Westbeth, New York City

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In A Monastery Garden

Speaking of revolutionary art studios, NYC’s late-60′s transformation of the de-commissioned Bell Labs building into the arts colony Westbeth is near-mythological in stature. I had an opportunity to visit and get a sense of it – at least from the perspective of this outdoor courtyard – on the last morning of a recent visit to NYC, and it continues to be a vibrant creative hub.

It was a bit of a maze of streets through Greenwich Village to get there, but I can’t think of any better excuse for an early-morning stroll than to pay homage to this extraordinary site that has borne witness to comings and goings of such creative luminaries as John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Diane Arbus and Gil Evans.

Today it continues to be home to a second generation of residents, and without a lot of new leases coming available, I get the impression that Westbeth is like a tightly knit village within a village, a refuge in one of New York’s burgeoning arts’ districts.

‘In a Monastery Garden’ seemed like the right title for a piece to play: meditative and evocative. Initially I recorded in the open courtyard, but the sound seemed to dissipate like crazy, so I explored a little further and set up just at the top of these stairs, where I discovered a large, open and resonant concourse that acted as an amplifier for the flute against the din of traffic in the background. The cascading waterfall in the previous post here is exchanged for the cascading sounds of cars and trucks on the nearby Joe DiMaggio Highway that runs along the Hudson River.