Times Square Gets Its Second Helping of Patriotism, Served in Bun Form

Times Square has seen its share of oddities, but a 20-metre hot dog still manages to stand out. Brooklyn artists Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw have unveiled Hot Dog: The Second Serving, a giant installation that marks America’s 250th anniversary and brings their previous Hot Dog in the City back into public view, only larger and, one suspects, more self-aware.

The choice of location is hardly accidental. Times Square is one of the few places in New York where constant movement, noise and crowds are not a nuisance but the point. For Catron and Outlaw, that makes it a fitting stage for a work that is meant to be read as both playful and excessive, a civic joke with a serious undertow.

That is the trick, of course. Public art in a city like New York is rarely content to sit quietly and be admired from a respectful distance. It has to compete with traffic, advertising, tourists and the general theatre of the street. A giant hot dog does not exactly whisper subtlety, but subtlety was never the brief here. The artists say the installation reflects American society through its mix of people and ceaseless activity, which is a neat way of saying that the country’s self-image is often loud, crowded and a little absurd.

Hot Dog: The Second Serving is not presented as a nostalgic tribute, even if it is tied to a national anniversary. Instead, it uses scale and absurdity to make a point about the present tense. The work borrows the language of celebration, then stretches it until it borders on satire. That may be the most American thing about it.

There is a certain logic to celebrating 250 years with a monument that looks as if it escaped from a roadside diner and wandered into the world’s most overexposed crossroads. It is cheerful, overblown and impossible to ignore. Whether that counts as commentary or simply excellent timing depends on how generously one is willing to read civic symbolism. Either way, Times Square has got its second serving, and it comes with a side of national self-regard.

Written by Andreas Hofer andreas.hofer@alpineweekly.com