A five-year-old boy in France learns a poem that captures his imagination….
An 18-meter long ant With a hat on its head That doesn’t exist, that doesn’t exist….
And for the next 30-years as the boy grows into a man, he asks himself “Why Not?”
On January 23rd, that little boy, Xavier Roux, will debut The Ant on Bergen Street for the grand opening of The Invisible Dog, a creative arts space in Cobble Hill. The sixty-foot-long sculpture made of structural steel and nylon balloons will fill the gallery space, and the imagination of all.
The poem’s author, Robert Desnos, wrote The Ant after his arrest by the Nazis and deportation to Auschwitz. The 18-meter length was the size of a cattle car used by the Gestapo to transport their prisoners to the concentration camps….
An 18-meter long ant With a hat on its head That doesn’t exist, that doesn’t exist.
An ant pulling a cart Full of penguins and ducks That doesn’t exist, that doesn’t exist.
An ant speaking French, Speaking Latin and Javanese, That doesn’t exist, that doesn’t exist.
Hey! Why not?
Xavier was captivated by the poem. He would recite the poem to his parents, never knowing the true meaning, except that the ant should exist. When he told his story to Lucien Zayan, the director of The Invisible Dog, the poem became a reality.
Xavier places meaning in all of the parts of The Ant. Built on a framework of over a metric ton of steel that resembles train tracks and a hat that symbolizes the chimneys of the concentration camps, the ant’s body is composed of nylon balloons that signify light.
“It is a beautiful poem that has great meaning,” says Roux.
During his research, Xavier discovered the author’s story from historians of the French resistance. During the Nazi occupation of Paris, Desnos published a series of essays mocking the Germans. These articles combined with his work for the French Resistance led to his arrest on February 22, 1944. Desnos was sent to first to Auschwitz, and then transferred to Buchenwald and Flossenburg before he was sent to Terezin, a concentration camp in the Czech Republic. Although the Allies liberated this camp in 1945, Desnos had contracted typhoid. He died on June 8, 1945.
The poem gained even more meaning for Roux. “Poetry is the sense of the possible,” he said. “It was so important for me to create The Ant. Penguins and all languages represent globalization. We are all on the same train.”
A poem written 60 years ago still has meaning today. When Xaveir Roux and Lucien Zayan met and discussed The Ant, the idea fit in with Lucien Zayan’s strategy for The Invisible Dog.
The former factory building at 51 Bergen Street is a South Brooklyn hidden treasure. Situated less than half a block from Smith Street and the Bergen subway stop, the block also includes the Romantic Times. Built in the late 1800’s, the 25,000 square-foot factory went through a number of businesses. By the late 1990s, the boarded-up building was another abandoned manufacturing space in Brooklyn.
In early 2009, Zayan came to Brooklyn for a three-month holiday. During his time in New York, he stumbled upon a gallery in the very front of the building. Asking questions about the building, the gallery owner allowed him to look at the raw space behind her back wall. It was love at first sight.
Zayan sought out the owner of the building, Frank DeFalco, and asked what they were doing with the building. There were no definite plans. During the conversation, DeFranco kept mentioning The Invisible Dog, once, twice and a third time.
“I finally asked, What is the invisible dog?” said Zayan.
George Zorbas, a former US Army Air Corp pilot during WW II, had purchased the building in the 1950’s to manufacture belts and necklaces for Macys. In the 1970s, the company struck gold with the invisible dog, a stiff leash and collar surrounding the empty space where a dog would be. At the height of its popularity, nearly 250 workers filled the building. The story intrigued him even further.
Zayan recognized the perfect art space with a multitude of possibilities. After returning to France, he developed a plan based on his 20 years of experience in the French theater, including the Aix-en-Provence festival and Paris’s renowned Théàtre de Odeon and Théàtre de la Madeleine. With the owners blessing, The Invisible Dog was born with plans to bring the building back to its original glory.
Renovations are underway throughout the building. The first floor presentation space, where The Ant will be presented, is an open room with phenomenal acoustics. The second floor is already operational with over 4,000 square feet of artist studios, designed to each artists’ needs. Every studio has a window, all hand built in their original designs. The third floor is one large, open space for parties, wedding receptions, and meetings. The open elevator shaft has been painted by italian artist, Giuseppe Stampone with the Divine Comedy of Dante in old style script, with Hell, Purgatory and Heaven marking each of the floors.
In the basement of the building, a storage area has been created for all the items found inside the abandoned building. The owners never threw anything away. Miles of material used in belt making line shelves, a couple thousand invisible dogs sit inside barrels around the room.
When Zayan commissioned Brooklyn artists Steven and William Ladd to create a chandelier for the first floor space, the artists discovered and used nearly 10,000 belt buckles found in the building for its construction.
When The Ant debuts on January 23rd, The Invisible Dog has come back to life.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Update
January 1, 2010, marked a watershed day in the history of Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Empire-Fulton Ferry Sate Park ceased to exist as control of the only state park in Brooklyn was officially transferred over to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp.
With this transfer, major changes will occur within the former state park as Jane's Carousel, a 1920's carousel lovingly restored by Jane Walentas, will become a showpiece in front of the old Tobacco Warehouse building. Jane, wife of DUMBO developer and Two Tree's founder David Walentas, is donating the carousel and $3.45 million for landscaping and other improvements in the park, including lighting to allow the park to stay open till 1am. The park currently closes at dusk. A glass pavilion designed by architect Jean Nouvel will be constructed off the western shore of the park's cove to house the showpiece.
The improvemnets will cause closures within the park, but another portion of Brooklyn Bridge Park, at its southern edge by Atlantic Avenue, is set to open in the spring and feature a large playground, dog run, a 1,000-square-foot restaurant and roof deck, and three beach volleyball courts.
Will this become New York City's premier park? We in Brooklyn all hope so!
Eliza Phillips skis the Junior Glade at Blandford Ski Area.
A hidden ski jewel celebrates 75 years.
When my daughter was four, I was already sick of the big mountain experience of driving from New York City to Vermont and sticking her in an overcrowded class with a day care feel. There never seemed to be enough instructors and the ones who were there did not seem to care if we were there or not.
I decided to google the closest ski area to Springfield, Massachusetts, where my parents lived, to see what I might find. Blandford. I had never heard of it, but decided to check it out.
Now six years later, I cannot imagine a better place to learn to ski.
My daughter, Eliza, has been through Ski With Me, Development Team, and now the Interclub Race Team at a magical place. We have been welcomed into a wonderful family.
At 465 vertical feet, it is a small mountain set at the far eastern end of the Berkshire Mountains. Owned and operated by the Springfield Ski Club, Blandford is celebrating its 75th anniversary this season as the oldest club-owned ski area in North America. Located off the Massachusetts turnpike, Blandford is a 3-hour drive from my house in Brooklyn.
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