A Global Warming Sign Meant to Make Passers-By Curious

April 22, 2007
Environment
By JONATHAN MILLER

JERSEY CITY

EVER since November, some cryptic words have greeted hundreds of thousands of harried drivers near the entrance to the Pulaski Skyway here ? not with the usual come-ons for beer or cars or radio stations, but with a message instead about green and dark and thinking or something ? it?s hard to catch it all at 60 miles an hour.

Specifically, the sign reads, ?IT IS GREEN THINKS NATURE EVEN IN THE DARK.?

The glowing red neon letters that make up the message stand eight feet high and stretch across the windows of the former American Can Company building. They can be seen from planes landing at Newark Liberty International Airport, according to the sign?s creator, Mary Ellen Carroll, a Manhattan artist.

Among those who have puzzled over what this could mean is a blogger who calls himself ?The Slush God? (real name: John Joseph Adams, an assistant editor at the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in Jersey City), who wrote that he didn?t ?understand the phrase or what this is supposed to accomplish, unless its goal is to perplex commuters and possibly cause accidents.? Confusing drivers and prompting them to run to Google for answers was actually part of the plan of those who installed the sign. Plug any part of the phrase into a search engine, and you will discover links to the Precipice Alliance, a nonprofit group based in Manhattan, whose goal is to raise awareness of global warming. The site explains the project, an installation called ?Indestructible Language,? and its carbon-neutral energy usage via solar power.

As Ms. Carroll explains the words on the sign: ?If we know what is scientifically proven ? that the condition exists,? she said, referring to global warming, ?and as an individual or as a group ? or what have you ? if you choose not to either believe it and to do something about it in some way, then that?s the choice of remaining ?in the dark.? ?

She added, ? ?It? refers to the color green, ?it? refers to the environment, ?it? refers to greenhouse gases, but ?it? also refers to money.?

It took Ms. Carroll about three months to come up with that phrase and, she said, ?It should be something you should think about.?

Here, where crumbling highways meet abandoned warehouses and cargo train tracks and contaminated swamps, is a place that the project?s backers believed was perfect for a message about the environment.

?This part of New Jersey is thought of as an industrial wasteland,? said Donna Wingate, executive director of the Precipice Alliance. But that is changing; the building where the artwork appears is being converted to luxury condominiums, called the Canco Lofts. (A banner hanging over the artwork reads, ?Industrial Strength Living.?)

It wasn?t easy getting the artwork up. There were months of meetings with officials in the State Department of Transportation, who fretted about the effect on drivers. Recalling the struggle, Ms. Wingate said, ?What?s more dangerous, a huge billboard of Kate Moss naked ? ?

? ? or a piece of artwork?? interjected Ms. Carroll.

Eventually, officials relented. The group also found an enthusiastic backer in the mayor here, Jerramiah T. Healy, who met with the members of the group and told them, ?I don?t understand art, but I support it.?

The sign is run with low-wattage transformers and lead-free glass tubing. The electric bill comes to less than $100 a month, according to Ms. Wingate; she would not reveal the cost of the work.

Ms. Carroll and the Alliance hope the message doesn?t end when the art is taken down at the end of May. They are searching for a permanent home and have talked to people in St. Louis, Boston and Portland, Me., but nothing has come of those discussions yet.

From time to time, the message beamed from the warehouse has been less coherent, as some illuminated letters go out. According to Ms. Carroll and Ms. Wingate, someone at the site helped himself to the many power cords that help light the sign, but they say the cords have been replaced.

I think of it more as this:

"It is green," thinks Nature -- even in the dark.

In other words, the power of nature is (metaphorically) single-minded and relentless, always creating more and more life.

Quote:

Or

IN THE DARK EVEN NATURE THINKS GREEN IS IT

i have got to stop thinking about this.....

Quote:

Those are great pictures!

You can see it here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ensel/322079219/

I think it's meant to be understood as

EVEN IN THE DARK NATURE THINKS GREEN IS IT

Funny -- maybe this piece is just a product of the way she speaks.

"IT IS GREEN THINKS NATURE EVEN IN THE DARK"

I checked on "New Jersey City" it is what is transcribed on their website:

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm ... =06-P13-00046&segmentID=8

Oh well another great PR moment for Jersey City!

WNYC: Living on Earth
High Art
Air Date: Week of November 17, 2006

Conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll discusses her new project "Indestructible Language," a 900-foot long installation built to call attention to climate change.

GELLERMAN: Okay here's a riddle: what's eight feet high, 900 feet long, bright red, but green all over? Here's a hint: it is green thinks nature even in the dark. Okay, I'll repeat that. It is green thinks nature even in the dark. Give up?

Well, it's called Indestructible Language. It's a colossal new piece of conceptual artwork created by Mary Ellen Carroll. Ms. Carroll joins me on the line. Ms. Carroll, thank you very much.

CAROLL: Hi thank you.

GELLERMAN: Well, let's help our listeners out with our riddle here. It's 8 feet high 900 feet long and bright red but green all over. What is it?

