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A Playful Gesture Designed to Evoke
Communal Connection in
Long Island City, NY
New York, United States
ibbon was designed by The Urban different moments throughout several
Conga in collaboration with Hive pedestrian pathways and communal
RPublic Space and the Long Island spaces within Long Island City. The piece
City Partnership. Ribbon is a part of the begins to playfully disrupt one’s daily
LIC (Re)Connects art series produced routine and encourages people to begin to
by Hive PS as a way to evoke communal look at their surrounding context in new
connection within a multitude of areas ways. The flowing motion of the work
throughout Long Island City, NY. acts like a piece of ribbon guiding you off
Ribbon is just one component of an your path and into areas you may not have
ecosystem of playful urban activations explored previously.
happening throughout the city, from The work becomes a series of timeless
murals to augmented reality experiences, landmarks, always changing and
all focused on reconnecting the community responding to the people, the landscape,
to one another. As we all begin to be and the interactions between them,
reintroduced into social environments, and sparking memorable experiences
we are becoming increasingly aware of that keep encouraging people to come
the need for inclusive ways to reconnect back and engage with the work, the
with one another. Ribbon was developed surrounding spaces, and each other in
as a temporary installation that looks at new ways. The work steps off the pedestal
new ways of adapting existing spaces and and allows users to physically engage and
infrastructure to become platforms for manipulate the pieces by rotating each of
social interaction and communal activity the units attached to the main structure.
through open-ended play design. As one begins to move the kinetic
Ribbon acts as a playful gesture, pieces, they begin to not only transform
wrapping around and framing out the work itself, but also manipulate the
42 Issue 250 • dw
