#pier 18

[vorvoros]

Vito Acconci with Harry Shunk, János Kender - Security Zone, 1971

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[vorvoros]

Wolfgang Stoerchle with Harry Shunk, János Kender

Spill 1971

[vorvoros]

Gordon Matta-Clark with Harry Shunk, János Kender

Parked Island Barges on the Hudson 1971

[vorvoros]

Lee Jaffe with Harry Shunk, János Kender

Parallel Fears 1971

[notesonnewyork]

The New Market Building, Revisited

Back in August 1936, calamity struck the Fulton Fish Market: its original market structure built here in 1910 on Pier 18 suddenly collapsed into the East River. However, that gave Stanley M. Isaacs, the Manhattan Borough President, and William Fellowes Morgan, Jr., the Department of Markets Commissioner, an opportunity to improve upon the original. Together, they commissioned a new $400,000 facility to be erected in its place. Among its enhancements would be a new surface area easier to clean, improved refrigeration units designed to keep fish from spoiling, and a plan for partnering with the Departments of Parks to compost fish scraps and other debris into reusable fertilizer. At the New Market Building’s official dedication on June 19th, 1939, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia said

Some people have an idea that a fish market must necessarily be unclean, unpleasant and unsightly.... This is not true today. Another false idea is that a fish market must be smelly. Fresh fish do not have a disagreeable smell. The odor of fresh fish is wholesome and you can tell fresh fish very easily. 

--From “Mayor Criticizes ‘Plow-Under’ Plan” in the June 20th, 1939 edition of The New York Times. 

By championing the New Market, however, La Guardia placed himself quite publicly at odds with his and the city’s biggest benefactor: President Franklin D. Roosevelt. You see, since 1933, the Agricultural Adjustment Act had been the law of the land. A piece of Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation, the Act and its 1938 replacement effectively paid farmers to cut back production. By reducing the huge surpluses most famers were generating, the Act reasoned that the value of their crops would eventually rise. Applied to the Fulton Fish Market, this meant excess fish for sale there would be destroyed or, more colloquially, “plowed under.” However, La Guardia declared

I don’t believe in waste or in plowing under. I believe that when we have an abundance the people of the country should get the benefit of it.

--From “Mayor Criticizes ‘Plow-Under’ Plan” in the June 20th, 1939 edition of The New York Times. 

To that end, the Mayor asked Fulton’s fishmongers to notify the Department of Markets on days when they had an exorbitant catch. Instead of being incinerated, what they couldn’t sell afterward would be offered to the public at a discount. The news of the sale would be immediately broadcast on WNYC, the city’s proprietary radio station. La Guardia noted

In that way, the retailers as well as the consumers would be made aware of the opportunity of purchasing fresh fish at low prices and the market would not be glutted. 

--From “Mayor Criticizes ‘Plow-Under’ Plan” in the June 20th, 1939 edition of The New York Times. 

Moreover, he hoped his plan would enable more access to fish lunches and dinners across the city. Judging by all the fish options on today’s menus in my neighborhood, I’d say his plan worked out well.

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(Photograph by Riffchorusriff. August 21, 2016. Previously:

http://notesonnewyork.tumblr.com/post/150522214758/now-and-then-new-york-18-now-august-21-2016 )

[moma]

Last chance! Art on Camera: Photographs by Shunk-Kender, 1960–1971 closes Sunday. Shunk-Kender photographed iconic art events and performances, from the Pier 18 project to Yves Klein's Leap into the Void.  

[John Baldessari (American, born 1931). Hands Framing New York Harbor from Pier 18. 1971. Photograph by Shunk-Kender (Harry Shunk [German, 1924-2006] and János Kender [Hungarian, 1937-1983]). Gelatin silver print, 7 3/8 × 9 15/16″ (18.8 × 25.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation in honor of Jennifer Winkworth and Kynaston McShine and in memory of Harry Shunk and János Kender. © 2014 John Baldessari. Photograph: Shunk-Kender © J. Paul Getty Trust. The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles]