The Gates through The Gates
February 12^th - 27^th, 2005

The inspiration for the title "The Gates" comes from landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the creators of Central Park, who referred to the openings in the continuous stone wall surrounding the park as "gates."

Some of these entrances, the twenty original gates, have actual names like "Scholars' Gate" or "Boys' Gate." These rarely used names were meant, on the most basic level, to provide Park visitors with a clear and simple way to arrange a rendezvous. The numbering system of the city streets seemed "unsuitable for Park use" as arranging to meet at 60^th and Fifth, for example, only called attention to the urban life that the designers wanted visitors to forget during their time in the Park.