Loud and bright day and night, Times Square is filled with strange customers, harassed tourists, honking cars, and a few brave cyclists, all of whom had better make way for New York’s newest landmark: a 65-foot-tall hot dog long
This is no street vendors’ swan song, but a public art installation by irreverent Brooklyn-based artist duo Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw. On view from April 30 to June 13, the aptly titled Hot Dog in the City can be seen in Duffy Square, the largest square in Times Square. The sculpture will consist of a monumental bun and a classic sausage drizzled with mustard (woe to ketchup devotees). It will also move; Hydraulic mechanisms will lift the sculpture into the sky at noon and shower passers-by with confetti. The associated spectacles come hot and ready: baseball games, presidential processions (of an extinct and hyper-patriotic flavor), the Fourth of July.
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“Hot Dog in the City it’s not just a spectacular sculpture; it’s a window into the heart of American camp and contemporary culture,” said Jean Cooney, director of Times Square Arts, which commissioned the work.
For the duration of the project, food historians, meat producers and vendors will lead a public program of performances, talks and competitions that examine New York’s culinary legacy and its connections to classic food. “Through the unassuming lens of a hot dog, Jen and Paul invite us to let our guard down and delve into the meaty complexities of our society with humor, boldness, and an unabashed embrace of the absurd,” Cooney added in his statement.
This isn’t the first large-scale iteration of a daily goodie courtesy of this New York-visiting artist duo. In 2019, the couple installed two works in the atrium and lawn of the Brooklyn Museum: a towering hot caramel sundae dangerously loaded with scoops of ice cream and, outside, a bathroom sink. They are humorous, sure, but tragic; the sundae wobbles wildly, threatening a massive cleanup or a cavity, while the faucet has been left running—both works are actually sources of automatic circulation—as if this parched planet had water to spare. Everything smells of excess consumption and unbridled celebration, which is the point, Outlaw and Catron seem to say.
His pop art, which also spans video and performance, feeds and critiques the worst of the American dream, its insatiable hunger (You really need that much ice cream?), belligerent confidence and capitalist impulses. They give these oversized products to the public and then wait – I hope – for someone to ask if it’s really necessary – or better yet, how did this country normalize such outrageous consumption?
“Our work strives to engage as many people as possible in our conversations through the immediate temptation of visual gratification that gives way to more meaningful dialogue about social critiques,” the pair said. ARTnews. “Food is a vehicle we often use for this exchange, as its currency is understood by all. O Hot Dog it’s people’s food and Times Square is the center of the universe, so combining the two makes sense.”
