Calling contemporary art fans, New York’s High Line needs you!
The elevated linear park in the heart of Manhattan is asking the public to vote on the sculptures they want to see there in 2022 and 2024. Some of the 80 installations are a bit quirky, like a sunflower statue, a QR code and a giant pigeon.
The huge realistic bird statue named “Dinosaur” is the work of Colombian contemporary artist Iván Argote, whose public monuments and sculptures often question the inextricable links between history, tradition, art, politics and power.
Iván Argote is one of 80 artists selected by an international committee made up of artists, curators and contemporary art professionals in the aim of choosing the next two statues that will be exhibited on the High Line.
Also in the selection are established contemporary artists Mona Hatoum, Nick Cave and Alfredo Jaar, as well as emerging artists like Trenton Doyle Hancock, Rafa Esparza and Kapwani Kiwanga.
Some offer lighthearted, even humorous proposals like “Witches’ countertraffic” by Ashley Hans Scheirl and Jakob Lena Knebl; the work depicts the two evil witches from “The Wizard of Oz” on their broomsticks.
“Replace Me” by Swiss artist Shahryar Nashat and “Freedom’s Stand” by American artist Faheem Majeed are more politically committed. Same goes for Mona Hatoum’s “Hot Spot (Stand)”, showing a red LED-covered globe to pinpoint conflict zones throughout the world.
The 80 candidates for the High Line rotating exhibition are on view on a dedicated website, where anyone can cast their vote until the end of September. Cecilia Alemani, the Italian curator heading the High Line artistic program, will make the final pick.
The two selected sculptures will replace American artist Simone Leigh’s towering “Brick House”, which is a bust of Black woman with a torso that combines a skirt and a clay house. CC
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