Rachel Whiteread's 'Cabin' Opens Early on Governors Island

The Hills, a new park on Governors Island in New York Bay, opens July 19, nearly a year ahead of schedule. The 12-hectare site features four artificial hills with recreational spaces. British artist Rachel Whiteread (b. 1963, London) installed a permanent work titled 'The Cabin,' an inverted cast of a small wooden house, continuing her signature style. Whiteread, winner of the 1993 Turner Prize, described the piece as referencing Thoreau and American Romantics, but also their opposite—the dark soul of America. The gray cabin appears innocent from afar but becomes monolithic and inaccessible up close, evoking mystery and unease. Bronze sculptures of debris found on the island surround the work. Commissioned by Art CommissionGI and curated by Tom Eccles, director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Eccles notes the work's strange fascination, likening it to Walden's cabin but with an unsettling quality.