Creative Time and Sophie Calle Ongoing Project at Green-wood Cemetery
Photograph of Sophie Calle performance by Leandro Justin. [Image Description: A woman sits readsing to a man. , Tthey are both sitting on wicker chairs on a sunny day in green-wood cemetarycemetery. , Iin the foreground is a tombstone with the name “Murray” carved on it, there are large trees and the Manhattan skyline is visible in the backgroundthrough them in the background.]
The Creative Time commission Here Lie the Secrets of the Visitors of Green-Wood Cemetery, is a 25 year-long new public artwork by the internationally renowned French conceptual artist Sophie Calle, co-presented with Green-Wood Cemetery. The project debuted with a two- day long inaugural event on April 29th and 30th, 2017. To inaugurate the project, the public was invited to Green-Wood Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to privately unburden and inter their most intimate confessions.
During the two-day opening, in a setting nestled among the mausoleums and monuments of Green-Wood’s verdant rolling hills, visitors transcribed their secrets onto paper, and deposited them into the earth below, through a slot on a marble obelisk of Calle’s design. The artist was on hand during the two-day event to receive some visitors’ secrets. Guests were invited to spend the day exploring the sculptures and monuments throughout Green-Wood, a tradition that dates back to the early 1800s. Free maps of the cemetery, specially designed to accompany Calle’s installation, were be available. Guided walking tours emphasizing the cemetery’s symbols and iconography were offered at no cost.
Visitors to the Cemetery can now see Calle’s installation during regular cemetery hours and independently deposit secrets into the marble obelisk. Calle has also pledged to return periodically over the next 25 years, each time the grave is filled, to exhume and cremate them in a ceremonial bonfire service and moment of remembrance.
You can read more about Creative Time here.
About Green-wood
Founded in 1838 and now a National Historic Landmark, Green-Wood was one of the first rural cemeteries in America. By the early 1860s, it had earned an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the prestigious place to be buried, attracting 500,000 visitors a year, second only to Niagara Falls as the nation’s greatest tourist attraction. Crowds flocked there to enjoy family outings, carriage rides, and sculpture viewing in the finest of first-generation American landscapes. Green-Wood’s popularity helped inspire the creation of public parks, including New York City’s Central and Prospect Parks. The Green-Wood Historic Fund, a 501(C) (3) not-for-profit organization, maintains Green-Wood’s monuments and buildings of historical, cultural and architectural significance; advances public knowledge and appreciation of this significance; and preserves the natural habitat and parklands of one of New York City’s first green spaces.
Green-Wood and Artists
Since opening in 1838, Green-Wood’s beautiful landscape and stunning monuments have inspired artists of every discipline. Not coincidentally, it was chosen as the final resting place of scores of 19th- and 20th-century artists, architects, and designers, including Asher Durand, Louis Comfort Tiffany, John La Farge, Nathaniel Currier, James Merritt Ives, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, amongst many others. Sophie Calle’s installation adds to this rich history and tradition.
Directions to Green-wood
The main entrance to Green-Wood is located at the gothic arches at 5th Avenue and 25th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. This entrance is open from 7:45 AM to 5 PM seven days a week.
Green-Wood is easily accessible by public transportation. Traveling by subway, take the R Line to 25th Street in Brooklyn, and walk east one block to Green-Wood at 5th Avenue and 25th Street. Traveling by bus, take B63 Line to 5th Avenue and 25th Street, or take the B37 Line to 3rd Avenue and 25th Street. From 3rd Avenue and 25th Street, walk east two blocks to Green-Wood at 5th Avenue and 25th Street.
If you are traveling by car and using GPS, please enter “25th Street and Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.” Do NOT use “500 25th Street”.
Please note:
Please observe the social distancing guidelines if visiting Green-wood.
There are no bikes allowed in Green-Wood.
No pets are allowed in Green-Wood.