Art Installation “Fictitious Force” Brings A New Bright Patch To The Old Stone House

There’s a bright new spot just off 5th Avenue, but if you’re not looking down, you might miss it.

Brooklyn-based artist Beka Goedde spent this past weekend, with the help of a team of volunteers, installing her newest work, “Fictitious Force,” in the lawn in front of The Old Stone House, set back on 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. It’s made from almost 1,000 hand-cast and dyed concrete tiles embedded in the grass in a pattern meant to convey a sense of movement, much like that of the roughly 3,000 people who visit the surrounding park daily.

“The work is built from about 2,000 pounds of material, and took 30 individuals three days to install; the project altogether has been taking shape for about three years,” Goedde tells us. “All the effort and material to make this work results in a grounded, flat, and actually a nearly invisible artwork. It sits below the level of the grass growing upward.”

She’d done a similar installation previously in Vermont, and was awarded a Community Arts Fund Grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council, which helped, along with a Kickstarter, her to double the size of that initial installation for this one. She’s been mixing up concrete and doing the casting of the additional 400 tiles upstate, where she could work partially outdoors, “because mixing concrete creates dust,” she explains. You can check out the process in the video above, where you can see the styrofoam insulation she uses for molds, which were easily moved and able to be reconstructed as needed.

“Usually molds are used in sculpture to make exact replicas of objects, but I wanted each tile to be individual, as one might make many individual marks by hand in a drawing,” she says.

The choice of location is fitting — the work, which references early American hooked or braided rugs, sits next to the reconstructed Dutch farmhouse museum that explores Revolutionary and Colonial history. And, much like a rug, the work is intended to be walked on.

“During the installation I was grateful to the people volunteering to put work into the piece,” Goedde says. “It was an amazing experience to work with so many artists and friends, especially those who felt a connection to the site because they live nearby. There is a snow fence up around the grass to allow it to establish for a few weeks, and we continuously interacted with anyone looking on from the community who were curious and who watched the work from the perimeter.”

While she was working on the installation, Goedde says she was able to get some instant, and pleasant, reactions from curious neighbors.

“One of my favorite comments that we overheard while working, was one onlooker telling his son, both leaning up against the fence: ‘It’s a pattern that shows movement — when they plant it in the ground, you can see the earth is alive.'”

It’s visitors like those, and the numerous people behind the scenes, that make this a particularly special project for Goedde.

“I was very happy to work with the admirable executive director Kim Maier of the Old Stone House & Washington Park, and was also very happy to meet Claudia who is the knowledgeable gardener for the entire grounds, and Bruce who is volunteering to water the grass every few days to keep it healthy and growing, as well as many of the families who frequent the park,” she says. “I am thankful to Jennifer Lantzas of NYC Parks & Recreation who placed the project in this park, and assisted me in the process all along the way.”

Overall, she hopes the project brings a little joy into the hearts of those who visit the park, and that it serves as a reminder that we live in a city where such cool pieces of art like this can be shared.

“I hope that this work brings appreciation to the programming our city has for placing arts in the parks and creating beautiful public spaces,” Goedde says. “I am proud to be a resident of Brooklyn specifically, which has opportunities for grants for artists, and wonderful green spaces in many neighborhoods.

“We need to support bringing arts to all neighborhoods and all corners of Brooklyn in order to contemplate and appreciate where we live,” she continues, “and more green spaces in all neighborhoods to free our minds, breathe, wander, and play.”

Fictitious Force will be on view through April 2016 outside of The Old Stone House, 336 3rd Street between 4th and 5th Avenues, and there will be an opening reception on Wednesday, May 13 from 6-8pm.