The Island of Emerging Art: Governors Island Nourishes Rising Talents With Its Latest Art Fair

Governors Island, a former Coast Guard base home off the southern tip of Manhattan, has long been known primarily for its two crumbling military forts and the part it played in the Revolutionary War—but nowadays it’s becoming more famous as a hub for contemporary art. This weekend marks the opening of the 10th edition of the Governors Island Art Fair (GIAF).

Margaret Roleke‘s cheerfully colored Gun Club, actually made from spent shotgun shells strung on a massive steel wire armature, and Heinrich Spillmann‘s Celestial Heroes’ Totem Marker Group, stacked columns that were reminiscent of a smaller, wooden version of Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountain, but in sky blue, white, and brown.