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Four giant waterfalls will be erected in New York for three months from July in a public art project city officials hope will create US$55 million ($72.15 million) in extra tourism revenue for the Big Apple.
The waterfalls, including one that will fall from the famed Brooklyn Bridge, are the brainchild of Danish artist Olafur Eliasson.
Installation will cost US$15 million, funded by private donations to New York's Public Art Fund.
"It's about seeing water in a different way," Eliasson said yesterday, unveiling plans for the waterfalls, which will range from 30-40m in height - around the same as the Statue of Liberty from head to toe.
Three of the waterfalls will cascade into the East River and New York Harbour from free-standing scaffolding towers that Eliasson said were part of his artistic vision, mirroring the scaffolding towers that sprout up throughout New York. The falls will be in place from mid-July to mid-October.
City officials are hoping to emulate the success of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's project, "The Gates", which drew around 1.5 million visitors to the city in February 2005 to view about 7500 saffron panels draped through Central Park.
Increased hotel, restaurant and other business revenues linked to the waterfalls should bring an additional US$55 million to the city's economy, Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris said.
The scaffolding will have a floating barrier at the bottom to stop small boats going underneath and a "shark cage" under the water to stop fish being sucked into the pumps that will take the water to the top.
The pumps will be powered by renewable energy sources and the falls will be lit only by low-level lighting at night that Eliasson said would be "not Las Vegas-style."
- REUTERS
