THE LAST WAVE

For the past seven summers, Manhattan has had a castle in the sand with "Art on the Beach," a project bringing together visual and performance art on a breezy strip of landfill at the tip of the island. But this summer's program is also its swan song—the foundations for Battery Park City, a $5 billion park and residential project, will be laid next fall.

"Every year the site has seemed changed, almost reshaped, by the new works and the way they're placed," says Amanda Burden, vice president of planning and design for the Battery Park City Authority (which lent the land to "Art on the Beach") and board member of the sponsoring organization, Creative Time, Inc.

This summer, beach walkers will come across a half-dozen or so midget houses dug into the sand, each inhabited by a performer whose head protrudes from the roof. This is not what Battery Park City means by "residential"; it's a piece called Vacation Homes of the Future (drawing, left), by Uwe Mengel, Jody Culkin, and Guy Nordenson, one of ten new works in this year's program. As performers are approached and asked what's going on, an elaborate spy/crime story evolves.

"We often forget that we must be as creative in helping artists as they are in doing their work," says Anita Contini, director of Creative Time. Other cities have taken their cue from "Art on the Beach"—Santa Monica, California, has plans for similar projects, and Candlestick Park, in San Francisco, has a development policy that sponsors beach-bound summer art.

Debbie Gimelson