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Madison Square Park Is Getting Some New Vibrating Public Art
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 2, 2012
Modified Mar 2, 2012
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 2, 2012
Modified Mar 2, 2012
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Good news for everyone in Madison Square Park stuck on that super long Shake Shack line—there's new pretty art to play with! The Madison Square Park Conservancy recently unveiled plans for their newest interactive art installation, Pet Sounds, by California-based artist Charles Long—it will go on display starting May 2nd and remain on view through early September.
Plans for the installation label it a “site-specific environment of vibrantly colored pathways, morphing blobs and interactive sound,” with renderings showing brightly painted handrails winding through the middle of the park, surrounding some wooden benches in a seating area. Visitors will be encouraged to run their hands along the rails, which eventually morph into large, oddly-shaped, rippling gobs of color that set off sounds and vibrations when touched. Sounds…appetizing?
Long, who is currently the chair of University of California, Riverside’s art department and contributed some of his work to 2008’s Whitney Biennial, has big hopes for Pet Sounds, describing the installation as the following:
"With Madison Square Park's almost maze-like repeating patterns of arching pathways, and the way people and their pets are leisurely enjoying these splendid green spaces, I hope I might be an interloper into the park visitors’ unconscious, into what Freud has called the free floating attention. I like the idea of Pet Sounds becoming a part of the collective memory, and even dreams, of the unique experiences of New York City."
Long neglected to comment on whether any of the remaining Beach Boys will contribute to the project. Either way, can’t be a bad way to spend a lunch break. Just be sure to spritz on some hand sanitizer post-Pet Sounds play before you dig into your ‘Shroom Burger! Those blobs are bound to get germy.
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Charles long
madison square park
pet sounds
public art
renderings
Rebecca Fishbein
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