As for our second project in studio this semester, we were tasked to pick an area of manhattan were we had to get intimate, record the history, personal, public views, and create a fictional story of that place. I decided to chose the Ramble Cave because the fact that an urban area has a hidden cave in one of their most elite parks was fascinating. We had to visit the site multiple times to make sure we were able to get the full quality observations of that place, but first I had to find the cave. It’s located in the middle of the Ramble, which is this area in Central Park where it was designed to be artificial nature trails.
It took me about 2 and half hours to find the cave in the Ramble. It was hidden behind a bunch of shrubs and rocks. There was a walkway less than 4 feet away from the top of the staircase. People were walking past the area not aware that there is a hidden cave in Central Park. It shocked me that no one really didn’t know that this cave was in the middle of the Ramble. It had such an eerie feeling when I stood over the staircase. It was very dark and mysterious, but at the same time I found it so thrilling that it actually existed. Questions were running through my head such as what if it’s dangerous?, what if I get stuck and I can’t get out?, or what if someone is down there and I get hurt?
After going to the cave, I decided to create a newspaper to represent all the view points we had to study of the place. A newspaper is very direct and super informative, but also a media that is forgetful. People don’t pay attention to newspapers that are published in the past. We get the news and forget the next day, and that’s what I was trying to imply with the Ramble Cave. At a time period, it was a hot spot for kids and trouble makers, but now it’s a forgotten landmark. It was a piece that I was able to have all the information and images all within a few written articles and images of the cave.
