The group behind a 16-foot pigeon being shipped on a flatbed truck from Mexico to Manhattan’s High Line hopes to convince New Yorkers to rethink their disgust for the all too disparaged “rat with wings” while also learning a bit about themselves.
The giant Columba livia sculpture is set to be installed at the elevated public park above the intersection of 10th Avenue and 30th Street in October, High Line officials said on Wednesday. The hand-painted, hyper-realistic aluminum art piece was created by Iván Argote and will roost for 18 months as the outdoor park’s fourth Plinth commission, a rotating series of large contemporary works of art.
Iván Argote’s Dinosaur, a colossal, hyper-realistic sculpture of a pigeon cast in aluminum, is coming to the High Line.
Rendering courtesy of the artist
Known as “Dinosaur,” the work is meant to challenge preconceived notions about what’s wild in the city.
“The pigeon is an iconic New Yorker, and I hope that people come to see them that way as opposed to vermin,” Taylor Zakarin, the High Line’s associate curator, said in a phone interview. “I think hopefully this work could inspire a deviation from that.”
Zakarin highlighted the domestication of pigeons as an example of how they can challenge peoples’ perceptions of what they consider dirty. Used in war and as messengers, pigeons first came to North America in the 1800s as immigrants, much like the people of New York City, she said.
“They are immigrants here as well,” she said. “Everyone is effectively an immigrant in New York, even the pigeons.”
The sculpture was fabricated in Mexico and hoisted by crane onto a flatbed truck in preparation for its journey north. It will travel to New Jersey to be painted before being transported by bridge to Manhattan, where it will be hoisted by crane again to its temporary home above the street, visible to thousands of pedestrians and office workers.
The sculpture is loaded up before embarking on its journey from Mexico to New York City.
Screenshot courtesy of Friends of the High Line
Argote, a 40-year-old native of Colombia, titled the work “Dinosaur” in reference to not just its scale, but also to the fact that the pigeon once dominated the world like humans do today.
“The name also serves as a reference to the dinosaur’s extinction,” Argote said in a statement. “Like them, one day we won’t be around anymore, but perhaps a remnant of humanity will live on — as pigeons do — in the dark corners and gaps of future worlds.”
The sculpture was one of 12 shortlisted proposals selected through a public comment process on the High Line’s website and social media. It will sit on a 5-foot-high plinth made to resemble the concrete sidewalks and buildings of the pigeon’s natural environment.
Zakarin said she hopes “Dinosaur” will change people’s perception of pigeons and come to see them as beautiful
“I had always hated pigeons. I couldn’t stand them,” she said. “I have had a full 180 on how I feel about pigeons when I see them on the street.”