COLUMBUS CIRCLE — There are new spots to rest your weary feet amid the hustle and bustle of Columbus Circle — but they're not your average city park benches.
A pair of new "sculptural furniture" pieces at the south end of the circle function both as public art and comfy seating.
Artist Wendell Castle's creations, called "Wandering Mountain" and "Temptation," are part of a collaboration between the Museum of Art and Design (MAD) and the Department of Transportation to bring public art to the sidewalk in front of the museum. The black sculptures have round, U-shaped areas for sitting and long, rod-like shapes jutting out of them.
Installed earlier this month, these examples of "sculptural furniture" — an art form Castle essentially created — are drawing a lot of interest from passersby, MAD curator Ron Labaco said.
"You see kids, and they jump up and down on it because it's so unusual and playful... People even lay babies on them," he said. People also stand by waiting for them to open up, he added.
The pieces create an engagement with their form that museum-goers can't often access, because touching the art is off limits, Labaco added.
The fact that people can sit on the art and enjoy it in a different sense only adds to the "surprise and delight" viewers experience with the city's public art project, said Wendy Feuer, assistant commissioner for Urban Design, Art and Wayfinding for the Department of Transportation.
Though Castle has been creating art since 1958, his two bronze outdoor sculptures represent his first public art installation in New York City, Labaco said.
With the approval of the DOT, MAD installed the pieces to accompany an exhibit by the artist inside the museum, "Wendell Castle Remastered," which opened Oct. 20 and runs through Feb. 28. The two sculptures will stay outside at least that long, and possibly longer, museum staff said.
MAD has also commissioned two dance pieces choreographed by Dylan Crossman and performed by him and two other dancers that are inspired by and in response to Castle's sculptures.
The 20-minute dances will take place near the sculptures at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Nov. 7, with the dancers wearing costumes inspired by the art.
Museum staff encouraged visitors taking photos on the sculptures to use the hashtag #wendellcastle.
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