NewGrass in New York’s Time Square
June 2, 2010
NewGrass® synthetic lawn is on public display again in New York City, this time right in the middle of Times Square in conjunction with a citywide public art project.
Between June 3rd and 27th, NewGrass is providing wonderfully natural-looking ground cover in a symbolic and temporary “town common” in Times Square. About 16 feet square, the common lies at the heart of Key to the City, a public art project conceived and created by Paul Ramírez Jonas and produced by Creative Time, a nonprofit organization that commissions and produces “artwork for the masses globally (and not in a gallery setting, but on our streets),” according to the New York Village Voice.
With Key to the City, Ramírez Jonas has created a functional key—a key that unlocks 24 spaces ranging from museums to community gardens to graveyards across New York City’s five boroughs. The concept for the project is that a key to the city should be a gift that any average citizen can give to anyone else, and not be an exclusive token granted only to dignitaries or heroes.
At the Key to City common in Times Square, landscaped by NewGrass New York, anyone who wants to can award someone a key for whatever reason they like. With the key in hand, the recipient can go on a citywide exploration to find the 24 spaces the key will unlock.
“We have 25,000 keys to give away, so that’s a lot of people who will be visiting the common here in Times Square over the next four weeks,” said Gavin Kroeber, a producer with Creative Time.
When it came time to design the town common, Kroeber first considered using natural sod grass. But that idea gradually proved highly impractical. He assumed the grass would need to be “planted” or placed in some kind of container or bedding, and then be regularly watered, and probably need to be replaced repeatedly during the course of the event.
“We’re talking about more than 25,000 people walking across this area over the next four weeks or so,” Kroeber said.
So Kroeber considered artificial grass. He said he first considered NewGrass because of the way it looked in photographs on the company’s website, www.newgrass.com, and he ultimately chose NewGrass because of the “incredibly lifelike feeling” of its samples. Kroeber said he was also assured by NewGrass president Greg Goehner that the fake grass would ensure the project complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Basically, it had to be easy for wheelchairs to travel across.
“I’ve got to say, the installation is even better than we expected,” Kroeber said earlier this week. “It’s so lifelike, people think it’s real. It really makes the common feel like the real thing.”
Last summer, NewGrass appeared in the window display of the Ralph Lauren flagship store on tony Madison Avenue.
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