Artists erect a large 65ft hot dog in New York’s Times Square
Two Brooklyn-based artists have placed a large piece of contemporary art in New York‘s Times Square, or, what is usually referred to as a pivotal crossroads of the world, to represent various aspects of modern culture, from its patriarchal undertones to the enduring implications of greed.
Times Square has drawn criticism for already being a breeding ground of excessive art statements, the artists, Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw, maintain their piece offers value. The art, which is appropriately titled Hot Dog in the City, they believe is the ultimate representation of contemporary society due to the symbol of the hot dog and the way it has become “a pinnacle of culture in a lot of weird and funny ways,” Outlaw explained.
Catron added that the hot dog history, including “how it got to where it is today” has become “an American story, for better and often for worse.”
He added that everything it symbolises has been “wrapped up together in this item that is also fun and silly”, despite the fact that digging into its tokenism “starts getting a little darker.”
The giant spectacle, which is 65ft in size, has been organised by Times Square Arts, and is joined by a handful of public programmes, including a wrestling match, a dog beauty pageant, a symposium on hot dogs, and more.
Some of the events may appear strange, but Outlaw assures they have a common thread. “The events are helping us to tell more of the story,” he told The Art Newspaper. Adding: “We have a giant hot dog sculpture, yes, and everybody can digest that fairly easily, but the events that are going to coincide with this are really helping to flesh out the story of why we’re doing this project and what’s important here.”
Over the years, the hot dog has come to symbolise anything from public greed to exploitive corporate profit, and Catron and Outlaw are hoping that its presence at the centre of one the world’s busiest spaces will urge people to stop and think.
While some spectators may find the image merely amusing and nothing else, but in the eyes of the artists, this is just as good as experiencing any other interpretation. To top it all off, every day at noon, a hydraulic lift raises sculpture into the air as confetti shoots out the top.
