“Love Ever After” by Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio

At the heart of Times Square, Swedish designer Pernilla Ohrstedt is celebrating Valentine’s Day with a love… for Oysters? Her sculpture, titled “Love Ever After,” features three dimensional hearts constructed of oyster cages. The installation was created in partnership with the Billion Oyster Project, a New York nonprofit that aims to rebuild oyster reefs in New York Harbor. New York used to be known as the “big oyster” for its abundant shellfish population, and these installations aim to bring awareness to the efforts to clean up the harbor, and bring back its biodiversity. Visitors can circle the art installation to interact with the oyster cages, watching the hearts contained change color and shape as they move. Conservation and shellfish make for a lovely romance in this installation! Although we try our best, the photos don’t do this stunning sculpture justice, we recommend you visit it in person before the exhibition ends on March 4th.

Día de los Muertos in Times Square

In the heart of Times Square, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) has unveiled three vibrantly colorful skeleton statutes in celebration of the traditional Día de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead. Celebrated on November 1 and 2 in Mexico, Día de los Muertos celebrates the rich cultural tradition that honors the memory of deceased loved ones and reminds us to appreciate life while we have it.

The installation, which is presented in partnership with the Times Square Alliance, the nonprofit Mi Casa es Puebla, and the Mexican Consulate invites visitors to remember and celebrate the memory of their dearly departed.

NYCxDESIGN 2019

NYCxDESIGN, New York City’s yearly festival of design, highlights the unique creative, cultural, educational, and economic opportunities in the city. The festival showcases over a dozen design disciplines through exhibitions, installations, trade shows, panels, product launches, and open studios that in total will engage more than five million visitors and residents. This week we stopped by a few of the festival’s exhibit locations. At the Design Pavilion in Times Square, the headquarters for the festival, the highlight for us was “Chairousel,” a collaborative art piece by the students from the School of Visual Arts’ (SVA) 3D Design and Interior Design Departments that features a collection of chairs — each of which is a representation of what inspires each design student — that spin around on a refurbished 1960s carousel, on top of which is a twenty-six-foot high chair. At the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), we stopped by two exhibits. The Graduating Student Exhibition is a culmination of each artist’s unique experience as a student of FIT, and The Future is in the Making exhibition reveals both the “processes of thought and ideation” behind artwork that took several years to create along with the final artwork itself.

Wake

Wake by artist Mel Chin rises up from the plaza in Times Square "like the beached remains of a massive beast." The boat-like sculpture is modeled on the USS Nightingale, a 19th-century expedition and merchant clipper ship that transported coal, cotton, munitions, and tea, and was also used as a slaving vessel before being commandeered by the US Navy during the American Civil War. According to Chin, the USS Nightingale "crystallizes the ways in which the expanding economies of the past are prologue to our current societal and environmental dilemmas."  The figurehead is of famous 19th century opera star Jenny Lind, known as the “Swedish Nightingale," whose likeness was featured on many ship prows in the New York harbor, including the USS Nightingale. Through the sculpture, Mel Chin opens "a physical and virtual gateway to the future of human existence, inviting participants to contemplate their place within the world’s transforming climate."

It's Summertime!

Inspired by our last two Friday photos (Seated Ballerina and Hippo Ballerina), Joseph took to the streets of New York to practice his moves in honor of the official start of summer this Memorial Day weekend. Neither torrential downpours nor his questionable ballet moves could stop his dancing feet in Times Square (the Elmo joined in), Coney Island (the runners in the Brooklyn Half were temporarily distracted by the pure joy on his face), and the High Line (where he started a conga line). He even brought his inspirational steps to the office at DLG and has us all two-stepping. Happy Memorial Day to all and may your summer be filled with dancing...

Beating Heart

Heartbeat in Times Square.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Brooklyn-based art company Stereotank unveiled this sculpture titled Heartbeat (everyone goes, awwww) at Father Duffy Square. This nine-by-six foot interactive installation (on display until March 8) features lighting effects and six instruments including a xylophone and a South American drum called a tumbadora, all of which visitors can use. Sara Valente, who created the sculpture with her husband Marcelo Ertorteguy, said: "'It’s like a melting pot of heartbeat sounds, just like New York City.'"