The new public art, “Terrain Park” by artist Ann Tarantino, is a key element of DBP’s Public Realm Action Plan to reclaim streets for pedestrians and cyclists and upgrade streetscapes.
Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP) and the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program (DOT Art) today began installing nearly 12,000 square feet of colorful ground murals within the pedestrian spaces of the neighborhood’s Shared Street network. This new public art will enhance the public realm, visually connect the area’s core streets, and increase pedestrian safety.Titled Terrain Park, the work is topography-inspired and connects visitors to an inviting, peaceful landscape within a bustling downtown. DBP selected Brooklyn-based artist Ann Tarantino to create a vibrant streetscape that complements the existing street furniture, bike racks, granite bollards, and planters that are part of the Shared Street program. Each space will be clad in a richly colored base coat overlaid with sweeping topography lines in vibrant hues. The palette choices consider the surrounding context throughout each block and create a calm, soothing atmosphere that offers a moment of respite and repose in a busy urban setting. Terrain Park, will adorn approximately 10,700 square feet across the pedestrian spaces of Shared Streets and an additional 1,250 square feet adjacent to the Jay Street busway.“The Shared Street program is designed to create a vibrant downtown experience that prioritizes people and the environment,” said Regina Myer, President of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. “By working with a local artist to beautify our streetscape, we are providing our community of pedestrians, cyclists, residents and visitors with public spaces that are accessible, safe and beautiful. Thank you to our partners at DOT Art and artist Ann Tarantino for sharing in our vision to improve the public realm and for working with us to bring these vibrant murals to life.”“These vibrant murals will help beautify the streetscape while enhancing the safety of our Shared Streets, where pedestrians and cyclists are prioritized,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “We thank the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and artist Ann Tarantino for making this tourist and cultural destination a safer, more peaceful and inviting area.”“Terrain Park connects viewers with the landscape beneath their feet. Its imagery is built from snippets of topographical maps from the immediate surrounding areas and beyond, alternated and combined to create an imagined new terrain,” said Artist Ann Tarantino. “WIth this piece, I wanted to create calm resting places that could also spark the imagination and make viewers feel connected to the natural world and landscape around them. I hope it will bring moments of joy and a calming energy to this vibrant, bustling community and neighborhood.” DBP, in collaboration with the DOT Art, issued an RFP in February, seeking designs for ground murals that would enliven the neighborhood and increase pedestrian safety by visually delineating pedestrian spaces from roadways. Vibrant, connective public art is part of DBP’s Downtown Brooklyn Public Realm Action Plan, created in partnership with design firms Bjarke Ingels Group and WXY architecture + urban design. The plan puts forth a series of transformative measures that prioritizes people and the environment and will take Downtown Brooklyn from a traditional central business district to a citywide leader in designing a downtown for people. Also known as “pedestrian-priority” streets, Shared Streets are designed to slow travel speeds where pedestrians and cyclists are prioritized, and motorists are treated as guests. Necessary vehicular access is maintained for loading, carting, parking, and other services. Slow vehicular speeds are maintained through traffic calming measures, signage, street markings, and the addition of public space amenities in expanded pedestrian spaces. The Shared Streets model was launched in Downtown Brooklyn on Pearl and Willoughby Streets in 2019 and is being expanded across blocks in the core of Downtown Brooklyn.
About Downtown Brooklyn Partnership
The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is a not-for-profit local development corporation that serves as the primary champion for Downtown Brooklyn as a world-class business, cultural, educational, residential, and retail destination. Managing three Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) that cover Downtown Brooklyn – the MetroTech BID, Fulton Mall Improvement Association, and Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn BID – the Partnership’s diverse activities include attracting new businesses and improving the environment for existing companies, facilitating the construction of public spaces and streetscapes that promote an active and cohesive community, supporting and promoting Downtown Brooklyn’s cultural assets, and encouraging a sense of place and an engaged civic community.
About the NYC DOT Art Program
The New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program (DOT Art) partners with community based nonprofit organizations and professional artists to present temporary public art on NYC DOT property throughout the five boroughs for up to eleven months. Artists transform streets with colorful murals, dynamic projections, and eye-catching sculptures. Sidewalks, fences, triangles, medians, bridges, jersey barriers, step streets, public plazas and pedestrianized spaces serve as canvases and foundations for temporary art. Over the past 12 years, DOT Art has produced nearly 400 temporary artworks citywide. More information.
About Ann Tarantino
Ann Tarantino is an artist investigating the relationship of the natural world to the built environment. Through drawing, painting, installation and site-specific public art, she engages viewers in a dialogue around the relationship of landscapes to time, space, culture, and movement. Her work has been exhibited widely in the US and abroad, with public art installations in various settings including museums, botanical gardens, and streets. Recent projects include major public commissions for the city of Ogden, UT and Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Art; a solo exhibition of new paintings with Davis Editions (Phoenix, AZ); and large-scale exterior murals around the US. Tarantino was a 2016-17 Fulbright Core Scholar in Brazil, and hold an honors degree in Visual Arts from Brown University and Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in Painting from Pennsylvania State University.
