Recently, on my way home after a long day at school, something caught my eye as I neared the Flatiron Building. It was a spaceship that had seemingly crashed onto the pedestrian plaza, and the engine looked like it was still on fire. The detail on the spaceship was great: the artists behind it had even put chunks of concrete resembling the pebbled floor of the pedestrian plaza all around the sculpture so that it looked realistic. It really surprised me how much attention to detail was put into this promotion: I really thought it was a public art installation before I saw the benches placed next to the spaceship advertising the show.

The smoke-spewing, people-confusing thing turned out to be a promotion for a new animated television series, called “Rick and Morty” on adult swim. Although its not the typical thing that would come to mind when one talks about public art, I thought this idea was a very clever way to promote the show and attract people’s attention. This also goes to show how business can work with engineers and artists to create something together that is part art and part marketing strategy.

–Joanna Huang