Once entering the immense room in this historic Park Avenue site, one could say history is in the making once again. Here we have roughly 100 to 150 people, quietly milling about. Some are lying face down; some appear to have nodded off. Others are staring off into the pool of water, observing the ceramic bowls floating by. Lo and behold, there are few cell phones out, no one is glued to their screen. When one does emerge, it’s to take a quick picture, or short video, and then it’s put away in a bag or back pocket. In this day and age, that’s pretty historic.
With so many of these bowls floating around the pool, and in a variety of sizes, they gently collide in the moving waters, bouncing off each other creating a variety of soft timbres. The tones created become a melody of calm, something that resonates through space. One can feel the refreshing-ness of slowing down, the heart quiets, the mind relaxes. It’s as much group therapy as it is the immersive art installation now at the Park Avenue Armory.
French artist, Celeste Boursier-Mougenot, is famous for creating large and ambitious acoustic set-ups incorporating everyday items to become “self-playing” instruments. Earlier this summer, this exhibit called Clinamen was installed in the Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall, a 55,000 square foot open, un-columned space. The description of the hall says, “it’s one of the largest unobstructed spaces of its kind in New York.”
With its three large pools of ocean blue water, there’s an abundance of room for guests to sit, stand, lie down, doze off to let their senses do the work, maybe gaze at the moving bowls, listen to their chiming sounds, follow one bowl on its journey along the light current. Or do nothing at all and just “be.” One could easily spend hours being transfixed by it and not missing their phone at all.
The Armory itself has been a mainstay on Park Avenue and 66th Street since the 1800s. When President Lincoln called for volunteers in 1861, the Seventh Regiment was the first militia to respond and go to work building the structure, using the prominent designers like Louis Comfort Tiffany. The building stands as a testament not only of the patriotism of the regiment, but of the craftmanship of that era.
The Drill Hall has been the site for major events such as an 1881 music festival, and a 1957 Society Ball with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in attendance. The Park Avenue Armory has been designated a National Historic Landmark, a New York City Landmark, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Clinamen remains in the Armory until August 9, 2026.
Visit Armory on Park for information and tickets about the exhibit but also for tours of the architecture and windows of first floor reception rooms, and second floor company rooms.
All photos by Nicholas Knight