CAROLL: My piece is a conceptual work of art. It takes the form of a neon sign comprised of 8-foot characters that roughly run about 900 linear feet on the American Cans building in New Jersey City, New Jersey

GELLERMAN: So what the red letters in neon spell out is "It is green thinks nature even in the dark."

CAROLL: Yes, there's a special typeface it makes it highly legible from up to four miles away. Something that you're in an airplane flying into Newark or driving along Polaski Fifth Highway or on the Jersey Turnpike it's going to be visible.

GELLERMAN: What's the overall message there?

CAROLL: Well, the message is green. You know that we know global warming and global climate change exist. Green has a number of meanings and connotations. I mean we can talk about green colloquially, right, as money. And one of the big issues in terms of global climate change is the amount of money that's being invested.

GELLERMAN: So, it is green refers to both money and environment. Thinks is about, well, thinking right?

CAROLL: What distinguishes human beings from other animals? I mean it's the ability to engage in cognitive processes. And I think that given the amount of information it's important to bring it back to the individual.

GELLERMAN: Nature obviously nature.

CAROLL: Well, nature we needed, you know there had to be another way of making it larger in the sense of being surrounded but then also to put it back to an exterior or something that was outside of ourselves.

GELLERMAN: And even in the dark.

CAROLL: It's a question of having the information and how you choose to react or not to react. So do you choose to remain in the dark or do you choose to somehow affect the problem in some way?

GELLERMAN: Do you think people are actually going to get the message? Are they going to go, "huh?"

CAROLL: Oh, well, that's a good question. You know one of the things that I keep hearing is the head scratching. It's better to be scratching your head than I guess other parts.

GELLERMAN: Where did you get the idea for indestructible language?

CAROLL: Ahh It took a long time. Basically what I did was I created excel spreadsheets and came up with over 200 phrases. This was one of the top 5 in terms of being the most effective. You know, as an artist I'm not creating slogans or jargon. I mean that would be advertising. And it's also not poetry. There's a specificity to what it's supposed to do and how it's supposed to read.

GELLERMAN: I can just see a pilot coming in from some distant country flying into Newark airport for the first time and seeing, you know, "it is green thinks nature even in the dark" in bright neon letters on this old can company.

CAROLL: Uh huh.

GELLERMAN: And going, "what?!"

CAROLL: We can only hope that he makes an announcement over the PA system.

GELLERMAN: Marry Ellen Caroll is a member of the Precipice Alliance, a group of artists that's using their artwork to draw attention to global warming. The collaborator's first piece called "Indestructible Language" can be seen on the New Jersey Turnpike right near Newark airport and the Polaski Skyway.

Whitey on the Moon - Gil-Scott Heron (1972)

A rat done bit my sister Nell with Whitey on the moon.
Her face and arms began to swell and Whitey's on the moon.
I can't pay no doctor bills but Whitey's on the moon.
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still while Whitey's on the moon.

The man just upped my rent last night cuz Whitey's on the moon.
No hot water, no toilets, no lights but Whitey's on the moon.
I wonder why he's uppin me. Cuz Whitey's on the moon?
I was already givin' him fifty a week but now Whitey's on the moon.

Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
The junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
And as if all that shit wasn't enough:


A rat done bit my sister Nell with Whitey on the moon.
Her face and arms began to swell but Whitey's on the moon.
Was all that money I made last year for Whitey on the moon?
How come there ain't no money here? Hmm! Whitey's on the moon.

Ya know, I just about had my fill of Whitey on the moon.
I think I'll send these doctor bills

airmail special....

to Whitey on the moon.

We noticed this driving home on Saturday night. It made absolutely no sense (it still doesn't), and it reminded me of the old
RUST CO F EW JE Y
sign in Journal Square and the Patrick Mimran billboards in Chelsea: you look at it, read it, scratch your head, then go about your way and never think about it again until you happen to see it at a later point in time.

http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/ ... p?int_sec=2&int_new=18139

The Precipice Alliance Debuts With Mary Ellen Carroll

NEW YORK.- The Precipice Alliance, a non-profit corporation collaborating with artists to direct public attention to global warming, launches its mission with an inaugural artwork by the contemporary artist Mary Ellen Carroll. This large-scale project will consist of 8-foot high illuminated characters, spelling out the phrase: IT IS GREEN THINKS NATURE EVEN IN THE DARK. The nearly 900-foot-long piece will be installed in the window bays of all five former American Can factory buildings (CANCO lofts) in Jersey City, New Jersey on November 1st, 2006 and will be exhibited for six months, through April 2007. The work will be illuminated at night, and will be visible to tens of thousands of commuters daily traveling on the Pulaski Skyway and the New Jersey Turnpike. It will also be visible by air to passengers flying into Newark Airport, reaching millions of viewers. An event will take place on November 13th to celebrate the launch of this organization and its first project.

