The Wilds and the Deep

Martha Fleming & Lyne Lapointe

May 24 - June 24, 1990
The Battery Maritime Building
Photo © 1990 Martha Fleming

Creative Time commissioned Martha Fleming and Lyne Lapointe to create an ambitious site-specific work, The Wilds and the Deep, for the Battery Maritime Building at a unique point in the building's life. Over the past 80 years, paint, add-ons, remodeling, grime, dust, and neglect have taken their toll on this building metalskinned ferry terminal and waiting room. Lapointe and Flemmin gently and subtly exposed certain areas of the various layers of the building, recalling its once glorious past by revealing the history behind its years of embellishment and modernization. Flemming and Lapointe created a visual and aural work addressing exploration, the mercantile trade, how the advent of this industry instigated European royal families amassing foreign and exotic goods, and the creation of cabinet museums. The Wilds and the Deep was also about the mystery of the water itself, the running-out of abundance and the urgency of ecological issues in New York harbor. The project was open to the public four days a week for five weeks. Sea Dogs, the integrated daily performances inside and outside the building, took place throughout the exhibition.