A giant pigeon sculpture by Iván Argote, titled Dinosaur, is set to perch atop the High Line in New York come October 2024. This 16-foot-tall aluminum artwork will be installed at the intersection of 30th Street and 10th Avenue, where it will remain for 18 months. The piece will sit on a concrete plinth, referencing the materials of the urban landscape that city pigeons are accustomed to.
“The name Dinosaur makes reference to the sculpture’s scale and to the pigeon’s ancestors who millions of years ago dominated the globe, as we humans do today,” said Argote in a press release. “The name also serves as reference to the dinosaur’s extinction. Like them, one day, we won’t be around anymore, but perhaps a remnant of humanity will live on—as pigeons do—in the dark corners and gaps of future worlds.”
Argote, born in 1983 in Bogotá and now working out of Paris, is known for his interventions in public space, which often utilize scale and humor to disrupt accepted historical narratives. Argote frequently employs the pigeon as a symbol for marginalization, as in “Precious,” his 2022 series of anthropomorphized bird sculptures, and his 2011 short film The Pigeon.
With Dinosaur, Argote intends to upend the power dynamic between the city birds and human beings. The massive, hand-painted sculpture will also subvert expectations for public sculpture, taking a playful approach to monuments rather than a stoic, historicizing one.
“Iván has a charming ability as an artist to take something familiar and make us consider it anew in profound ways,” said Cecilia Alemani, the director and chief curator of High Line Art.
Argote’s installation is the fourth commission of the High Line’s Plinth program. It follows Simone Leigh’s Brick House (2019), Sam Durant’s Untitled (drone) (2021), and Pamela Rosenkranz’s Old Tree (2023). Argote’s proposal for Dinosaur was chosen from among 80 submissions received in 2020.
