Only an Australian could bring Stonehenge to the Rockefeller Plaza. Nicholas Baume, the chief curator from the Public Art Fund who brought us the aerial living room around the statue of Christopher Columbus last year, now brings us the contemplative standing stones of Ugo Rondinone in one of the busiest crossroads of the city. You can’t help but be astonished at the size and magnetism of these colossal structures and the strange otherworldly sensation of seeing them standing tall in front of NBC studios. It’s as though they have been beamed in from another time, and in some ways, they have. The family of the artist once lived in ancient rock-cut dwellings called Sassi di Matera in the south of Italy. Now a tourist attraction and a World Heritage Site, the Sassi caves have existed for centuries. Ugo does not just work in stone, he is a multi media artist who has been exhibited all over the world – including the Art Gallery of NSW. But he does wear a stone around his neck which has been passed through his family from father to son. It may just be a romantic notion to connect this with Ugo’s forbears and a culture past. But having stood with thousands of other people at Rockefeller Plaza on that amazing night when Obama first won the presidency, this is a space where standing stones belong. There’s nothing like a reminder that magic can happen, especially when we want it to…