Serpentine Sibyls – A Floating Sculptural Installation by Daniel Rothbart

The installation takes its title from the Sibyls—female prophetesses and oracles consulted in times of crisis. In an era marked by floods, heat waves, and wildfires, their presence resonates anew, reflecting the growing precarity of human life amid climate change and environmental loss. Rothbart’s sculptures evoke aquatic organisms and botanical forms from a distant past, conjuring life forms that feel at once primordial and speculative, alien yet strangely familiar. Rooted in deep history while gesturing toward an uncertain future, the works occupy a threshold between memory and prophecy. Situated within Snug Harbor’s historic landscape—a former refuge for sailors—the installation becomes a space for contemplation on where humanity has been and where it may be headed. 

Once set afloat, Rothbart’s sculptures are animated by wind and water. Through a visual language of structure, light, buoyancy, and motion, they transform perceptions of the surrounding environment.

When: July 11 – September 28| 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
(The public art installation will be on view during park hours, rain or shine)

Where: The Pond and Glasshouse  (View Directions and Site Map)

Admission: Free

About Daniel Rothbart
Daniel Rothbart holds a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an M.F.A. from Columbia University. He is the author of three books. Jewish Metaphysics as Generative Principle in American Art (1994) explores the relationship between Jewish culture and post-war American abstraction. The Story of the Phoenix (1999) examines American cultural identity, Hollywood, and the transmutation of meaning through digital collages inhabited by his sculpture. Seeing Naples: Reports from the Shadow of Vesuvius (2018) is his latest book.  Rothbart lived in Naples as a Fulbright Scholar in the early 1990s, exploring the city’s diverse monuments, neighborhoods, islands, and hinterland. Through friendships and dialogues with Neapolitans, he gained deeper perspective on the colorful history and culture of this ancient port city. Memories commingle with historical discussions and cultural observations that together draw the city into focus. 

In 2015, Rothbart wrote an essay and four commentaries on the theme of water-based performance as the special lead section of PAJ 111, published by MIT Press. More Fugitive Than Light: Poems of Rome, Venice, Paris, 2016-2017 (2024) is a book of poems by Richard Milazzo in dialogue with collages by Daniel Rothbart. 

Rothbart’s studio projects include RamleAnthropocene, the Pool of the Arches / Center for Contemporary Art Ramle CACR, Ramle, Israel; Water Clocks, Hudson River / The Hudson Eye, Hudson, New York; Flotilla, Oakdale Lake, Hudson, New York; Inscrutable Theologies, Saint Elisabeth Church / KUNSTWECHSEL, Aachen, Germany; STREAMING II (with Milica Lapčević), The Frank Institute @ CR10, Linlithgo, New York; The Rumsey Street Project, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Air de Venise, Venice, Italy; and WATERLINES, Galerie Depardieu, Nice, France. He has exhibited in Ventisette artisti e una rivista, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy; Citydrift, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, New York; But I’m an American, Belgrade Cultural Centre, Belgrade, Serbia; End of Language: Wittgenstein Reimagined, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade MoCAB, Belgrade, Serbia; and Meditation | Mediation, Life is Art Foundation, New Orleans, Louisiana. Rothbart has also exhibited at Andrea Meislin Gallery, Exit Art, WhiteBox Contemporary Art Center, and the LAB Gallery in New York City. Other exhibitions include the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York, and the Artists’ Residence Gallery, Herzliya, Israel. His work can be found in public and private collections, including the Artist’s Book Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. 

Rothbart was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in Naples, Italy, a New York State Council on the Arts grant, a New York Foundation for the Arts grant, along with residencies at the Artists’ Residence Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel in 2023 and La Napoule Art Foundation, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, France in 2002.  His work is the subject of a monograph by Enrico Pedrini published in 2010 by Ulisse e Calipso of Naples, Italy. 

Snug Harbor visual arts programming is made possible through generous support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation