We thought we had seen it all when we walked past Dinosaur, the colossal 16 foot tall hyper-realistic pigeon sculpture that flew its way onto the High Line, but the elevated park’s newest art installation is reminding even the most jaded of New Yorkers to literally always expect the unexpected–or, simply never underestimate the level of weirdness you may stumble upon in NYC.
Case in point: Mika Rottenberg’s colorful Foot Fountain (pink). And yes, “foot fountain” is the best title you could give to this installation, which is quite literally a 10 foot tall pink foot and leg with bright red painted nails covered with tongues sticking out from small, lipsticked mouths.
But the installation actually does more than just put a smile on our face–it’s topped with a working sprinkler that’s activated by a set of bike-looking pedals installed nearby, meaning unsuspecting passersby are actually getting wet by a giant pink foot! Though considering a hotter summer than usual is heading our way we’ll welcome getting wet by a giant pink foot with open arms (now that’s a sentence we never expected to come out of our mouths…).
And sure, we’ve seen many a fountain in NYC before–and may have even jumped in one–but we don’t think we’ve ever seen one like this! But that’s exactly the point. The installation is “an irreverent take on the tradition of classical fountains that are commonly plopped into the middle of a square or in gardens, their water forever self-contained. In contrast, Foot Fountain (pink) is more intimately connected with its surroundings, nurturing the place and people by where it sits with water,” reads a press release.
Mika Rottenberg, who’s from Buenos Aires, Argentina but lives and works in NYC, uses her work to weave fact and fiction together and highlight the inherent beauty and absurdity of our contemporary existence. According to an Instagram post from the High Line, Rottenberg stated:
Foot Fountain (pink) is an overindulgent creature from my drawings. It first appeared as a small sculpture while I was doing some craft work with my daughter during the pandemic. The original version was…designed as an irrigation fountain to water a flower garden…Here on the High Line, instead of nurturing the well-tended gardens, I thought it should nurture and cool passersby on hot days, and share some of its overenthusiastic spirit.
The piece was originally created for an exhibition at Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland, though we honestly couldn’t be more thrilled that it made its way to our very own Manhattan, and you certainly won’t want to miss this installation–just imagine how much it’ll zhuzh up your Instagram feed!
Thankfully you have ample time to check it out as it’ll be on display now through May 2026.
📍 On the High Line at 30th Street
🗓 Now through May 2026