In the year 2000, Public Art Fund installed 19 functional manhole covers in Lower Manhattan, conceived and designed by the renowned conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner. We brought Lawrence and former Public Art Fund Director Tom Eccles back together to discuss the project and process, which included working in close collaboration with Con Edison. It was a significant project for both Lawrence and Tom in that it emphasized the quieter, more personal experiences that certain kinds of public art can provoke, especially in New York City. Con Ed’s Lisa Frigand also joins the discussion to touch on the sort of magic that happens when artists work with civic engineers and designers, as well as the meaning the piece took on for her personally in the wake of September 11, 2001.

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