, Annie Hubbard, Miyoung Lee and Neil Simpkins, Amanda and Don Mullen, Douglas Oliver and Sherry Brous, Mario Palumbo and Stefan Gargiulo, Susan and Stephen Scherr, Susan and David Viniar, Olivia Walton, and Vivian and James Zelter.

@HighLineArtNYC @pamelaememrosenkranz