30 in 30: #16

The Irish Hunger Memorial is a strange entity that sits just north of Battery Park City's Financial Center and Mercantile Exchange. It's strange for a couple reasons: its form and its purpose. But after one experiences it, this strangeness leads to appreciation and understanding.



Walking through the entry corridor that is reached under a cantilever on the western end of the memorial, a voice recites statistics and descriptions of hunger around the world. This sound is accompanied by text that follows the bands of stone and light that wraps the memorial as well as the entry corridor. Both extend the purpose of the memorial beyond the historical event it is name for, to the ongoing plight of hunger throughout the world.



As many Irish emigrated to New York City during Ireland's famine, the location of this memorial makes perfect sense. As does its size, exactly one-half acre, "as a clause added to the Irish Poor Law by Sir William Gregory during the famine meant that anyone who owned more than a half-acre of land was not eligible for any aid or relief," according to this web page. The journey through the corridor leads to a reconstructed ruin of 19th-century stone cottage shipped from Ireland. This ruin merges seamlessly with native weeds, grasses, and wildflowers atop the whole memorial. Like the 1/2-acre size, the memorial is loaded with symbolism, some more obvious than others.



To me the appeal of it is it's completely alien presence between the Financial Center and new residential buildings currently under construction in Battery Park City. The skyline of New Jersey (above) is slowly revealed as one ascends to the prow of the cantilever, giving the visitor a view of the Statue of Liberty to the south. But for a moment, one doesn't walk on the earth of Lower Manhattan; instead it is the earth of some other place and time.



It's the corridor that helps create this sensation, as unlike other memorials it immerses the visitor into something else, as opposed to just letting them look at something. It creates a transition between the outside world and an introspective other, at least for a few moments. As it and the visitor goes above ground, it doesn't abandon the outside world, instead it asks the us to look at it from a different perspective.

Directions:
The memorial is located at the western end of Vesey Street in Battery Park City. It can be reached by the E to World Trade Center; the 1,2,3 to Chambers Street.

Previously:
#1 - Church of the Crucifixion
#2 - 40 Mercer Residences
#3 - Dichroic Light Field
#4 - Juan Valdez Flagship
#5 - IAC/InterActiveCorp
#6 - South Court of NYPL
#7 - Louis Vuitton Store
#8 - Ironworkers Local 580
#9 - Korean Presbyterian Church
#10 - Roosevelt Island
#11 - Stabile Hall (Pratt)
#12 - Terian Design Center (Pratt)
#13 - Higgins Hall (Pratt)
#14 - Broken Angel
#15 - Alessi Store