Design
Why Is There an Upside Down Airplane in Central Park?
Without context, this is one heckuva scary photo.
Without context, that is one heckuva scary photo. It would appear this smiling group of friends is milliseconds away from fiery oblivion as a free-falling airplane explodes right behind them.
That's not the intent of the artist who erected this piece last week in Central Park, however. The six-seated Piper Seneca, which has been modified so that it slowly somersaults on its wingtips, celebrates artist Paola Pivi's "fascination with industrial machines that are also capable of unexpected transformation into captivating, artistic objects," according to the organization backing the sculpture, the Public Art Fund. (It also unwittingly celebrates the feeling of nausea for anyone who's been in bad turbulence.)