Effect on the viewer
Harris’ sculptures would not offer the same change in passersby, from passive spectators to observers, if housed in a gallery as opposed to on the street, since they would lose the interaction with the city and with that their initial hook – the fact that the sculptures are so unexpected on the street. In a gallery or museum, the effect is changed, as the environment to experience the artwork is preselected by the observer. This discussion of art in the museum environment versus the street recalls Banksy's work.
On the street, in a situationist fashion, the artwork changes passersby into more perceptive observers of the city by presenting itself as something out of the ordinary and unexpected in the arena of the sidewalk. Happening to come across a sculpture while traversing the streets of New York City makes the artwork more impactful. Also, in a museum, the artwork would not be connected to the subway vent, and thus it would lose its connection to the city's internal body.
The same animal sculpture, sitting on a podium and connected to an inflation apparatus, would lose its novelty or its “wow, how cool, someone thought of that!” factor. The appeal of the sculptures plays off of the observer’s knowledge of the subway and its functional purpose as a machine, and the observer’s delight at seeing such integral parts of city life, the sidewalk and the subway (the insides and the surface), repurposed and working together to foster animated sculptures.
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