MANHATTAN — For the next 10 days, Union Square street performers and new subway cell phone service won't be the weirdest things on 14th Street.
Dozens of projects and performances by offbeat public artists will be on display on the thoroughfare from the East River to the Hudson River beginning on Saturday.
"68 artists, one long street, 10 days — one night to kick off the festival," the festival's Twitter page reads.
This seventh incarnation of the festival devoted to "the sacred and profane of everyday actions in the … urban environment" focuses on ritual, ceremony and superstition, according to a statement.
Art fans and unsuspecting pedestrians may see a person entirely covered by fabric and tree branches, subway signs altered to include historical place names like "Breuckelen," an audio installation on city benches and a wish station.
The festival, which was curated by Trinidad Fombella of El Museo del Barrio and Kalia Brooks of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art, is scheduled to kick off Saturday morning with an installation on the statue of George Washington in Union Square Park.
Artist Leon Reid IV will outfit the statue with an "I [heart] NY" cap, a camera, a subway map and shopping bags, transforming it into "Tourist-in-Chief," according to a statement by AIOP.
"What this project does, and what Art In Odd Places hopes to do, is to see the city and its normal surroundings in a new light," AIOP founder and director Ed Woodham said in the statement.
The installation from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, which the Parks Department initially refused to approve, will be the first time the statue has been used in a work of art, according to the statement.
A full schedule of performances is available on the festival's website.
