September 15, 2006

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	Courtesy Performance Structures and Public Art Fund

As the song suggests, “Autumn in New York will lift you up when you’re down.” Between September 19 and October 27, sculptor Anish Kapoor’s concave, 35-foot-diameter Sky Mirror will attempt a similar feat at Rockefeller Center, where it will reflect Fifth Avenue life in inverse. This is the first New York public artwork for Kapoor, whose works include the popular Cloud Gate at Chicago’s Millennium Park.

Sky Mirror will rest freely on a platform, with its convex side hovering a few feet from the concrete—reflecting passers-by and yellow taxis of Fifth Avenue as floating objects in a seamless stainless-steel surface. The concave side of the 23-ton mirror will face 30 Rockefeller Center, turning the Art Deco landmark on its head. Adi Shamir, the recently appointed executive director of the Van Alen Institute, calls it “a powerful urban intervention because it offers the opportunity for passersby to find and see themselves engaged in an elusive public space.” Sky Mirror is organized by the Public Art Fund and hosted by Rockefeller Center owner Tishman Speyer Properties. 

Leigh Batnick

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