As Artist-in-Residence, David Hammons (b.1943, Springfield, IL) constructed a temporary sculpture titled Higher Goals. The work was built on site in Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza Park over a period of eight weeks.
Higher Goals consists of five bottle cap-studded telephone poles ranging in height from 20’ to 30’. Mounted at the top of each pole will be a basketball backboard (also covered with bottle caps) complete with hoop and net. In a labor-intensive process, Hammons nailed more than 10,000 bottle caps onto the surface of each pole to create distinctive diamond, spiral and mesh patterns. Hammons explained the concept behind Higher Goals with an analogy to professional basketball teams. “It takes five to play on a team, but there are thousands who want to play—not everyone will make it, but even if they don’t at least they tried.” This statement is indicative of Hammons’ personal belief that aspirations should not be confined to set limits and that individuals should set goals at higher levels (i.e. above the standard 10-foot-high measure of a basketball net).
Cadman Plaza Artist-in-Residence Program is an ongoing project of the Public Art Fund, Inc. and The Rotunda Gallery, and is produced in cooperation with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation with support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
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