Sign in or register
for additional privileges

MACHINE DREAMS

Alexei Taylor, Author

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

So what?

Joshua Allen Harris is a street artist who creates inflatable sculptures on the streets of New York City. He uses shopping and trash bags to create animals and other animated creatures. The New York City Metro trains give life to the sculpture and make the art possible. The subway air or exhaust is what fuels this art. This byproduct of the extensive and powerful subway system breathes life into what can appear as trash on the subway vents. Only certain trains create enough airflow to give life to his creations, so this dictates where he places them throughout the city. He has created a Loch Ness monster, a bear, a monkey, a buffalo, and a giraffe, among others.
The inflatable sculptures are given life by the subway system, a system built by humans that relies on machines to function. Although on a regimented schedule, the coming and going of the trains creates a cycle of deflation and inflation that makes the sculptures feel more temporal, and thus more authentically animated. The juxtaposition of the hard, flat-sided shapes of the buildings of New York City and the rotund, airy shapes of the sculptures makes them stand out immediately. Even more, the sculptures are animals in the middle of an urban human environment - hardly the place one would normally encounter a bear or a giraffe.
Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "So what?"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Final Paper Proposal. Inflatable Street Art: Joshua Allen Harris, page 2 of 5 Next page on path

Related:  MetrocardLungsEquivalenceCyborgTemporalityAir Bear, NYC Urban Art,Beirut - The Rip Tide (Official Video)Exit Through the Gift ShopMarc Jacobs T-ShirtThat's Not Trash; It's ArtOscar PistoriusAlteritySculpture disguised as trashSymbolicSesame Street and Deep QuestionsThe Devil SheepFinal Paper Proposal. Inflatable Street Art: Joshua Allen Harrisinflatable sculptureVatican 3-DRaceCue the HipstersSources so farBanksy vs. Bristol MuseumJoshua Allen HarrisGhostcatching-BillTJonesfarmer's petBibliographyGet ready to wanderLungsEffect on the viewerNeelon, Caleb, Diederick Kraaijiveld, and Joshua Allen Harris. "Profile. Bora Baskan/Profile Diederick Kraaijiveld/Profile Joshua Allen Harris." Juxtapoz, 95 (2008): 22-24.Situationist Map of ParisBristol Museum vs. BanksySubway InteriorFeireiss, Lukas. "Larissa Fassler: The Body and the City." Deutsche Bank ArtMag. Trans. Wilhelm Werthern. Deutsche Bank AG, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.Marc Jacobs StoreAndreotti, Libero. Theory of the Dérive and Other Situationist Writings on the City. Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 1996. Print.Freud, Sigmund. "The Uncanny." MIT. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. .Price (and Fact) CheckMarc Jacobs Store ClerkWalk continuedSociety of the Spectaclerunaway gargoyle in parisVideo: air giraffeAmber Case: We are all cyborgs nowEffect on viewer (continued)Unitary UrbanismInflatable? How so?Vindex(Personalized) PropagandaNew York CityLamborghini TractorgiraffeSigur Rós - Fjögur píanóJoshua Allen Harris' Portfolio. Joshua Allen Harris, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. .Man with BalloonGray, Christopher, ed. "Essays from Leaving the 20th Century." What Is Situationism?: A Reader. Ed. Stewart Home. Edinburgh, Scotland: AK, 1996. N. pag. Print.Reality EffectHerculesBalloons vs. Inflatable Street Artair apeLes nouvelles créatures de Joshua Allen HarrisRed Gradient Background Marc JacobsThe TakeawaySubway BreathWhat makes an observer modern; Diana GluckSubway DiagramSimulationbearsWhat is this path? And how to maneuver itHot Chip - I Feel BetterFeelings on InflationBearWhat is it about these sculptures?Walking in New York CityThe Capitalist's Communist CommodityRace in Rome, 1960Eyad holding T-ShirtAn Initial Confusion of NationalitiesMarc Jacobs Store InteriorMarc Jacobs T-Shirt close upEyad from Marc JacobsTractorsThrough the lens of Situationism and the DériveStore from the level aboveUnsure AnswersCitySpectatorUSSR/CCCP Propaganda PosterFirst Lamborghini Tractor Black and WhiteBackground Image Marc Jacobs