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:  The Devil SheepWalking in New York CitySculpture disguised as trashHot Chip - I Feel BetterUnitary UrbanismCue the HipstersRed Gradient Background Marc JacobsLungsBeirut - The Rip Tide (Official Video)Sigur Rós - Fjögur píanóCityThe TakeawayAndreotti, Libero. Theory of the Dérive and Other Situationist Writings on the City. Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 1996. Print.(Personalized) PropagandaThrough the lens of Situationism and the DériveMetrocardFreud, Sigmund. "The Uncanny." MIT. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. .Walk continuedSituationist Map of ParisAn Initial Confusion of NationalitiesGray, Christopher, ed. "Essays from Leaving the 20th Century." What Is Situationism?: A Reader. Ed. Stewart Home. Edinburgh, Scotland: AK, 1996. N. pag. Print.Oscar PistoriusEffect on the viewerSpectatorJoshua Allen HarrisLungsAmber Case: We are all cyborgs nowWhat is this path? And how to maneuver itGhostcatching-BillTJonesRaceVindexPrice (and Fact) CheckMarc Jacobs Store InteriorFirst Lamborghini Tractor Black and Whiteair apeTemporalityBibliographyBearBanksy vs. Bristol MuseumNew York CityHerculesFinal Paper Proposal. Inflatable Street Art: Joshua Allen HarrisAlteritySubway BreathThe Capitalist's Communist CommodityUSSR/CCCP Propaganda PosterAir Bear, NYC Urban Art,bearsEffect on viewer (continued)Society of the SpectacleVatican 3-DRace in Rome, 1960Video: air giraffeStore from the level aboveSimulationNeelon, Caleb, Diederick Kraaijiveld, and Joshua Allen Harris. "Profile. Bora Baskan/Profile Diederick Kraaijiveld/Profile Joshua Allen Harris." Juxtapoz, 95 (2008): 22-24.What makes an observer modern; Diana GluckLamborghini TractorSubway InteriorMarc Jacobs StoreEyad from Marc JacobsBalloons vs. Inflatable Street ArtJoshua Allen Harris' Portfolio. Joshua Allen Harris, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. .Feelings on InflationLes nouvelles créatures de Joshua Allen HarrisEquivalencerunaway gargoyle in parisgiraffeCyborgInflatable? How so?Eyad holding T-ShirtMarc Jacobs Store ClerkSources so farWhat is it about these sculptures?That's Not Trash; It's ArtFeireiss, Lukas. "Larissa Fassler: The Body and the City." Deutsche Bank ArtMag. Trans. Wilhelm Werthern. Deutsche Bank AG, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.Subway DiagramTractorsMan with BalloonExit Through the Gift ShopSesame Street and Deep QuestionsUnsure AnswersGet ready to wanderBristol Museum vs. BanksyReality Effectfarmer's petinflatable sculptureBackground Image Marc JacobsMarc Jacobs T-ShirtSymbolicMarc Jacobs T-Shirt close up