 The 70 foot tall sculpture, Joie de Vivre was Mark di Suvero's first artwork in New York City. It was relocated to the recently renovated Zucotti Park in 2005 (the current site of Occupy Wall Street). 

Zucotti Park

Joie De Vivre

 Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection on the sculptures Joie de Vivre and Red Cube, designed by Mark di Suvero and Isamu Noguchi respectively. They are combined because of their close proximity and color, causing an exciting relationship between the two. 

Protesters set up camp in Zuccotti Park bringing economic inequality into the national spotlight spawning a worldwide Occupy movement.The Canadian anti-consumerist and pro-environment group/magazine Adbusters initiated the call for a protest. The main issues raised by Occupy Wall Street were social and economic inequality, greed, corruption, and the undue influence of corporations on government—particularly from the financial services sector. The OWS slogan, "We are the 99%", refers to income and wealth inequality in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.

Zuccotti Park

Occupy Wall Street

The King's Arms, established in 1696 by Lieutenant John Hutchins, was the first coffeehouse in colonial New York City. It featured a wooden structure with a yellow brick front imported from Holland and had an observatory on the roof. The coffeehouse, distinct from taverns, served as a business hub where merchants, magistrates, and overseers met regularly. It offered private booths on the main floor and meeting rooms upstairs, and became a central gathering place for New York's early commercial life. The coffeehouse became a hub for merchants and colonial officials, distinguishing itself from taverns by its focus on business.

 William Penn makes his first purchase of coffee in the green bean from New York merchants in 1683. 

Illustration taken from&nbsp;'All About Coffee'&nbsp;by William H UkersLeft, Smith Richards, grocer and confectioner, "at the sign of the tea canister and two sugar loaves" (1773); center, the King's Arms, originally Burns coffee house (1767); right, George Webster, Grocer, "at the sign of the three sugar loaves"

Illustration taken from 'All About Coffee' by William H Ukers

Broadway between Crown (now Liberty) Street and Little Queen (now Cedar) Street,

The 1st Coffee House in New York

 On September 6, 1773, the Tea Act was printed in the New-York Gazette, along with the news that 600 chests of Company tea were already en-route to the colonies. The city was outraged; the Tea Act was a flagrant extension of the Indemnity Act* because it granted the Company more power over the colonies' supply of goods. By building government-granted East India outposts, colonists must rely on their supply and price of goods of the Company. 

 Summoned by the Sons of Liberty, a huge crowd assembled outside the coffee house to denounce the Tea Act, and agents of the East India Trading Company who were handling cargoes of dutied tea. It was perhaps the first public demonstration in opposition to the Tea Act in the American colonies. 

 On December 15, 1773, two-hundred New York merchants, lawyers, artisans, and other businessmen signed a petition against the importation of any Company tea. The petition boldly proclaimed "execution of that Act, involves our slavery, and would sap the foundation of our freedom, whereby we should become slaves to our brethren...born to no greater stock of freedom than the Americans-the merchants and inhabitants of this city, in conjunction with the merchants and inhabitants of the ancient American colonies, entered into an agreement to decline a part of their commerce with Great Britain, until the above-mentioned Act should be totally repealed.&rdquo; 

The site was the location of the first coffeehouse in colonial New York City, The King's Arms which opened under the ownership of Lieutenant John Hutchins in 1696. It stood on the west side of Broadway between Crown (now Liberty) Street and Little Queen (now Cedar) Street.

"To the friends of liberty, and commerce, Gentlemen. It must be strongly marked on your minds, that the end of the last non-importation agreement, was to obtain a repeal of the tyrannical act of Parliament, that impose a duty on glass, painter's colours, paper, tea &amp;c... This infamous, forbid and parasitional declaration of William Kelley, has emboldened the company to determine to send the tea to America ...&nbsp;By order of the Legion's committee Cassius"

The First Opposition to the Tea Act in New York

 Double Check is a sculpture of a businessman searching through his briefcase. The statue was originally installed in Liberty Park Plaza in front of the World Trade Center. Images of it after the attacks proved it survived September 11. The restored statue was returned to the now renamed Zuccotti Park. 

The 'everyman' businessman presence in Liberty Park who, before, had faded into the background amongst this human brethren, has been called 'the survivor'. He was lifted, battered yet whole, from the dust and rubble after the September 11, 2001 tragedy. The parks have since been rebuilt, and this bronze man sits near his original site, bearing scratches and bruises he sustained that day as a poignant reminder of hope and endurance for us all. &copy; 1982 The Seward Johnson Atelier, Inc.www.sewardjohnsonatelier.org

Double Check

The park was created in 1968 by Pittsburgh-based United States Steel, after the property owners negotiated its creation with city officials. It was named Liberty Plaza Park because it was situated one block south of One Liberty Plaza. The park's northwest corner is across the street from Four World Trade Center. It has been popular with local tourists and financial workers. The park was one of the few open spaces with tables and seats in the Financial District.

Located one block from the World Trade Center, the park was heavily damaged in the September 11 attacks. It was covered with debris. The park was subsequently used as a staging area for the recovery efforts after the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The plaza was later used as the site of several events commemorating the anniversary of the attacks.

 The park reopened after an $8 million renovation designed by Cooper, Robertson &amp; Partners. It was renamed Zuccotti Park in honor of John E. Zuccotti, former City Planning Commission chairman and first deputy mayor under Abe Beame and the then-chairman of Brookfield Properties, which used private money to renovate the park. Currently, the park has a wide variety of trees, granite sidewalks, tables and seats, as well as lights built into the ground, which illuminate the area.  

A 33,000-square-foot publicly accessible park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is located in a privately owned public space (POPS) controlled by Brookfield Properties and Goldman Sachs. Zuccotti Park is bounded by Broadway to the east, Liberty Street to the north, Trinity Place to the west, and Cedar Street to the south.

Lights built into the ground, which illuminate the area

 The artists Andrew Ginzel and Kristin Jones talk about their sculpture Mnemonics at Stuyvesant High School. Mnemonics is a series of over 400 hollow glass blocks that echo the architecture of Stuyvesant's new building while engaging the students who pass through the building over the years. The project was sponsored by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art project and the New York City Board of Education. 

 Madeleine Segall-Marx, sculptor, discusses her work on the memorial to the Head of the Math Department at Stuyvesant High School, Dr. Richard Rothenberg. 

The adjacent Zuccotti Park, which was created as part of the deal for the building and, though privately owned, is used as a public space.

Zuccotti Park

Images

Images

ASSOCIATED SITES

Public Art

Events and Stories