David Hammons Higher Goals

As Artist-in-Residence, David Hammons (b. 1943, Springfield, IL) constructed a temporary sculpture titled Higher Goals. The work was built on site in Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza Park over a period of eight weeks.

Higher Goals consists of five bottle cap–studded telephone poles ranging in height from 20 to 30 feet. Mounted at the top of each pole is a basketball backboard (also covered with bottle caps), complete with hoop and net. In a labor-intensive process, Hammons nailed more than 10,000 bottle caps onto the surface of each pole to create distinctive diamond, spiral, and mesh patterns. Hammons explained the concept behind Higher Goals with an analogy to professional basketball teams. “It takes five to play on a team, but there are thousands who want to play—not everyone will make it, but even if they don’t, at least they tried.” This statement is indicative of Hammons’ personal belief that aspirations should not be confined to set limits and that individuals should set goals at higher levels (i.e. above the standard 10-foot-high measure of a basketball net).