‘LIGHT WORK’ by Andrew Kass presents photographic documentation of his provisional site-specific installation of the same name, executed at the Manhattan Bridge Arch and Colonnade Monument in Lower Manhattan. Folded within the architectural drawing of the structure that functions as the installation’s apparatus, ‘LIGHT WORK’ illustrates Kass’ confrontation with the seemingly neglected monument, which through his performative labor is thereafter illuminated by an illegally-installed lighting system. This act of illumination ultimately leaves the highly public construction in a liminal space somewhere between abandoned and redeveloped, forgotten and preserved.
Andrew Kass uses light to subvert the monument, both in the execution of the project and the photographic documentation that follows. The lights themselves as affixed to the structure draw renewed visibility to an area of public space that had previously faded despite its historical importance in the development of areas intended ostensibly for open use in New York. The resulting photographs invite the viewer to contemplate the limitations of public space and its utility. - Andrew Kass