These two towering 30-foot steel sculptures are debuting across Manhattan next week
Look up, New York. Starting next week, two enormous new sculptures will be towering over some of Manhattan’s busiest pedestrian plazas.
On Tuesday, March 10, multimedia artist Charlotte Colbert will debut Chasing Rainbows, a two-part public art installation spanning Flatiron and the Meatpacking District. Each sculpture stands a staggering 30 feet tall and is constructed from reflective steel—large enough to command attention even in a city that’s used to skyscrapers.
The works are the global premiere of Colbert’s newest sculptures and her first-ever public art presentation in the United States.
The first piece, titled “Dreamland Sirens,” will be installed at Flatiron South Plaza at 23rd Street and Broadway. The second, “Where Angels Live,” will appear several blocks downtown in the plaza at West 14th Street and Ninth Avenue in the Meatpacking District. Together, they form a kind of surreal visual conversation across neighborhoods.
If the scale feels intentionally dramatic, that’s part of the idea. The sculptures are designed to contrast Manhattan’s monumental architecture with imagery drawn from fairy tales, archetypal symbols and dreamlike storytelling. Their polished steel surfaces will reflect the surrounding city while their whimsical forms invite pedestrians to pause—and maybe look up from their phones for a minute.
The project also carries a bit of civic history. According to organizers, this marks the first time two New York City Business Improvement Districts (the Flatiron NoMad Partnership and the Meatpacking District Management Association) have collaborated with the NYC DOT Art Program on a public installation linking two separate neighborhoods.
Photograph: Courtesy of BerlinRosen
The exhibition is curated by public art agency New Public in partnership with the city and art-world fixture Simon de Pury.
Colbert, a multimedia artist and filmmaker whose work blends surrealism, narrative and philosophy, has exhibited internationally at institutions and art fairs including the V&A, Frieze and Art Basel. Her projects often explore themes of dreams, identity and storytelling through large-scale installations, film and sculpture. In this case, the goal is simple: create a moment of shared wonder in the middle of everyday city life.
The sculptures will be installed in open-air plazas designed for heavy foot traffic, meaning commuters, tourists and anyone wandering through the neighborhood will be able to experience them for free.
So if you happen to be walking through Flatiron or the Meatpacking District next week and suddenly notice a 30-foot steel dreamscape looming overhead, don’t worry. That’s just New York’s latest piece of public art asking you to slow down and look up.
