New 28-Foot Art Piece To Debut At Prospect Park's Bandshell

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — A massive art installation headed to Prospect Park's bandshell will imagine a utopia where walls of separation are broken down.

The piece, created by artist Emily Oliveira, is set to debut at the Lena Horne Bandshell on Friday and will be on display through next May, the Prospect Park Alliance announced this week.

The 19-foot by 28-foot mural features humans, insects, goddesses and other beings joining to dismantle a brick wall as a symbol of rebirth for the post-COVID era, according to the organization. It is fully titled "We Are At a Moment That Will Be Remembered as the Beginning of the Great Change, For Who Can Say When a Wall Is Ready To Come Down."

“Emily Oliveira offers a utopian vision of a future that tantalizes but doesn’t overpromise," said Jenny Gerow, Contemporary Art Curator at BRIC and curator of the mural.

"As the title reflects, who can say when the wall is ready to come down? Still present in the foreground and the background are the remnants of the present, systems of hierarchy and oppression. The artist is masterful in the art of seduction, often achieved in her textile-based work, through the use of shiny and silky textiles and embroidery, but here created through vibrant color and the temptation of touch and care we all have longed for over the past year.”

The art piece is put in place by BRIC, the Alliance and the city's Parks Department.

It will debut with an opening celebration from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday at the bandshell, which was one of 16 parks sites across the five boroughs renamed for prominent Black New Yorkers earlier this year.

Oliveira, who is a masters candidate at Yale, was inspired by WPA federal mural projects and Mexican muralism in creating the work. Her art is rooted in queer theory and science fiction, including those who "embrace the potential to collectively imagine a new cultural and social fabric," organizers said.

"In Oliveira’s conception of utopia, leisure and frivolity can and must coexist with direct action: milk and honey with fire and brimstone," they wrote. "In this landscape, leisure and care are not seen as idle tasks but upheld as the driving force of radical change."

The art piece will replace a former installation at the bandshell that was put in place last fall.

The new piece will be on display until May 31, 2022.