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Suicide Statue Causes Chaos At Empire State Building
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 15, 2010
Modified Apr 15, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 15, 2010
Modified Apr 15, 2010
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Photo via HelloTurkeyToe's Flickr
One of the sidewalk statues, by Jason Kuffer
Remember when the Madison Square Park Conservancy was all: these statues of life-size men bolted to ledges of tall buildings in midtown won't cause panic amongst the masses below? Well the public art installation is proving to do just that.
According to the NY Post, the NYPD rushed to the Empire State Building yesterday after getting calls there was a jumper on the ledge... only to find a cast iron figure created by artist Antony Gormley. And this wasn't the first call they've received—sources tell the paper that 911 gets daily calls regarding the statues. One officer said, "It's a pain in the ass. It's a waste of manpower. We're short cops to begin with and we don't have enough cops to waste answering calls of statues committing suicide." Guards have told officers running in to the building: "No, honey, it's just a freaking statue."
The Empire State Building was a particularly bad call on the organizers part, and even staff there are questioning why management allowed it. Just last month a man jumped to his death from the 86th floor observation deck.
Currently there are no plans to take the "freaking statue" down, and a spokesman for the building's management explains, "We thought it would be interesting and fun to participate in this big public art exhibit, but we only did it on the condition that we first check with the NYPD, and that they said it was OK to do. [If they] ask us to take it down, we would take it down immediately."
Tagged
empire state building
esb
Event Horizon
Jumper
Madison Square Park Conservancy
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public art
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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