Lay Day

Klara Liden is an artist who creates sculptural installations and videos in response to specific architectural environments. Liden, who studied both architecture and art, is interested in exploring the power dichotomies at play in architecture and urban design. Her work often incorporates found objects and materials sourced from urban spaces to create temporary interventions accompanied by performative actions, a process she terms “rebuilding by unbuilding.” For the High Line, Liden presents Lay Day . The work combines a vibrant commercial lugger dumpster affixed with a towering street lamp to evoke a sailing boat, floating high above 10th Avenue. “Lay day” is a term used in maritime law referring to a contractually agreed upon number of days allowed for loading or unloading cargo on a ship. In repurposing this term as the commission’s title, Liden alludes to the High Line’s past as a freight rail line, which delivered and collected goods from the various warehouses, factories, and meatpackers along the tracks. The use of a commercial lugger dumpster could also be seen as a reference to Chelsea’s non-stop construction, while continuing the artist’s practice of adopting recognizable utilitarian objects and distancing them from their conventional function.