Describing the reasons behind his decision to create The Precipice Alliance, co-founder Joel Sternfeld explains "Like everybody, I'd been following the predictions about global warming out of the corner of my eye for the last 20 years. But after I went to the UN conference on climate change in Montreal in December 2005, I knew I had to do something. I had no idea there was so little time left to prevent irreversible catastrophic consequences." Co-founder Donna Wingate adds, ?Timing is very critical for this issue. We are at a stage where a brief opportunity exists to mitigate the substantial, potentially irreversible effects of global warming. Public awareness is absolutely essential in creating solutions.?

Mary Ellen Carroll?s artwork, known as ?indestructible language?, explores the random nature of language, as a continuous loop that one can enter at various points. Carroll?s choice of phrase serves as a reiterative device, highlighting the environmental issues that are the Precipice Alliance?s main focus. ?IT IS? immediately states that the issue at hand is one of extreme relevance; in fact the hazards of greenhouse gas emissions are proven scientific fact. ?GREEN? carries with it multiple interpretations: ominous connotations pertaining to money and greenhouse gas emissions, and simultaneously the color of nature and earth. ?THINKS? reinforces the human capability to engage in cognitive thought, while ?NATURE? echoes the use of ?GREEN? earlier. ?EVEN? denotes that this as a non-partisan issue, while ?IN THE DARK? is both literal and metaphorical: the lead-glass tubing will only be lit and visible in the dark. It also confronts the viewer, asking them to engage with this crucial issue.

For indestructible language, Mary Ellen Carroll worked with Chester Jenkins at Village Type and Design and Matt Dilling at LiteBrite Neon to create a new type specifically for the artwork. Village creates lettering, type, and design for cultural and commercial clients, including 2x4, Pentagram, the London Design Festival, and the National Football League. Matt Dilling at LiteBrite Neon is the manufacturer of the sign.

In accordance with the program mission, educating the public about practical steps to conserve energy and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, the artwork will be carbon neutral, using low-wattage, energy-efficient transformers and lead-free glass tubing. Solar panels installed at the site, combined with ?greentags? from Bonneville Environmental Foundation will offset the energy consumed. Limited silk-screen editions created by the artist specifically for this project will also be available.

Artist Joel Sternfeld and Executive Director Donna Wingate have founded The Precipice Alliance, a sponsored organization of the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, with the goal of increasing awareness of the global effects of climate change. With this in mind, the Alliance plans to fund high profile, innovative public artworks that specifically address this urgent matter while simultaneously functioning as an educational and informational forum. By executing large-scale contemporary artworks in public venues, and aligning each artwork with a specific environmental initiative and related public response, the Alliance believes that artists can give forum and focus to intangible concepts and deliver powerful messages about the critical challenge of combating global warming. Their next project will involve a collaboration with artist Alexis Rockman, who will produce four extreme weather artworks to be displayed in four states (Colorado, Mississippi, Texas, and Kansas), with an accompanying billboard campaign. Further information is available on www.precipice-alliance.org. The website, as well as the organization?s logo and identity were created by design studio 2x4.

The conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll lives and works in New York City, and her projects have always been concerned with notions of representation and identification, which reveal a dedication to political and social critique. She is the recipient of many honors and awards, including a Pollack/Krasner Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Fellowship, and her work has been exhibited at many national and international galleries and institutions, including the Whitney Museum, ICA London, and MOMUK Vienna.

CANCO lofts is the largest and most innovative rehabilitation of an industrial facility in the New York metropolitan area, built from the 1 million square foot factory that once housed the American Can Company in Jersey City. Industrial by heritage and contemporary in design, this unique new condominium community offers dramatic, light-filled spaces and luxury loft living minutes from Manhattan.

This is great for Journal Square -- finally a developer with some real Art sense!

I'm gonna go to the event on Nov. 13


============================
Hey you know the neon could have ALSO have been:

"IT IS CONDO THINKS BUILDING EVEN IN THE CAN"

this looks incredibly cool! anyone planning on going? is it free or with a donation? and joan osborne? (yay).. plus, a cool art installation that will freak people on the Pulaski out? good times.

GLOBAL WARMING ART IN JERSEY
The Precipice Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness about global warming through the visual arts, has commissioned its first work, which opened in Jersey City, Nov. 1, 2006. The piece, by New York-based conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll, consists of a 900-foot-long window display in the buildings of the former American Can factory, comprised of eight-foot-tall neon letters proclaiming, "IT IS GREEN THINKS NATURE EVEN IN THE DARK." The head-scratching phrase is meant as an exercise in "indestructible language," focusing on the fluid, open-ended nature of words (strange, for a project with a clear social message!), and is sure to cause some confusion along the Pulaski Skyway, the New Jersey Turnpike, and in planes flying into or out of Newark airport.

Though using illuminated letters to get the word out, the organization hastens to note that the art piece is "carbon neutral," employing low-wattage transformers and lead-free glass tubing, as well as using solar panels to offset the energy consumed.

An event will take place at the site Nov. 13, 2006, to celebrate the debut of the work, featuring songstress Joan Osborne and a lecture by New York Times environmental reporter Andrew C. Revkin. For info, check out http://precipice-alliance.org.

http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news ... ews/artnetnews11-2-06.asp