Which Artworks Will Grace the High Line’s Plinth Next?
After Iván Argote's iconic pigeon and Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s giant Buddha, the NYC organization is inviting public feedback on 62 proposals.
High Line Art has opened the door to public feedback on 62 proposals for the public artwork commissions that will grace the park's plinth in 2029 and 2030. Inaugurated in 2019, the coveted location overlooking 10th Avenue from West 30th Street has exhibited several iconic sculptures, including Iván Argote's giant pigeon titled “Dinosaur” (2024) and Pamela Rosenkranz's “Old Tree” (2023).
Earlier this spring, the park welcomed Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s “The Light That Shines Through the Universe” (2026). Crafted in and shipped from Vietnam, the artist's massive sandstone Buddha sculpture channels the beloved, millennia-old pair of Bamiyan Buddha reliefs carved into an Afghan cliffside along the Silk Road, which were sadly demolished by the Taliban in 2001.
As evidenced by Nguyen's commission, the exhibition site along the High Line's Spur allows artists to pierce through the visual continuity of the surrounding sky-high buildings and their gridded, sky-blue windows.
The High Line has invited public opinion on plinth commission proposals since 2020, considering feedback on dozens of artwork ideas in order to decide on a tightened shortlist of options that ultimately yield two consecutive commissions. The work following Nguyen's Buddha has already been selected and will be announced in 2027.
Among the 62 proposals for the plinth's seventh and eighth commissions are those of Nina Chanel Abney, Kelly Akashi, Seba Calfuqueo, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Ali Cherri, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Michael Rakowitz, Wendy Red Star, Kathleen Ryan, and Anicka Yi. Equipped with a handful of site-specific renderings and a brief description for each proposal, members of the public have been asked to consider what would be a good fit for the park, city, and current moment.
