Joie de Vivre, Public sculpture at Zuccotti Park, Lower Manhattan, US
Joie de Vivre is a 70-foot red steel sculpture by Mark di Suvero at Zuccotti Park, at the corner of Broadway and Cedar Street. It is built from long straight beams joined as open-ended tetrahedrons: three legs angle up and meet near the top, two leaning left and one right, with further beams running diagonally outward from the junction. It stands on the paving among trees, rising well above the people below.
Mark di Suvero's Joie de Vivre was installed in June 2006 at the corner of Broadway and Cedar Street in Zuccotti Park. The 70-foot steel work had previously stood at the Holland Tunnel rotary, also called St. John's Park, before being moved to the Financial District site.
The title is French for "Joy of Life". Mark di Suvero built the work from open-ended tetrahedrons, so the red beams frame the sky and surrounding towers rather than enclosing space. Visitors walking through Zuccotti Park pass beneath the splayed legs.
Visitors can view the sculpture from multiple sides by walking around Zuccotti Park, which is open around the clock every day. The location is easily accessible and offers different vantage points depending on which street you approach from.
In October 2011, during Occupy Wall Street, a man climbed Joie de Vivre and stayed up in the sculpture for several hours until police escorted him down. The 70-foot work had been installed at Broadway and Cedar Street in June 2006, moving there from the Holland Tunnel rotary, also called St. John's Park.
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