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Collective–LOK steals hearts to win 2016 Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition

Collective–LOK steals hearts to win 2016 Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition

The Times Square Alliance takes “I ♥ New York” quite literally. For the past eight years, the nonprofit organization has invited architecture and design firms to create public art that responds to a Valentine’s Day theme. This year the Times Square Alliance partnered with the Center for Architecture to administer the competition. Collective-LOK stole the hearts of jurists to win the 2016 Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition.

Collective-LOK’s submission, Heart of Hearts, is a circle of nine, ten-foot-tall golden hearts that reflect the lights and the goings-on of Times Square. The installation will be on view at Father Duffy Square, between 46th and 47th Streets, from February 29 through March 6.

The sculpture is interactive, balancing private and public space in one of the world’s busiest pedestrian plazas. Within each heart is a “kissing booth” that encourages intimate but performative affection.

“[We] are thrilled to create the Heart of Hearts for Valentine’s Day, an engagement ring for our love affair with the spectacle of Times Square,” Collective-LOK declared in a statement. “It’s truly a special opportunity to provide a space for intimacy and performance in the heart of the city, one we hope visitors will love.”

The featured rendering certainly captures the ballet of a good city sidewalk—a llama stares contentedly at its reflection, a lonely man flouting blue laws drinks champagne from the bottle, while the Naked Cowboy jams on, stage left. Why is that man staring into that woman’s white skirt? It’s all part of the spectacle, apparently.

For more heartwarming displays of public art, see AN‘s coverage of past competition winners here.

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