Miranda July’s interactive installation demands participation to increase the fun (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Union Square Park Central Lawn
Fourteenth St. between Park Ave. & Broadway
Through October 3
Admission: free
www.deitch.com
www.mirandajuly.com
eleven heavy things slideshow
Multimedia performance artist Miranda July, who wrote, directed, and starred in the charming romantic comedy ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, published the wonderful short-story collection NO ONE BELONGS HERE MORE THAN YOU, and has staged such live pieces as THINGS WE DON’T UNDERSTAND AND ARE DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT, has installed her interactive, outdoor Venice Biennale work, “Eleven Heavy Things,” on the Center Lawn in Union Square Park. The steel-lined fiberglass sculptures demand human interaction, whether it means placing a digit in “Finger Tablet,” a tall, narrow, vertical piece that announces, “This is not the first hole my finger has been in; nor will it be the last,” standing with someone atop “Pedestal for Strangers,” on which it is written, “We don’t know each other, we’re just hugging for the picture. When we’re done I’ll walk away quickly. It’s almost over,” or sticking one’s head in “Two-faced Tablet,” which on one side proclaims, “What I look like when I’m lying” and on the other declares, “What I look like when I really mean it.” You can also decide which of the three “Pedestals for Guilty Ones” best suits you: “The Guilty One,” “The Guiltier One,” or “The Guiltiest One.” There are also bizarrely colored headdresses for people to pretend they’re wearing as well as one blank slate with three holes that can be anything you want it to be. The final public art piece sponsored by Deitch Projects, “Eleven Heavy Things” is a delightful, inviting piece that feels at home in the park, a gathering place for friends, lovers, tourists, and activists since 1839. As with many of her works, July plays with space and language, in this case offering people the opportunity to take fun pictures while also bringing them together, particularly strangers who might not otherwise notice one another in this big, bustling metropolis.