If you hate pigeons, the 2,000-pound, nearly 16-foot-tall cast-aluminum rendering of the bird perched on the New York City High Line for the next 18 months might not be for you.
Paris-based Colombian artist Iván Argote was commissioned by the High Line to create the sculpture, entitled “Dinosaur,” for the fourth iteration of its Plinth series. While the installation might feel “strange and funny and make you laugh,” he told Hyperallergic in an interview, it’s also meant to prod at something deeper.
On a metal sign near the structure, Argote reminds the public that “even the pigeon, a New York fixture, migrated here and made the city their home.”
That’s why he connects the quintessential New York bird with its human residents. “This is a city of migrants; in a way, it was built by migrants,” he added.
But Argote and Cecilia Alemani, the director and chief curator of High Line Art, do not want to limit the public’s perception of the giant pigeon.
“As much as you can imagine or see what the reactions of people will be, you will always be surprised, because it is a process that is completely out of your control,” Alemani told Hyperallergic. “The most successful artworks in public spaces are those that function as a sort of catalyst for imagining new futures and pushing your imagination, but also something that creates friction with the cityscape.”
Alemani and Argote decided that the pigeon would be the perfect figure to provoke the public. While the latter no longer lives in in the city, he said he remembers how New Yorkers view the birds.
“I know of the importance of the pigeons here in New York, and all the kind of reactions they generate: love and passion or hate and disgust,” Argote said. “I thought he was a good icon to enter into different layers of conversation.”
The bird also explores the question of who deserves to be commemorated on a plinth, Alemani said.“What happens when you put an animal in a place that has been for centuries devoted to men on horseback, leaders, or colonizers?” she asked.
The simple concept of the formidable structure belies the complexity of its making. Argote originally submitted the proposal for the project in 2020. Over eight months this year, the sculpture’s foundation was laid in Mexico, and it was painted in New Jersey. It took a crane and a lane closure of Tenth Avenue to position the pigeon on its perch. Argote flew in from Paris to oversee the final touches.
The High Line also invited “pigeon influencers” to the media preview earlier today, October 16. Among them was a domesticated bird named Frankie, owned by Jacqueline Quigley, who is working on a documentary about New York. Frankie wore a specialized harness and leash and stayed warm inside Quigley’s jacket.
Standing in front of the sculpture, Quigley said, “I think it’s highly representative of New Yorkers. They are the pigeons. They’re scrappy, they’re feisty. They don’t give a fuck.”
