Image via Complex Original
Museum visits are nice, but ever wish you could interact with art in a more meaningful way? Indulge in these incredible installations throughout New York City. We've even provided the optimal times of day and methods of visit for each. Enjoy The 10 Best Interactive Summer Installations In NYC.
Written by Jessica L. Pizzo.
Telettrofono
Telettrofono
Location: Staten Island, NY
Artist: Justin Bennett and Matthea Harvey
Date: On July 28–29, and August 4–5, 2012
Find a sense of still and quiet in the city that never sleeps with "sound art" this summer. As part of The Gugghenheim's Stillspotting NYC series, Justin Bennett and Matthea Harvey have created a 90-minute walking tour that melds ambient sound, calming seaside sights, and the fantastical history of Antonio Meucci, the unacknowledged inventor of the first telephone and other whimsical inventions. The tour is being offered for four weekends this summer, the final two are on July 28–29 and August 4–5, 2012.
Flow.12
Flow.12
Location: Randall's Island, NY
Artist: Multiple Artists
Date: Through October 1, 2012
On another one of New York's islands, Flow.12 brings together art and landscape along the East River. Take a walk through Michael Clyde Johnson'sUntitled (Two Viewing Rooms, Offset), two cubic forms connected by stairs that reflect the light and shadows across the park. Later, bring your sandwiches to Gabriela Bertiller's Glamorous Picnic, gussied up in red and white tiled picnic tables that celebrate the wonder of the summer picnic.
Cloud City
Cloud City
Location: Madison Square Park, Manhattan, NY
Artist: Charles Long
Date: 2012
This summer, Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno's Cloud City is installed above the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a nod to the relationship between art, architecture, and geometric science, the installation is Saraceno's largest piece yet. Visitors to the roof can walk through the modular and mirrored bubble-like structures, or "geodisic domes," experiencing illusions and reflections of Central Park and the city below. To maximize your experience, see Cloud City at sunset with a drink in hand (the museum stays open until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings).
Website
Common Ground
Common Ground
Location: City Hall Park, Manhattan, NY
Artist: Multiple Artists
Date: Through November 30, 2012
There's certainly nothing like seeing a giant bottle of ketchup in a park on a hot summer day. And if you're in New York City, the park to see it would be in downtown Manhattan, and that giant bottle would be Paul McCarthy's 2001 work Daddies Ketchup. As part of the Public Art Fund's Common Ground exhibit, McCarthy's piece joins nine other works in City Hall Park's summer outdoor sculpture show. Also featured are Amalia Pica's Now, Speak! (a cast iron podium that evokes thoughts of free speech and debate) and Justin Matherly’s twisted concrete sculpture New Beaches.
People
People
Location: Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, NY
Artist: Oscar Tuazon
Date: Through April 26, 2013
As part of his Public Art Fund's commission, Oscar Tuazon uses local trees, steel, and cement casting in his Brooklyn Bridge Park exhibit People. Running through next April, the three works reflect the physical aspects of the park's landscape.
Website
Flockhouse
Flock House
Location: Madison Square Park, Manhattan, NY
Artist: Charles Long
Date: 2012
Mary Mattingly's Flock House Project suggests that mobile living can definitely be more artistic than we think. Highlighting the idea of location, migration and human's connection to a sustainable environment, the citywide collection features scultpural "self-contained ecosystems." Follow the project's news site to find where the Flock Houses will be migrating to this summer, with rotating artist inhabitants camping out inside them.
Lilliput
Lilliput
Location: The High Line, Manhattan, NY
Artist: Multiple Artists
Date: Through April 14, 2013
Juxtaposed against The High Line's amazing city views, Lilliput, the site's first group exhibition, presents a small-scale world of miniature sculptures in unexpected places. Japanese artist Tomoaki Suzuki's Carson presents a tiny wooden man dressed in urban style. Francis Upritchard's The Seduction features a sculpture of two small monkeys embracing.
Website
FIGMENT 2012 Interactive Sculpture Garden
FIGMENT 2012 Interactive Sculpture Garden
Location: Governors Island, NY
Artist: Multiple Artists
Date: 2012
In its second year, FIGMENT New York's sculpture garden has taken over Governor's Island with an interactive sculpture garden. This year's exhibit allows you to play with art in many ways, whether it's through having your own Wonka-sized moment in an oversized wooden television screen (Live! by Asha Ganpat) to climbing Benjamin Jones' TreeHouse made of reclaimed materials from Brooklyn. And while you're there, don't forget to get up close and personal with Zaq Landsberg's Face of Liberty, an exact replica of the the green lady's visage implanted in the ground.
Website
MistWave
MistWave
Location: Cedar Grove Beach, Staten Island, NY
Artist: Andrea Padilla and Stanley Harris
Date: Through Labor Day 2012
Anthony Padilla and Stanley Harris' MistWave first debuted in 2011 as part of the Figment NYC Art Festival on Governor's Island. Inspired by "the Great Wave off Kanagawa" from Hokusai’s The Great Wave, the installation features recycled scaffoloding materials in the shape of a wave, which expels a cooling mist into air around it.
Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds
Location: Madison Square Park, Manhattan, NY
Artist: Charles Long
Date: Through 2012
The Beach Boys famous 1966 album Pet Sounds was groundbreaking, not only for its classic and influential songs, but also for its use of unusual instruments like bicycle bells, organs, soda cans, and barking dogs. Charles Long's Pet Sounds debuted in Madison Square Park in April 2012 as a tribute to the famous Beach Boys album. While Brian Wilson's harmonic melodies are noticeably absent, the California artist's homage includes fiberglass and aluminum biomorphic creatures that snake across the seating areas to produce various sounds when touched.
