Last summer, the Public Art Fund made us confront our own mortality with Anish Kapoor’s perpetual whirlpool Descension in Brooklyn Bridge Park. For Summer 2018, the nonprofit art group is going for a lighter touch.
Already DUMBO’s most popular outdoor destination, Brooklyn Bridge Park is adding free hot dogs to its attractions. On weekends beginning on June 9, keep an eye out for the Hot Dog Bus, a vintage Volkswagen Microbus that’s been modified to “create a surreal experience of an overstuffed food truck.”
Created by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, the bus will be giving out an unspecified number of hot dogs each day at various locations. Perhaps an enterprising artist can take the project a step further and compose a Mister Softee-style jingle to announce its presence? The park’s 1.3 miles of waterfront is a long way to search.
Wurm’s work is known for playing with the size and shape of his subjects, with the bloated bus also serving as an always-timely dig at consumption under capitalism. Each visitor who eats a hot dog also “adds” to the sculpture by participating.
The Public Art Fund also announced two more projects coming up this summer. Artist Tauba Auerbach will cover a 1930s-era New York Fire Department boat in World War I-style dazzle camouflage for Flow Separation (July 1). The boat will offer free cruises around New York Harbor throughout the summer and early fall.
In August, five Kitchen Trees made of culinary utensils, pots and pans will spring up in City Hall Park courtesy of artist B. Wurtz, who’s spent 50 years creating unusual works from everyday objects.
“With playfulness and invention, each of these artists adapts everyday aspects of contemporary life, creating new platforms for art and experience,” says Nicholas Baume, director and chief curator of the Public Art Fund. “They engage our senses, inviting us to look, touch, taste and move beyond our expectations in corners of the city that may be familiar or surprising — on a boat, in a park, moving across boroughs and landmarks — reminding us that the city is a place of innovation and curiosity.”
