Sandcastle Disco

If you give an artist a bucket, a shovel, and some sand, the result will be a far cry from your average sandcastle. Last year, Creative Time, a nonprofit public art organizer, brought a handful of artists out to Far Rockaway and let them play.

The Creative Time Artist Sandcastle Competition is back this year on August 9 with competitors including: David Brooks, Sebastian Errazuriz, Ghost of a Dream (Lauren Was & Adam Eckstrom), Jamie Isenstein, Natalie Jeremijenko, Esperanza Mayobre, Rachel Owens, Duke Riley, Christopher Robbins, and Marc Andre Robinson. Judges include Shelley Fox Aarons, Waris Ahluwalia, Klaus Biesenbach, Dana Farouki, and 2012 winners Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw.

What got Catron and Outlaw the win last year was a living, breathing water fountain. The artists and their friends donned swimsuits and swim caps and perched themselves on the multi-layered sand sculpture, spitting water at passersby (but not at the judges, of course). Other standout sandcastles included Marie Lorenz’s Roman Colosseum replica and William Lamson’s perfectly geometric cone inspired by a Japanese temple, which he also built the day before the competition as a trial run. And last but not least, Tom Sachs’ empty hole in the ground, next to which he placed a sign pointing down that read, “China.”

FOR MORE ON CREATIVE TIME AND THEIR SANDCASTLE COMPETITION, VISIT THEIR WEBSITE.