Charles Gaines “Moving Chains” in collaboration with TOLO Architecture

2024 Design Awards Citation Recipient

Charles Gaines “Moving Chains” in collaboration with TOLO Architecture

Moving Chains is a monumental 110-foot long kinetic sculpture built from steel and sustainably harvested Sapele, commonly referred to as African Mahogany, a tree native to West Africa. Created by Charles Gaines with collaborating architects TOLO Architecture, the sculpture, which people may enter and walk through, contains nine custom made chains weighing over 1,600 pounds each running its length overhead. Eight of the chains are representative of the pace of the currents in New York Harbor, while a ninth central chain moves more quickly, recalling the pace of ship and barge traffic that has traveled the city’s waterways for centuries. The overall effect of the weight and motion of the chains produces a rhythmic, undulating loop, evocative of the sounds of New York Harbor at the entrance to the Hudson River. Starting during the Dutch and British occupations, this waterway near present day lower Manhattan became an economic pillar of the transatlantic slave trade and seed the system of racial capitalism foundational to the United States. Facing the Statue of Liberty — an international symbol of benevolence and human rights, distinguished by the abolitionist iconography of a broken shackle and chain at her right foot—Moving Chains calls attention to the nation’s economic, judicial, and political frameworks that continue the legacy of slavery today.

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An important project that calls attention to the history of slavery in the United States. The structure memorializes the people who were part of United States’s toxic slave trade and invites visitors to participate in the experience through an evocation of the slave ship experience and the destructive legacy of slavery. The siting on New York City Harbor and the view to the Statue of Liberty are moving elements of the installation. It is beautifully designed and built—a very very powerful work.

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Measure 1: Design for Integration

From its beginning, Moving Chains was conceptualized as a kit-of-parts capable of living a new life elsewhere. After a year-long stay in Governors Island, the piece will be transported to Cincinnati, Ohio and re-purposed at a site along the Ohio River. At the time of submission, the structure has been disassembled and is in transit to Cincinnati. Moving Chains is a work that is environmentally sustainable, in that it can be moved and reconstructed on a new site, reusing its steel armature. Its Sapele wood cladding uses sustainably sourced lumber. The structure is also culturally sustainable, in that it acts as a built repository of our ancestral memory. In the words of Charles Gaines, Moving Chains is a “metaphorical structure” for the slave ships that forced Africans from their homeland to the New World. Entering the installation, visitors are met with the sounds of chains designed to evoke the experience of slaves trapped in the cargo hold of slave ships. Moving Chains acts as a vessel of remembrance, preserving the memories of the early African Americans so that we may learn from, not forget, our country’s past.

Measure 2: Design for Equitable Communities

Moving Chains is concerned with questions of representation and social justice. Once the structure was erected and opened to the public, it became a site for community engagement. School kids from around New York visited the project and there were artist talks and discussions, all free and open to the public. The project served as a catalyst for visitors to reflect on chattel slavery, Manifest Destiny, and colonialism. It invited the public to consider New York waterways’ in both upholding slavery and securing liberation, a duality that challenges reductive narratives of the history and legacy of slavery in America.

Measure 3: Design for Ecosystems

As a temporary art installation installed on a paved path, Moving Chains has limited impact on the ecosystem of Governors Island. Its construction did not require the removal or destruction of any flora. Moving Chains siting is an impetus for New Yorkers and tourists alike to visit, learn, and reflect on the history of slavery and its connection to our waterways.

Measure 4: Design for Water

Measure 5: Design for Economy

Moving Chains was designed to be disassembled and reassembled in multiple sites. This strategy minimized the disposal of materials that often accompany temporary installations. Moving Chains is completely free and open to the public. Visitors to Governors Island reach the island via a very low-cost ferry ride (and there are times when the Ferry is completely free).

Measure 6: Design for Energy

Moving Chains is an open air installation. It does not require HVAC system nor electrified lighting. The chains’ motors operate intermittently for approximately six hours per day (these are not in use in the evening and night when there would be limited numbers of visitors).

Measure 7: Design for Well-Being

There are no toxicity concerns. The (TLTV) certified and sustainably harvested Sapele wood cladding was pre-finished and the steel structure was shop-painted. As stated previously there was no HVAC required and the piece was naturally ventilated.

Measure 8: Design for Resources

Moving Chains is a steel structure clad with sustainably sourced wood. The structure was designed to be able to be dismantled and rebuilt at different sites. To minimize the cost and carbon footprint of moving the piece, it was designed to be as light as possible. The choice to minimize its carbon footprint and use of sustainable materials was central to the conception of the piece by the artist and architect team.

Measure 9: Design for Change

Moving Chains was designed to be moved to different sites. The portability of the piece was important to give more opportunities for the public to experience the piece and be exposed to its important social message. Charles Gaines describes the intentions of the artwork as showing “the history of slavery and Manifest Destiny and colonialism and imperialism as an interlinking narrative. In education they’ve been separated, but the U.S. economy was built on slavery. Manifest Destiny legalized the taking of land from other people.” This project serves as a reminder of the social, economic threats of injustice.

Measure 10: Design for Discovery

Moving Chains took more than eight years to come to fruition. Aside from Charles Gaines and our work as architects, the piece required amusement park engineers, acoustical engineers (controlling the sound of the chains), and a team of fabricators. Gaines sees the work as one that encourages conversation and discovery. “In this country, there’s a general belief that a work of art is supposed to be an expression of beauty, that art isn’t intended to contribute to the political or social understanding of society—but the two parts are inextricably linked. Art as an aesthetic experience and its purpose.”